Ex-President Clinton defends wife’s role in fights with GOP

Hillary Clinton was
helping needy people before she became a senator, the
former president said.

MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton struck back at his wife’s critics Friday, defending her role in the divisive political fights between them and the Republicans in the 1990s.

“I’m kind of proud of those fights,” he told a crowd of about 200 people gathered at a middle school in Mansfield.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama often depicts chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as tied down by the past, selling himself as the candidate of the future. He said Thursday that he would be more willing than Clinton to work with Republicans.

Campaigning throughout Ohio in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary, Bill Clinton acknowledged earlier Friday that voters are torn between Obama and Clinton, but he also said that his wife is the only candidate who has proved she can bring about change.

Clinton never mentioned Obama by name in the first three of five campaign stops Friday in Ohio.

“The truth is most like them both,” Clinton said of Democrats while speaking to students and supporters at the University of Findlay.

Clinton told them that his wife helped people in need even before she was elected to the Senate.

“It’s one thing to talk about change, it’s another to do it,” he said.

At a packed high school gym in Marion, he criticized President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, saying, “You will never have to worry about that with her. You want somebody who will never forget you. She will never forget you.”

Clinton said the former first lady would have more sensible economic policies that would require less borrowing from countries that are trade partners. That borrowing becomes a problem when trying to enforce trade deal regulations, he said.

“We can’t be tough on these people. They’re our bankers,” he said

Clinton told the University of Findlay crowd, which the school estimated at 1,200, that his wife has fought for women’s rights in China and is respected by people around the world. He also said her administration would cooperate with other countries when the U.S. can and would restore American’s standing in the world.

“The world is mad at us for a lot of reasons,” he said. “We’ve basically said for the last seven years, ‘It’s our way or the highway.’”

Clinton called likely Republican nominee John McCain a “good man” and noted that McCain and Hillary Clinton had worked together on global warming.

“They may have many differences, but they respect each other,” he said.

Sarah Everly, a University of Findlay sophomore, said she was excited to hear Clinton speak, especially about what his wife will do to help make college more affordable, but she also admitted she already had voted for Obama because “he’s different. We need drastic change.”

“I like them both,” she said. “I’m not going to be disappointed.”

The private school, which is generally conservative, has been swept up in this election, she said.

“Voting is cool again,” Everly said.