Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Campaign Together
COOPER: And you hear the crowds. You see Former President Clinton and Barack Obama. They are about to go on stage at this event in Florida. Candy Crowley is there somewhere in the crowd or with the entourage. Candy, what's going on?</s>CROWLEY: Well they were, right now we are listening to Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a hometown favorite. They're going to have -- I think you can probably see Obama and Clinton now. They're walking from behind stage. People can't see them yet but I think you've got a camera shot of them. This obviously the first time these two have campaigned together. Don't need to tell you that there have been some enormous tensions between the two of them because of course of the race of Hillary Clinton. But then obviously, Bill Clinton thinking she was the better choice but they have been fully on board, although, Bill Clinton, seemed to have a more difficult time of it. Listen to this you're seeing him, there's the crowd. This is what they call in the business, the money shot. The two of them together, their hands raised; again that's Senator Bill Nelson with them.</s>COOPER: That is a one shot deal, Candy. I mean, is this the one event that Bill Clinton is doing with Barack Obama?</s>CROWLEY: Yes. With him as far as we know it is the one and only time he will be with him. Now, the former President has been out campaigning for him solo as has Senator Clinton, but yes, as far as we know it'll be only time you'll see the two of these together.</s>COOPER: Let's listen in.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Orlando. Are you ready for a new President? And are you ready for this new President? Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank my good friend Senator Bill Nelson for his introduction. Thank you for coming out tonight. I am honored to be here to voice my support for Senator Barack Obama for President. And I want to talk to you a little about why it is so important for you to do what you can to make sure that Florida is in the Obama column next Tuesday night. Look at this crowd. It's not only big, it is highly diverse. Even got a few old gray-headed white guys like me. You haven't cut my demographic out yet. This is America's future. This is a future state. Barack Obama represents America's future and you've got to be there for him next Tuesday. You know, I am very grateful to Florida. I worked hard to bring you back into the Democratic fold and you came and I thank you for that. It's time to come back again so we can take America forward. I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have had and that Hillary has had to campaign for Barack Obama and for America's future. I want to say a few things that he can't say on his own behalf and then I'll bring him on to say what he can say better than anybody on his own behalf. But let me tell you, there are only two things you can do between now and Tuesday. First, you can vote and you can make sure everybody you know who is already supporting Senator Obama and Senator Biden vote. And understands they do not have an option to stay home not if they care about their country and their future. You've got to get our crowd there. The other thing you can do is find the people that are still teetering and wavering and tell them why they ought to be with us. And so I want to tell you very briefly there are four reasons that I can tell you in a way no one else can, because I've been there. And I want you to tell this to everybody. And they don't just have to be your neighbors. You can e-mail people all over America. There are all these exchanges going on where people who are still undecided are fessing-up, at least on the Internet. And I want you to get on there and tell them there are four reasons they ought to be for Barack Obama. The four things that really matter in a president are: number one, the philosophy; number two, the policies; number three, the ability to make a decision; and number four, the ability to execute that decision and make changes in people's lives. So I've been noticing this philosophical argument on television. You all been seeing that in this election? And Senator Obama asked me to say a word about it on the way up here. He's got the right philosophy which is America works from the ground up, not from the top down. They talk about redistributing the wealth. They just presided over the biggest redistribution of wealth upward since the 1920s and we all know how that ended. In the last eight years 90 percent of the gains went to 10 percent of the people over 40 percent to one percent. Can you run a great democracy that way? I don't think so. So don't tell me about redistribution. When I served you, you had more than five times as many jobs as you are going to get out of this crowd. You had medium family income across all racial lines going up and now it's down. We paid down the debt. They've doubled the national debt. So don't tell me about redistribution. What Senator Obama has is a plan that works from the bottom up. If there's a strong middle class and if poor folk can work their way into it and stay in it, there'll be lots of millionaires and billionaires. I know we made more millionaires and billionaires than they did and you just didn't know it because middle class incomes were rising and everybody had a good job and that's what Barack Obama will do again. So he's got the right philosophy. The second thing I want to tell you is he's got the right policies. And I've read them all. And I've read his opponent's. People used to make fun of me for being a policy wonk but I take it after the last eight years, we all know it really matters what people advocate. And let me tell you folks, is again something I can say because I'm not running for anything, the historical record shows that virtually every person ever elected president does his best to actually do what they say they're going to do in the campaign and Barack Obama's do-list is the better do-list. The economic plan is better. The education plan is better. Young people, you read his plan. If you are willing to do community service it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are, you're going to be able to go to college, universal, everybody is included, no ifs, ands or buts. And his health care plan is light-years better. And I can tell you there are people in this crowd, I know there, are who have lost their health insurance. There are people in this crowd who have children with autistic conditions or other disabilities that need help and nobody is helping them. And we're living in the government, last week one in eight Americans are not going to be able to afford their cancer drugs this year. America drops to 29th in infant mortality and we're spending more than anybody else in the world? They want to defend that. Barack Obama wants to change that and he has a good plan to do it and we should vote for on Election Day. And finally let me say his energy plan is better. And don't you be fooled by these oil prices going down because as soon as they can sucker us in to forgetting about being energy independent they'll go right back up again. And he's got the best plan to liberate Americans and create millions and millions and millions of jobs. So he's got the best policy. Now the third thing he is, is the better decision maker. You know our current President said something that's really true. The President is the decider-in-chief. And in this election you've got a very unusual thing I've never seen happen before. You got to watch the candidates make, not one, but two presidential decisions. You always get one; who they pick as Vice President. He hit that one out of the park, folks, that was a good decision. OK, then you got to see the reaction to the financial crisis in America nearly coming off the wheels. Having the wheels nearly run off. I saw this up close. You know what he did? First he took a little heat for not saying much. I knew what he was doing. He talked to his advisers, he talked to my economic advisers. He called Hillary. He called me. He called Warren Buffett and he called Paul Volcker. He called all those people and you know why, because he knew it was complicated and before he said anything he wanted to understand. Folks, if we have not learned anything, we have learned that we need a president who wants to understand and who can understand. Who can understand; yes, he can. Now, wait a minute. The second thing and this meant more to me than anything else and I haven't cleared this with him. And he may even be mad at me for saying this so closest to the election but I know what else he said to his economic advisers. He said tell me what the right thing to do is. What's the right thing for America, and don't tell me what's popular. You tell me what's right and I'll figure out how to sell it. That's what a president does in a crisis, what is right for America. And you know after this election there are going to be a lot of rough times ahead and you know it as well as I do. You have got to have a president who can understand and then has the fortitude to stand up and tell you, you hired me to win for America. I've got to make this decision now. This is the very best I can do. And I'm prepared to be held accountable. I'm going to tell you something the way he handled this crisis and the way you saw him talk about it in the second and third debate showed that he will be a very, very fine decision maker working for the American people. The last thing I want to say is this. Here's the last thing I want to say. All over the world I see this where I work now. The world is full of good, honest, smart, hard-working people with the best of intentions that cannot figure out how to turn their good ideas into real changes in other people's lives. If you have any doubt about Senator Obama's ability to be the chief executive, that's what the Constitution calls the president, just think about all of you. Look at this. Has there ever been a campaign that involved so many people, had made so much use of the Internet, that thought about how to solve problems, that gave people so much opportunity to give money, to give their time, to express their opinions, to do things. He has executed this campaign in a way that is different from modern and forward thinking, something no one else ever could have done. He can be the Chief Executor of good intentions as president. So I want you to get on the phone, and I want you to stalk your neighbors on the street, and I want you to get on the Internet and say if haven't made up your might you ought to vote for Barack Obama. He's got the best philosophies. He's got the best positions. He definitely has the decision making ability. And he is a great executor. Folks, we can't fool with this. Our country is hanging in the balance and we have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president, all of our president. And he's going to be our president unless the American people forget what the election's about. This election is about restoring the American dream and giving poor people their shot at it and restoring America's standing as the world's leading nation for peace and prosperity. Diplomacy first, military force as a last resort, bring the troops home from Iraq, be a force for peace and get this economy going. That's what it's about. Once you define that there's no question, and I want you to think about this as I bring him on. Tuesday we will complete a presidential campaign. The presidential campaign is the greatest job interview in the world. And on Tuesday you get to make the hire. If you're my age, you think about your children and the grandchildren you want to have. If you are young you think about the future you want them to have -- if you are young you think about the children you want to bring into the world and what you want for them. There's not any real question here, this is not a close question. If you make the decision based on who can best get us out of the ditch, who's got the best philosophy, the best positions, the best ability and the best judgment I think it's clear. The next president of the United States should be and with your help, will be, Senator Barack Obama.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In case all of you forgot, this is what it's like to have a great President. It is such an honor and a privilege to have been joined here tonight by a great president, a great statesman, a great supporter in our campaign to change America, Bill Clinton, give it up. Nobody, nobody makes the case for change that works for the middle class like President Bill Clinton. Nobody. And while I'm at it I would want to say just a little something about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton because I learned from her and President Clinton as a candidate. I am proud to call them my friends. I know how much we'll need both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton in the months and years to come. Florida, I think you all agree with me that we all wish that the last eight years looked a lot more like the Clinton years when he was in the White House. Now before I move on, there are just a couple of other acknowledgements that I've got to make. First of all, one of the finest United States senators we have and one of the finest gentlemen that I know, not to mention he's an astronaut. I mean, it's cool being president, but being an astronaut, that is something else. So please give a big round of applause to your own Senator Bill Nelson and his wonderful wife Grace Nelson. I haven't seen her but I heard she was here and I want to acknowledge her, your wonderful Congresswoman Corrine Brown. I want to thank state representative Darren Soto, Olga Tenyon, Cheryl Green and finally I want to say that I -- before we came on we had a chance to say hello to the most recent Democratic president, Jimmy Smiths. When you listen to Bill Clinton you are reminded of what it is like to have a president who is engaged, who is passionate, who is smart, who reaches out, who's inclusive instead of divisive, who has energy, who has vision. And you start getting kind of nostalgic about 22 million new jobs and a budget surplus and an economy that's working for everybody. And that's why we can't have four more years just like the last eight that we've had. It's time for the kind of peace and prosperity that we saw in the 1990s. Now, I really just have two words for you tonight; six days. Six days. After a decade of broken politics in Washington, after eight years of failed policies by George W. Bush, after 21 months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky shores of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are six days away from bringing about change in America. Six days away. In six days you can turn the page on policies that have put greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifices of the people on Main Street. In six days you can choose policies that invest in our middle class and create new jobs and grow this economy from the bottom up the way bill Clinton was talking about so that everyone has a chance to succeed from the CEO to the secretary, from the factory owner to the people who are working on the factory floor. In six days you can put an end to the politics that would divide this nation just to win an election. That tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat. That asks us to fear instead of hope. In six days you can give this country the change we need. We began this journey in the depths of winter two years ago on the steps of the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then we didn't have much money, we didn't have any endorsements. We weren't given a chance by the polls or the pundits. We knew this would be a steep climb. But I also knew this; it's the same thing Bill Clinton understood when he ran as a little known governor back in 1991. We both understood that there are times in our history where the size of our challenges outgrow the smallness of our politics. There are times where we have to recognize that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe are hungry for new ideas and new leadership and a new kind of politics, one that favors common sense over ideology, one that focuses on those ideals we hold in common as Americans. And most of all, I knew the American people, that you are decent and you are generous and you are hard working. You are willing to sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced when we come together our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists or the most vicious political attacks or the full force of the status quo in Washington that wants to just keep things the way they are. 21 months later my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we have come so far and so close because of you. That's how we'll change this country, with your help. That's why we can't afford tonight or tomorrow or the next day, we can't afford to slow down or sit back or let up for one day, one minute, one second in the next week. Not now. Not when there is so much at stake. We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression; 760,000 workers have lost their job since the beginning of this year. Probably more but we just haven't gotten the statistics for this month. Businesses and families they can't get credit, home values are falling, pensions are disappearing, wages are lower than they have been at a decade, at a time when the cost health care and college have never been higher. You heard what Bill Clinton said when he was president the average family income went up $7,500; went up, across the board, everybody. All groups did better. Since George Bush has been in office the average family income has gone down $2,000 which means that it's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage or fill up the gas tank or even keep the electricity on. At moments like this the last thing we can afford is four more years of the same, tired old economic theories that say we should give more and more to millionaires and billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity just automatically trickles down on everybody else. The last thing we need is four more years of no regulation on Wall Street and the financial sectors because politicians and lobbyists kill common sense regulation. Those are the theories of the past. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked. It's time for a change, Florida and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America. Now, I think president -- President Clinton --</s>OBAMA: President Clinton and I, I think, would both agree that John McCain has served this country with great honor. And he can point to moments over the past eight years where he's broken from George Bush, on torture, for example. His opposition to torture, that is something that he deserves credit for. But when it comes to the economy, when it comes to the central issue of this election, the plain truth is John McCain has stood with this president every step of the way. He voted for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. He voted for Bush budgets that took the surplus that President Clinton had created and took it into massive deficits and debt. He constantly called for deregulation, 21 times just this year. Those are the facts. And now after 21 months and three debates Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing that he would do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. I am not exaggerating. I mean, think about it. I think everybody has heard John McCain's arguments against me. I think everybody has heard the attacks he has launched against me. I think it is important because an election is always about the future. An election is always about where are we going. And I think you would be hard pressed and I think Senator McCain's own supporters would be hard pressed if you asked them what are you going to do differently that is going to get us out of trouble? He doesn't have a plan. So John McCain says we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change. But I think everybody here understands the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same Bush/McCain philosophy that has failed us for the last eight years. It won't work.</s>COOPER: Barack Obama speaking at an event in Florida; the first time he has appeared on stage with former president Bill Clinton. You can keep watching Obama speak on CNN.com; he is basically now giving his stump speech. You can check it out at CNN.com. We want to though give equal time before the 12:00 hour to John McCain who fired back today at Barack Obama. He fired back at Obama's 30-minute ad in an interview on "Larry King Live." The candidate in his own words, ahead on "360."