US News

Bill Clinton praises 'genius' wife Hillary

By M&C US News Dec 21, 2007, 17:38 GMT

US Senator from New York and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton listens to her husband, former president Bill Clinton as he introduces her at a Labor Day Rally, in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, 03 September 2007. EPA/STEFE POPE

Former president Bill Clinton thinks his wife is a "genius" when it comes to improving the lives of others.

Appearing in New Hampshire, Clinton described at length what he views as the nation's biggest challenges. He added almost as an afterthought that "everything I'm saying here is my wife's position, not just mine."

It was his third trip to New Hampshire in little more than a month, and the visit came the day before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton was to return for two days of campaigning.

Clinton first compared the successes of his administration in creating jobs and other areas to the failures of the Bush administration before focusing on his wife.

"The reason she ought to be president, over and above her vision and her plans is that she has proven in every position she has ever had in life, whether it was in elected office or not, that she is a world-class genius in making positive changes in other people's lives," he said.

Change vs. experience has been a theme of the Democratic presidential race, and Clinton said the two are not mutually exclusive.

"When I came here, I was 46, but I was the senior governor in America," Bill Clinton said. "I had worked hard on the very economic issues I said I'd try work on as president for years and years and years."

Clinton lauded his wife for her early work for the Children's Defense Fund, her efforts to improve education in Arkansas when he was the state's governor and her work in the U.S. Senate, repeatedly and forcefully calling her "an agent of change."

"She's got the right vision, big plans and a proven ability to change lives for the better. Experience and change are only opposed in values if you're so experienced you don't have any energy left and you can't cut it, or if your experience is in fighting change," he said. "But if you know how to do things, and you prove it over a long time that you can make change in other people's lives, I think that is a pretty strong recommendation."