In the spring of 1971, I met a girl: Bill Clinton tells their love story
PHILADELPHIA: There have been millions of words, decades of video and reams of commentary devoted to their story. It’s been dissected, defended and decried at kitchen tables and on cable news, in tabloids and classrooms.
But on Tuesday night, as millions of voters watched and with the political stakes as high as they’ve ever been, Bill Clinton tried to make sense of it all and make the case for his wife, the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“In the spring of 1971, I met a girl,” he began.
The former president’s tenth address to a Democratic convention was by far his most personal, a 42-minute tour through wedding proposals and Halloween parties, the deaths of parents and movie marathons.
Perhaps their worst moments - the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed - were conspicuously omitted.
Instead, Bill Clinton cast himself as a passenger in his wife’s life, reshaping the story of much of their decades in politics.
The goal was to make Clinton, perhaps the most famous female politician in the world, yet a public figure her aides claim remains unknown, relatable to voters.
He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas.
“She’s the best darn changemaker I’ve ever met in my entire life,” he said.
“This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo on anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is.”
He never once mentioned GOP nominee Donald Trump by name, dismissing Republican attacks on Clinton as “made up” and a “cartoon alternative.”
Rather, Bill Clinton focused nearly exclusively on his wife’s achievements and how she’d influenced him.