Bill Clinton’s history of speeches at the Democratic National Convention has been like his political career, a series of ups and downs, where the former president has played the role of validator, acceptor and character witness.
The 42nd commander in chief has been allotted most of the 10 p.m. prime-time hour Tuesday night and Clinton aides expect him to speak for over 45 minutes. This will be the 10th speech Clinton has delivered to the DNC in his career.
Clinton, who worked on the remarks holed up in the Logan Philadelphia hotel, wrote the entire speech by hand and without the input of people who regularly help him on remarks, aides said.
Clinton aides and longtime advisers say the former president has taken more personal ownership over this speech than normal, writing the remarks out over the last few days by hand, before handing it over to Steve Reinhart, his longtime speechwriter, to make it readable (Clinton has notoriously bad handwriting) and get it into digital form.
“This is different. This is more personal,” John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, told reporters Tuesday at a breakfast sponsored by Bloomberg Politics. “This is about her.”
1988
Though Clinton has addressed every convention since 1980, he garnered unwelcome prominence at the 1988 Democratic National Convention with what The Associated Press called an “unmitigated disaster.”
Clinton, then a young, up-and-coming moderate governor from Arkansas, was the introductory speaker for nominee Michael Dukakis. The naturally long-winded Clinton spoke for 33 minutes, double the amount of time he was allotted, in a speech that was widely panned as boring.
The speech got so bad that when Clinton said “in closing,” the crowd of what would be friendly delegates cheered the end of the future president’s lecture.
At the time, political reporters and Democratic operatives were writing Clinton’s political obituary.
Clinton went on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson days later to show that he was in on the joke. When he sat down, Carson put an hour glass on the desk. Clinton laughed at himself, quelling some of the shock that came with his abysmal performance.
1992
Four years later, in 1992, it was Clinton who was being nominated for the presidency, taking a hopeful message that pulled from his own personal story: Pulling himself out of poverty in Hope, Arkansas, and to the presidency.
“My fellow Americans, I end tonight where it all began for me: I still believe in a place called Hope,” he said. “God bless you, and God bless America.”
1996
Clinton would speak again in 1996, where he touted economic growth and property, using his train ride from Washington, D.C., to Chicago through West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio as a rhetorical device to tout his first four years on the job.
“At every stop, large and exuberant crowds greeted me, and, maybe more important, when we just rolled through little towns there were always schoolchildren there waving their American flags, all of them believing in America and its future,” he said. “I would not have missed that trip for all the world. For that trip showed me that hope is back in America. We are on the right track to the 21st century.”
2000
After eight years of his presidency, Clinton spoke at the 2000 convention in Los Angeles, reliving what was billed as his “Farewell to the DNC” speech.
Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, was now atop the ticket, and due in part to Monica Lewinsky scandal, their relationship was frayed and Gore was concerned about turning to his former boss.
“I ran for president to change the future for those people, with new ideas rooted in enduring values: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and a community of all Americans,” Clinton said. “You gave me that chance to turn those ideas and values into action, after I made one of the best decisions of my life: asking Al Gore to be my partner.”
2008
Clinton spoke again in 2004, defending that year’s Democratic nominee, John Kerry, against perceptions he was weaker on national security than President George W. Bush. But his most memorable recent speeches at the DNC have been for President Barack Obama.
Bill Clinton and Obama’s relationship had frayed during the Democratic primary in 2008. Bill Clinton angrily scolded reporters for, in his view, going easy on the Illinois senator, while Obama harbored ill-will toward comments the former president made about him.
But the healing began after Obama won the primary, first with Hillary Clinton’s work for Obama and then with the former president’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
“Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama,” he said. “That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.”
2012
But Bill Clinton’s crowning DNC moment came in 2012 with a speech that afterward earned him the nickname “explainer in chief.”
Clinton strode on the stage confidently that night, happy to be wanted and needed by the Obama campaign.
Obama requested that Clinton give the nominating speech, with both presidents standing in locked arm after the speech was over. And though Clinton went over his allotted time — topping off near 49 minutes of ad-libbling and thumb-jabbing — he was heralded as the high point of the Charlotte convention.
“I want to nominate a man cool on the outside but who burns for America on the inside,” Clinton said. “A man who believes with no doubt that we can build a new American Dream economy, driven by innovation and creativity, by education, and yes, by cooperation. And by the way, after last night, I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama.”