patrick.net

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/bill-clinton-hillary-closer-228179

Bill Clinton is no longer the closer

Democrats say the former president is not the campaign surrogate he used to be.Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, was home working Sunday evening when Huma Abedin called with an urgent request: Could the former president drop his upcoming meetings in Washington, and take over for his pneumonia-felled wife on the campaign trail.

The answer was, of course, yes: The former president filled in at three fundraisers in California on Tuesday and at a rally in northern Las Vegas on Wednesday. While his wife rested in Chappaqua, New York, he tried to make her case that the country has “to vote for the only person with a credible economic plan.”

In the eyes of his most stalwart defenders, the last-minute sub was an example of the age-old Clinton two-for-one: “He can do something as a surrogate no Trump supporter can do: explain why she’s qualified for the job,” said former Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna. “If Gov. [Chris] Christie lives to be 1,000 years old, he’ll never know what it’s like to be president.”

But with eight weeks to go and Hillary Clinton’s lead slipping, some of her allies have begun to question how much the campaign should lean on him and how bright his legacy star power still is.

“We need to hear directly from the candidate at this point in the election,” a longtime Clinton ally and Democratic National Committee member, said. “It’s nice to have him, but the only real surrogate who works at this point is President Obama.”

God bless one Donald J. Trump for destroying so many lives. and legacies.

#SickHillary