Popular Bill Clinton to Deliver Prime-Time Campaign Speech for Obama

Yeah Bubba, Bill Clinton is still popular.

Two-thirds of Americans — 66% — have a favorable opinion of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, tying his record-high favorability rating recorded at the time of his inauguration in January 1993. Clinton nearly returned to this level of popularity at two points in his second term, but has generally seen lower ratings, averaging 56% since 1993.

Here is the popularity chart:

American voters have a short memory and the Democrats have given Bill Clinton a Democratic Party Convention primetime speech.

Former President Bill Clinton will assume a high-profile role at the Democratic National Convention in September, including a prime-time address in a slot typically reserved for an incumbent vice president. Clinton will speak on the third night of the convention in Charlotte, N.C., the evening before President Obama will formally accept the party’s nomination at Bank of America Stadium, campaign and DNCC officials tell ABC News. Vice President Biden will share the stage with Obama on Thursday, Sept. 6, delivering his own solo address before the president speaks, the officials said.

But, the Romney folks will be happy to remind them that Barack Obama is NO Bill Clinton.

“There will be people who say it helps Obama, but they’re already voting for him,” says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. “And it will just remind people that Obama is no Bill Clinton when it comes to the economy.” Clinton, of course, governed during a rare stretch of peace and prosperity, leaving office with the federal budget in surplus. There’s no doubt that he will point out the dire economic straits that Obama inherited from his predecessor, President George W. Bush. But increasingly, voters are tired of the blame game and just want Obama to present a credible plan for the next four years.

I don’t think Bubba’s speech will make too much of a difference in helping President Obama. This choice was an internal Democratic Party choice to keep Bill and Hillary on the Obama reservation during the campaign.