Former President Bill Clinton and his former Presidential rival Attorney General Governor Jerry Brown buried the hatchet — at least part of the way — when Clinton turned up at a rally supporting Brown in his battle to re-gain the governorship.
But you have to say “almost” since the CNN report also notes how Brown seemed impatient while Clinton spoke and how they went their own separate ways when it was all over.
The two have a bitter political history dating to 1992, when they ran against each other in the Democratic presidential primary.
Back then, Brown earned Clinton’s animus by refusing to drop out until well after it was clear Clinton had locked up the nomination.
Speaking before a crowd on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, Brown heaped praise on the former president.
“Let me tell you about President Clinton. I don’t need to say much. Not only was he great in office, but he has been great after he left office,” Brown said. “He didn’t retire to Palm Springs to play golf, he’s out there doing stuff. He’s helping people in Haiti. He’s fighting AIDS.”
He cheered the former president for “motivating … the highest angles of our spirit.”
Fair enough..
Clinton returned the favor, telling the crowd of screaming students, “I’ve known Jerry Brown for almost 35 years. When we were governors together, we strongly supported to push for green energy … he knew it was good economics when most people thought it was a fools errand.”
Reviewing Brown’s history as a two-term California governor, then mayor of Oakland and now attorney general, he enthused, “I watched him consistently choose the future over the present, but not take a meat axe to the present” insisting “that’s what you need now.”
But then the CNN report notes how Brown’s personally-well-funded rival GOPer Meg Whitman brought Clinton into the race by showing some Clinton 1992 Presidential race footage that was anti-Brown. Brown returned fire by taking a swipe at Clinton and later apologized.
The story notes this:
There were times during Clinton’s speech that Brown seemed to lose patience, staring at the ground or stonily straight ahead.
AND:
When they left the stage, the former adversaries went their separate ways. Brown walked off while Clinton worked the ropeline, crossing through the barricade and into the crowd to shake hands with just about every waiting visitor.
So there were hugs and there was praise and the two were in the present. But the past chemistry still lingered.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.