Bill Clinton and the 2012 Election

Josh Lederman has a piece in thehill.com today that engages in cost/benefit analysis on the topic of Bill Clinton actively participating in the Obama 2012 election campaign. Lederman suggests that while Clinton could help Obama with certain demographics, it is possible that the former President could overshadow the current one, leaving the Obama strategists with the question of how, where and when to use Clinton in the campaign.

The answer should be clear: Former President Clinton will play a critical role in the election of 2012. A powerful personality and a gifted politician, Bill Clinton brings enormous cache with the crucial swing vote demographic including, but certainly not limited to, working class white men, a weak point in the Obama reelection strategy. But beyond Clinton's impact with swing voters is that his presence on President Obama's team reminds people of the economic prosperity of the 1990's. This election will be profoundly affected by the state of the economy between now and November, and voters, particularly working class swing voters,  remember, more than anything else about his Presidency, that the economy was pretty good when Bill Clinton was President. Linking his campaign to this memory can only help President Obama in his pursuit of a second term and could, in fact, help him immensely.