bush went to visit clinton when president clinton was leaving office in george w. bush asked clinton -- he said to him, you didn't used to be such a great speaker because clinton had given a horrible speech one time i would say it in 1988 democratic convention. and he said do you have any tips about how to give a good speech? the presence club functions on levels both high and sometimes just very practical. >> but ultimately i think what struck us is the ultimate, the rituals and the souvenirs in the clubhouse is, the thing that makes the club the most real is this notion that the office itself is more important than the individual, and who occupy it. we kept hearing this again and again and again particularly when one administration gives way to another. so in january of 2009, president bush summoned the entire club membership to the white house to meet the new guy, and he says at that time to president obama, look, we all want you to succeed and those of us who have been in this office no the office transcends the individual. and i think what we took away from th

clinton never meant lbj.e told us he thought as all presidents or their successors, history will be kinder to him. that is what they hoped for. right over here. >> said the implications of the president's cloud is are there similar models and prime ministers of written? >> i think what is amazing about the presidents cup -- let me answer it this way. i read a story in "the new york times" that it was inevitable this circus would be defeated because he wasn't a typically french president. the french like their presidents grandfatherly and cool in anti-american. [laughter] and sarkozy was none of those things. and that reminds me when they go back to this picture, i mean, go back to these. there is nothing in common about any of these guys. they're all different. we elect presidents who don't begin to sit in the same. if you have back to be just as you can if you added nixon and johnson and kennedy. i mean, this club speaks ira is widely different backgrounds and it's a quintessentially american thing. and i do

bush went to visit clinton when president clinton was leaving office and george w. bush asked clinton and said to him you didn't be -- to infuse the such a great speaker. clinton had given a horrible speech at the 1988 democratic convention and he said do you have any tips how to give a good speech? the president's club functions on levels both high and very practical. >> ultimately what struck us is of all the rules and rituals and souvenirs and clubhouse the thing that makes it most real is this notion that the office itself is more important than the individuals who occupy it. we kept hearing this again and again particularly when one administration gives way to another. in january of 2009 president bush summoned the entire club membership to the white house to meet the new guy. he said at the time to president obama we all want you to succeed. those of us who have been in this office know that the office transcends the individual. what michael and i took away from this research was seeing these are men who are fiercely ambitious. they play a men's role in our co

clinton did not have to say it. i agree with keith. clinton's a real smart guy. to go out and praise mitt romney to the high heavens which, by the way, he did again today in his interview with maria bartiromo, praised romney. >> these two guys, clinton and obama, come from two different parts of the democratic party. clinton from the center left. obama from the far left. so idealogically, they are poles apart. clinton is much more pro-business than obama. we don't even discuss that. the point is that the days when he was called a racist by the obama people in south carolina, he never -- >> that's not true. the obama people never called him a racist. you had a few people who were concerned about what bill clinton said because he made the comments comparing obama's victory in south carolina to jesse jackson. but nobody ever called bill clinton a racist from the obama campaign. you should not say that. but there's a big distortion about this. hillary clinton is barack obama's secretary of state. they worked together closely. yes, they were rivals in the 2008 campaig

speaking of bill clinton, bill clinton says he will support hillary if she runs. ed the democrats could have their strongest field ever. andrew cuomo, martin, o'mally, and joe biden are all runners. and mitt romney still doesn't know if he supports the pay act. n ca jun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at restaurants. it pays to discover. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping y

speaking of bill clinton, bill clinton says he will support hillary if she runs. democrats could have their strongest field ever. andrew cuomo, martin, o'mally, and joe biden are all runners. and mitt romney still doesn't know if he supports the pay act. dude you don't understand, this is my dad's car. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... [ male announcer ] the security of a 2012 iihs top safety pick. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. >>> tomorrow, the senate will vote on the paycheck fairness act. here is president obama pushing for passage of the bill on a conference call this afternoon. >> congress has to step up and do its job. if congress passes the paycheck fairness act, women are going to have access to more tools to claim equal pay for equal work. if they don't, if congress doesn't act, then women are still going to have difficulty enforcing and pressing for this basic principle. >> mitt romney's position on the paycheck fairness act is pure romney. it is nonexistent. the romney campaign is refusing to say whether mi

is a really good surrogate for clinton. and i do mean himself and not necessarily his wife. he's not such a great surrogate for obama. a great fundraiser and incredible in that department. but he doesn't automatically transfer all of the people that voted for him or all of his characteristic, his charm and savvy to obama but endorsing him. >> karen finny, i believe there's a tension that lives inside every president's brain while they're president, that is ultracareful about every single word they speak. and as soon as they're no longerment, there's a certain relaxization that comes in that allows certain words to yeep out here and there. before you get into this, karen, i want to listening to bill clinton's response to what he really meant to say. his clarification of what he was really trying to say last week about mitt romney's business record. >> if point i was trying to make the other day is that, you have examples of private equity doing good and bad things over the last decade. i think the president was on stronger g

this is kind of clinton being clinton as we say. this is the way he conducts himself, but i don't think this has anything to do with 2008. >> let's focus a little bit on that saying bad things about someone, because he said that romney had a stellar career as a businessman. let's listen to that. i want to talk about it. >> i am strongly commit it had to his re-election. you know me. i don't think i should have to say bad things about governor romney personally to disagree with him politically. the fact that i was complementary of his success as a business person doesn't mean that i think that he should be elected and president obama shouldn't. >> president bill clinton has a very high favorability rating as an ex-president. i'm going to put this up here. it's 66%. so do you think going forward that the obama campaign is going it to continue to use him, or are they a little fearful sometimes he speaks his mind too much? >> i think they're going to continue to use him because he's such a huge draw. as those numbers show he's incredibl

is bill clinton magnificently conflicted because he's bill clinton? he also like to see his wife get elected some day? yes. but not at the expense of defeating barack obama, i don't believe that for a second. >> howard dean and howard fineman, the two howards. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks a lot. >>> coming up, mitt romney's new neighbors in california are worried that his rebuilding his beachhouse and having secret service crawling all over the place will ruin the neighborhood. two of mitt romney's new neighbors a gay couple he has not yet met, will join me tonight. >>> and in the rewrite, what mitt romney did during the war of his era, vietnam, the story of mitt romney and the draft and muhammad ali and the draft. and me and the draft. that's coming up. they don't get than this! omg it's kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about market volatility. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 in times like these, it can b

clinton seemed to agree. we should act now. not after the elections, to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> well, i happen to think president clinton right on the money. isn't it time to fix the fiscal tax cliff, get business some certainty, and stave off recession? here now, house members peter welch, democrat from vermont. and nan hayworth from new york. by the way, at this point, half the major opinion makers in the democratic party agree with the getting rid of the tax cliff and disagree with their own president, peter. >> well, there was picking and choosing among the republican leaders delighted to hear tax cut on president clinton's lips. he clarified that, number one. number two, i think what we need to do is what president clinton did, a balanced approach. his budget vote that he won by one vote, raised taxes and it lowered spending. a balanced approach. led to $20 million new jobs in three years of surpluses, and that's what i am arguing for. we need a balanced approach where the pentagon contributes, where

chris: the clintons. . >> one thing to think about with hillary clinton. she was on the cover of "look" magazine you guys will remember it. and the audience won't. that was in 1969. three years before she met bill clinton. my point in that being hillary clinton was ambitious. she had a sense of her trajectory. and other people who looked at her, similarly had a sense of her trajectory and her destiny. decades ago. somebody like that, i don't think gets to a certain age and says you know what? i'm done. time to coast. if she sees an opportunity she will take it. chris: put this all together. i'm not her advisor but i would say with kathleen said and what we're saying it all fits together. take year off. just relax. get in shape. enjoy life. get some fresh air. get all this office out of your head. >> yeah. chris: and then decide. that's a pretty reasonable thing to do. >> well, i suspect that's what she has in mind. chris: dan? >> well, one, i don't think it's better for hillary clinton's chances if she wants to run in 2016 that obama loses. i might be in t

i saw the best of bill clinton and the best of hillary clinton in chelsea clinton. probably seen that as well. i wonder if you want to talk a little bit about that. >> oh, i'm really proud of her. i think she's a fine person. the most important thing to me. and she's smart, caring, able, and determined. i think she's terrific. and i've got a great son-in-law, which is always a good thing to like your in laws. so i want her to do whatever she wants to do. but i'm really grateful now with this work she's doing on television and the work she does at nyu and the college course she's teaching at columbia, that she's still willing to be so act initiative our foundation activities. she really cares about this stuff and she's helped me do a lot of work at the foundation, tried to improve the managements and just managed our massive growth. it's fun. i'm grateful to her. >> she's got the best of her mom, the best of her dad. >> yeah, she got her father's energy and her brothers brains and character. she's something. >> we're out of time. how do you feel? >> great. as far as

clinton, 66. bush, 43. has been defeated by bush is in unfavorability. >> right. >> and this is a potentially important role from this standpoint too. it is important for the obama campaign to remind people of what he enheritied. it is important to remember the melt down in 2008. to remember the exploding deficits and spending under bush, what the tax cuts did. but there is a sense that if obama is out there directly making that case himself, it looks like he is the guy blaming the predecessor, that can come across the wrong way to people. but if you have bill clinton out there, i can't think after better person, you know, he is basically as prominent as barack obama is, and not only can he defend the obama record, remind people about bush, but also protecting his own legacy there to a certain point. because like he said in that clip, when he left office this country was on course to wipe out deficits and look where they ended up eight years later. >> that's true, but tad, just bill clinton walking out on s

on the economy, bill clinton 55%, barack obama 26%. bill clinton. the end of -- let's see, the era of big government is over. i will never forget it. in the campaign so far he's sided with romney saying to extend the bush tax cuts. nothing wrong with bain capital and romney has a successful business career. people like clinton. >> part of it is they remember the '90s as the modern equivalent of the roaring 20s. it was a good decade economically. they like what you were saying. 63% of americans want the bush tax cuts extended. most people think cutting taxes is good for the economy. what hurts the president through all of this and the reason he suffers by comparison to bill clinton, clinton did give a sense he was interested in slowing the growth of spending. barack obama keeps indicating he wants to spend even more. that's a recipe the american people simply don't buy. >> is that what it says about obama? in other words, i'm going to take it to mean a lack of confidence in obama and people don't want the kind of big government that obama seems to st

i saw the best of bill clinton and the best of hillary clinton in chelsea clinton.as well. i wonder if you want to talk a little bit about that. >> oh, i'm really proud of her. i think she is a fine person, the most important thing to me, and she is smart, caring, able and determined. i think she is terrific. and i got a great son-in-law, which is always a good thing, to like your in-laws, you know. i want her to do whatever she wants to do but i am really grateful with the work she does on television and the work she does at nyu and the course she is teaching at columbia, she is still willing to be so active in our foundation activities. she really cares about this stuff. she has helped me do a lot of work at the foundation, try to improve the management and manage our massive growth. it is fun. i am grateful to her. >> she got the best of her mom, the best of her dad. >> she got her father's enj i and her mother's brains and character. she is something. >> we are out of time. how do you feel? >> great. as far as i know, i am doing fine. i really feel good. >> stil

you will not want to miss maria's big interview with former bill clinton. may earnings out after the bell. how is the housing market doing? we'll find out coming up on the "closing bell." >> announcer: the future of the economy -- >> what i think we need to do is find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> announcer: a crisis in europe. >> should the imf, u.s. taxpayer money, help to bailout europe right now? >> i don't know that it's needed. >> announcer: the presidential election -- >> the most important thing in this election is what will president obama do and what would governor romney do with the economy? >> announcer: bill clinton weighs in on those hot button issues and a whole lot more in a first on cnbc interview with our maria bartiromo. it all begins on this special edition of the "closing bell." >> and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? i'm maria bartiromo. we're moments away from my first on cnbc interview with bill clinton. you won't want to miss what he had to say about the looming fiscal cliff and how to jump-start

>> first of all is he getting a lot of money from clinton.linton raised about 7 million bucks from him in new york. clinton is the only democrat who is acceptable on wall street. i think secondly he likes the idea of being paired with the guy famous for creating jobs. eliminating the deficit and balancing the budget. that's a good association for obama. clinton knows is he being used by a guy he doesn't like so he is going to jab him every chance he gets to bring it all down to earth. and that's what i think you are watching here. >> do you think -- bear in mind as i said hillary is not campaigning in this race. you remember how condi rice worked like crazy for george bush with the secretary of state in this race. >> she is in pakistan where she should be. she is doing her job. look, i don't think that barack obama wants' hillary clinton around campaigning but i could be wrong on that that. >> of course he does. >> you think he wants hillary clinton on the campaign trail. >> absolutely. absolutely. i think there is a personal thing. >> there

to raise some money and one of the guys says who is bill clinton? at this meeting. governor of arkansas. he's -- may run for president. he said i'm a republican. he's a democrat? and then somebody says, this is like five or six weeks -- somebody says i'm listening to this, somebody says what, this is crazy he says. nobody ever heard of this guy. i mean, how are we going to raise money for this guy. this is nuts. only because the goldman partner asked him to come. some governor from arkansas. and i get agitated at this point. i say, this is what you're going to tell people. this is how you're going to raise money for the governor of arkansas. go out and tell people when they see him, and when they meet him and when they hear him speak and when they see the quality of his mind, charisma n tell against, his good looks even, you are going to tell people this guy is going to be president of the united states. they are contributing early to somebody as president of the united states. all they have to do is see it and come into contact and he's going to wi

the same argument that bill clinton is making that we need to extend the tax rate. >> even clinton came. >> even president bill clinton gets it. you should not raise taxes on anybody. >> president clinton not wanting it further undermine our economy recommended short term extension of all the tax relief. >> there he is. it toit took hatch to say what wanted to say. and we get policies straight. joan, absolutely dishonesty there. pant on fire with mccain and thune and boehner. who writes this crap for them in anybody that want a newspaper, go out and look on-line on the web, check right now, see what bill clinton said the first time he said it. we will get through this campaign and deal with the extension and not give it to the rich. sometimes politics amazes me. it really does. the absolute dishonesty. can i only forgive them if i realize some dinky staff member wrote it, some dinky staff member writing for romney. >> they didn't. they have well paid think tankers. they have fox news. pe the have bloggers. they talk to themselves all day long's they decided this is a line. i want to go

they loved bill clinton, he was dating lounge singers and going to mcdonalds. he was the last democratic president that those guys kind of liked. >> i agree with you completely. i think you're right, you want bill clinton at his side, he is certainly the most popular politician in the world right now. here we have republicans on capitol hill jumps at the chance to read their talking points written for them by their dutiful staff written for them by the rnc and the romney campaign. here is a few of them sports utter dishonesty. >> i want to thank you for having president clinton on, he is the gift that keeps giving. >> with regard to the tax increases, i make the same argument, the same one that former president bill clinton has been making and that is that we need took tend these tax rates. >> bill clinton came out for it before he was against it. >> president bill clinton gets it, he knows you should not be raising taxes on anybody. >> president clinton not wanting to further undermine our economy recommended a short-term extension of all the tax relief. >> it

one of the guys says who's bill clinton? the governor of arkansas. may run for president. i'm a republican he says. he's a democratic governor. then somebody says, this is like five or six weeks. i'm sitting listening to this. somebody says, what? this is crazy he says. i mean even -- nobody ever heard of this guy. i mean, how are we going to raise money for this guy? this is nuts. they came here only because the goldman partner asked him to come. what's the argument to raise money for some governor from arkansas? and i start -- i get agitated at this point and i say, no. this is what you're going to tell people. this is how you're going to raise money for the governor of arkansas. you're going to go out and tell people that when they see him, and when they meet him, and when they hear him speak, and when they see the quality of his mind, his charisma, his intelligence, his good looks even, you're going to tell these people this guy is going to be president of the united states. and they contribute money now they're contribu

so we're all in on republicans looking back at president clinton and talking about president clintonse that's the conversation we want to have. >> ari, cornell mentioned that poll. i just want to show that to our viewers. he's right about that poll. two-thirds of the country really like former president bill clinton more than any other living ex-president in the poll. is there any question in your mind that having him out there on the stump for president obama is a good thing? >> oh, i think it's a good thing for president obama. he is popular. he has an appeal still to the independents. but, you know, anderson, all these issues are kind of the notable, enjoyable side shows of politics. bill clinton said it, i think he meant it, and then he realized can't mean it, and so he had to curl it back for a wonk like bill clinton, who's a matter of substance. there's not a chance in the world he thought those tax cuts expire before the election. he knows how the tax codes works. he knew it expired december 31st. so give him points for creative fiction and crawling back. when rick perry calle

the clinton presidency would have proceeded. i'm not justifying any conduct president clinton committed or may have with respect to ms. lewinsky later on, you know, that's -- the fact is it wouldn't have had the impact on his presidency it had. there would have been no impeachment. al gore would probably have been elected president in 2000 and the world would have been different. that's what happens. if nixon destroyed the tapes the world would have been different. if president clinton had listened to me with respect to appointing independent counsel the world would have been different, but i'm -- i lead a good life. i'm a happy man. it was tricky meeting with the whole committee at once at times because of a lot of leaks and always worried about that. the staff never -- that's another great tribute to the staff. i'm sure other people must have mentioned this. this is a staff that never leaked. and nobody has ever written a book about this -- no staff member has ever tried to write a sort of an inside view of what happened here.

clinton doesn't make a decision.ought the terrorist resignation for years. >>> if you got parking tickets, don't write one for the most notorious bad guy of the entire empire. [ indiscernible ] >> okeydokey. yea. that man dressed up as darth vader arguing a parking ticket in brooklyn. i don't think he got out of it, but no stormtroopers came to defend him from the parking enforcement. i don't know. it's not halloween. i don't know why the guy would be dressed up, but you never know. >> stuff happens. people want to dress up. let them dress up. thank you. >>> last month saw the weakest job growth in a year. our own erin burnett is talking to top ceos across the country. he's getting their take on the new jobs report and their take on the economy. stand by for that. george zimmerman is ordered back to jail. we just had that report and much more coming up at the top of the hour on why he has only 48 hours to turn himself in. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.

bill clinton being big daddy clinton, throwing his weight around and showing barack obama how politicsly done. >> sean: herman, one of the things nobody in the media seemed to pick up on -- he said in that interview, he called the current economic climate, the conditions being that of a recession. i would have thought that would have made big news. >> remember, there are a lot of disgruntled democrats. so clinton's remarks plays right to the disgruntled democrats. but here's one other thing here you have to remember, at least i thought about, remember when he was going to run for his second term, he move to the middle. i think he is trying to give barack obama advice, saying what he should do. but unfortunately because of the arrogance of this president, he is not going to listen to it. clinton is, you know, he doesn't feel as if he has anything to lose. i would agree with michelle about the points she made. but a lot of it has to do with he realizes that obama is going to lose if he doesn't extend existing tax rates and move to the middle-- >>> this is interesting to me, michelle. i t

chelsea clinton stood in her to her mother hillary clinton who sent a video message because of her sudden crisis meetings in turningy. also present, the no belt laureate from yemen. a most inspiring of all, the arab trail blazers from tune eastern, a libya, egypt and yemen. notably missing from the group of honorees, the saudi woman who led the protest. the saudi government would not let her leave the country to accept her award last night at the kennedy center last night. >> the medicare debate continues in washington. >> for more talk on social security. e right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect

, citing clinton. think that's an amazing tribute to the powers of the man. >> somebody can write a book about how much bill clinton hates barack obama. wait, ed klein already wrote that. >> it hasn't been covered-- >> do you believe the stuff in the book. really believe. >> you know the clinton maneuver. clinton has been passive-aggressive when it comes to big rivals and with this case with barack obama, he loathes him so much,'s doubling down on aggressiveness and saying that the u.s. economy is in recession and that's to me the biggest-- >> and divide and conquer, divide and conquer, bill clinton never said the tax cuts could be permanent and immediate why went totally wrong and went with the headline with wnbc, said u.s. already in recession and tax cuts bill clinton, a never said they should be-- >> he did say stirling record for romney. >> he didn't totally attack the guy. >> jon: we're going keep arguing about this during the break and next, congress wants to plug the leak for paper like the new

then you have president clinton noodling out in public. so easy to distort it in a presidential campaign. >> let's listen to what jay carney had to say about it today. >> president obama has been clear about his position and has not changed. we should not extend and will not extend the tax cuts, the bush era tax cuts, for wealthiest 2% of the american people. we absolutely should extend tax cuts for the middle class. he will not extend tax cuts for the highest income americans. he will not support extension. he will not support extension of the upper income bush tax cuts. he could not be more clear. >> karen finney, being that clear doesn't seem to get you anywhere when you're talking to republicans. >> well, that's true, but, you know, there's another part of the equation here that's a problem. that is, frankly, my democrats. we should not be seeding the ground on this. it is very obvious what the republicans are trying to do and why it is in their interest to try to spin clinton's comments and lawrence summers' comments to try to suggest

bill clinton takes issue.osition where we say this is bad work. this is good work. >> off message big-time. it is more complicated than that. much more complicated. president clinton wants president obama to win. he made that clear repeatedly in that interview. if you know him and talk to people he talks to privately, something else is clear. he thinks attacking romney's business record is a losing strategy. for two reasons. go back to clinton's inaugural. don't stop thinking about tomorrow. he believes that politicians that look in the rear-view mirror are playing a losing hand. >> the real issue ought to be what has governor romney advocated in the campaign that he will do as president? what has president obama done and what does he propose to do? >> what we saw on the praise of romney's business record was bill clinton's dna, a defining characteristic. he helped form the leadership counsel in the mid 1980s. after walter mondale lost 49 states. clinton as his leader, too cozy with unions and too hostile to b

to former president clinton. >> former president clinton. >> obviously, president bill clinton gets's, governor walker fought to keep his crown. >> neighbor could impact a neighbor, worker didn't talk to worker. he start add civil war in this state. >> courage is on the ballot tuesday. >> we've got to plan. our opponents don't have a plan. attack me. >> reporter: his challenger, tom barret, suffer a defeat. >> under the usa as we know it just happened. >> reporter: no. seriously. he had a really, really bad night. but as they say -- heavy is the head that wears the crown. no matter which head. >> actually, many of my students don't know that i'm second lady of the united states. you know, it's a community college. they're working. wait a minute. let me go back. >> or how questionable the crown. >> we do know who the vice president is. >> this is so bad. >> i don't know anything about politics so i don't know. >> world peace. >> i mean -- >> reporter: remember this? >> our education over here in the u.s. should help the u.s. -- or should help south africa and should help the asian co

thanks to bill clinton. but the former president has brought an unusual dynamic along with his support. chief white house correspondent ed henry looks at whether mr. clinton is helping or hurting president obama. >> there are 80,000 more people making cars today than there were when barack obama became president. >> less than a week after bill clinton declared mitt romney has sterling business credentials he was fundraising with president obama and saying the presumptive republican nominee would be calamitous. back on message to a point. with republicans hitting president obama for breaking a promise to balance the budget, mr. clinton couldn't resist this? >> remember me. i'm the only guy that gave you four surplus budgets out of the eight i sent. >> carney said clinton made the point he handed off a surplus. >> when president obama took office, he handed the oval office by his predecessor, republican president, we had the largest deficit in history. >> both sides are under pressure after the congressional b