Bill Clinton: Hillary will make the best future

ELON - Mixing personal anecdotes of his presidency with reasons why his wife should get the job next, Bill Clinton drew a crowd of nearly 3,000 at Elon University during his "Solutions for the American Economy" tour through the state on Wednesday.

 Clinton's voice strained at times during his nearly hour-long talk touting the candidacy of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, but not his sense of humor. 

Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem and superdelegate Susan Burgess introduced the 42nd president. Referring to the candidates "fawning" over superdelegates, Clinton quipped: "I want you to know I don't approve of that, but I did wash her car before we started this rally."

Clinton was scheduled to arrive at Elon at 3:15 p.m., but was about 80 minutes late. The crowd appeared to be mostly Elon students and Hillary Clinton supporters, but Obama faithful and folks of all ages were sprinkled throughout the crowd.

Hillary Clinton is waging a tight battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, while Arizona Sen. John McCain has locked up the Republican nomination.

Clinton praised each saying "they are truly historic figures," but insisted his wife is the best choice for president.

"The real issue here is not which of these three admirable people will be the most historic, the real issue is who will make the best future for you."

As president, Hillary Clinton will create 8 million jobs "in the next couple of years," Clinton said - 5 million by making "a serious commitment to energy independence through more homegrown clean-energy efficiency," like solar energy and biofuels, and another 3 million "by fixing the infrastructure of America."

As president, Hillary Clinton will repeal subsidies to oil companies Congress passed in 2005, Clinton said.

Bill Clinton speaking for Hillary at Elon University (April 23, 2008) [Full Audio Address]

His wife's plan will provide affordable health and dental coverage to all through more efficient management, Clinton said.

"Every other country knows you can't control health care costs unless you cover absolutely everybody."

McCain's plan covers "the fewest," he said; Obama's covers "most."

"You just have to decide whether you think this is important," Clinton continued. "I don't care who you elect president, if we keep doubling our health care costs every seven years, you can't bring the economy back. There won't be enough money to invest in education. People won't have enough money to consume."

The Bush Administration "has declared war on science," Clinton said. "They spent too little money and invested too much politics."

Hillary Clinton will help bring manufacturing jobs "back to America" and "get America back into the research business" through work on stem cells, the human genome and global warming.

Referring to the large U.S. trade deficit with China, Japan and South Korea, the former president said Hillary Clinton "will take this country back to balanced budgets and give the young people in this audience their future back.

"In a globally interdependent world, you cannot be an effective social progressive unless you're a fiscal conservative," he added.

Trade laws that encourage American companies to invest and move overseas need to be changed, Clinton said.

When it comes to education, Sen. Clinton will work to provide "universal preschool to all of our kids" and "do something drastic to overcome the problems created by No Child Left Behind."

Raising the tuition tax credit from $1,600 to $3,500, are among Sen. Clinton's reforms to make college affordable for everyone.

Of the three presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is the best-qualified to be commander-in-chief and solve the country's problems, the Bill Clinton concluded.

"The thing that really matters in the presidency is whether you're a change-maker, if you agree that the test is are people going to be better off and young people are going to have a bright future," he said. "I've never known anybody who could look at a problem and figure out what to do about it better."

Some polls show Obama with a large lead over Hillary Clinton in the run-up to North Carolina's May 6 primary.

In an interview with the Times-News, Clinton said to win the North Carolina primary, his wife "needs to be here as much as she can and make her case directly to the people.

"Chelsea and I need to help her as much as we can. We got a lot of great grass-roots supporters here."

His wife, Clinton said, "got a little break today because Sen. Obama's campaign strategist said that the people they lost in Pennsylvania they didn't need ... middle class, working-class people in these small towns" to win the White House.

Clinton disagreed with that supposed assessment. "We need everybody to get this thing done."

To gain the nomination, Hillary Clinton needs to "win the popular vote" but doesn't have to win all the remaining primaries, Bill Clinton said.

The Democratic Party has refused to count delegates from the Florida and Michigan primaries because the states held their primaries earlier than they were supposed to.

Seating those delegates at the Democratic convention is the "morally right thing to do," Clinton said.