What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said

What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
DASHIELL BENNETT140,583 ViewsSEP 6, 2012

If you were following any journalists on Twitter last night, one of the most remarked upon aspects of Bill Clinton's nomination speech was how liberally he deviated from the prepared text. What was handed out to the media was four pages of single-spaced, small font text, but — as an exasperated TelePrompTer operator found out —that was really just a guideline to what Clinton actually wanted to say during his 49-minute address. We decided to compare the two versions to see how one of the great speechmakers of his era goes about his business.

Most experienced public speakers know how to deviate and alter and add flourishes to their prepared remarks on the fly, but few do it as well as Clinton. (Even if you disagree with what he's saying.) As you can see below, from a purely rhetorical standpoint nearly all of his changes enhanced the text in some way and brought added emphasis to arguments. Notice his frequent changing of "should vote for Barack Obama" to "must vote." And his even more frequent use of "Now" and "Look" when beginning a point. Many of his best lines — like his "bloodsport" quote — were either ad-libbed or added in back in at the last moment. 

White House sources say they edited the speech for length and that Clinton ignored their changes, but most of the major additions seemed to be throwaway lines or personal asides. Most of the original substance remained. The parts that were mostly likely cut and then re-inserted were the section about Richard Lugar (who was defeated by his own party for working with Obama), his lengthy riff on cooperation, and his closing line about George Washington.

There was one flub, however, when he inadvertently referred to second lady Jill Biden as "Joe."

Here is copy of the speech as it was written and provided to the media by the Democratic Party. Here's a transcript of what Clinton actually said, (as compiled by The New York Times.) Our version below is based off the written text with Clinton's insertions in italics and his deletions struck out. See what you think of his oratory skills.

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Now, Mr. Mayor, fellow Democrats, We're here to nominate a president, and I've got one in mind.

I want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty.I want to nominate A man who ran for president to change the course of an already weak economy and then just six weeks before the election, saw it suffer the biggest collapse since the Great Depression. A man who stopped the slide into depression and put us on the long road to recovery, knowing all the while that no matter how many jobs were created and saved he saved or created, there were still millions more waiting, trying to feed their children and worried about feeding their own kids, trying to keep their hopes alive. 

I want to nominate a man cool on the outside but burning who burns for America on the inside. I want A man who believes with no doubt that we can build a new American Dream economy driven by innovation and creativity, but [sic] education and — yes — by cooperation.

And by the way, after last night, I want A man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama.

I want Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States and I proudly nominate him as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party.

Now, folks, In Tampa a few days ago, we heard a lot of talk all about how the president and the Democrats don't really believe in free enterprise and individual initiative, how we want everyone to be dependent on the government, how bad we are for the economy.

The Republican narrative — this alternative universe — is says that all of us every one of us in this room who amounts to anything, are we’re all completely self-made. One of our greatest Democratic chairmen the greatest chairmen the Democratic Party ever had, Bob Strauss, used to say that every politician wants you every voter to believe he was born in a log cabin he built himself, but, as Strauss then admitted, it ain't so.

We Democrats, we think the country works better with a strong middle class, with real opportunities for poor people folks to work their way into it and with a relentless focus on the future, with business and government actually working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. We think You see, we believe that "we're all in this together" is a far better philosophy than "you're on your own." It is.

So Who's right? Well, since 1961, for 52 years now, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. In those 52 years, our economy produced 66 million private sector jobs.So What's the jobs score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 million.

Now, there’s a reason for this. It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, Why? because discrimination, poverty poverty, discrimination and ignorance restrict growth, When you stifle human potential, when you don’t invest in new ideas, it doesn’t just cut off the people who are affected; it hurts us all. We know that while investments in education, and infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it growth, creating more They increase good jobs and they createnew wealth for all the rest of us.

Now, there’s something I’ve noticed lately. You probably have too. And it’s this. Maybe just because I grew up in a different time, but Though I often disagree with Republicans, I actually never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate our President Obama and the a lot of other Democrats. After all, that would be impossible for me because President Eisenhower sent federal troops to my home state to integrate Little Rock Central High and President Eisenhower built the interstate highway system. And as governor When I was a governor, I worked with President Reagan and his White House on the first round of welfare reform and with President George H.W. Bush on national education goals. I am actually grateful to — if you saw from the film what I do today, I have to be grateful, and you should be, too — that President George W. Bush for supported PEPFAR, which is saving It savedthe lives of millions of people in poor countries and to And I have been honored to work with both Presidents Bush for the work we've done together after on natural disasters in the aftermath of the South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake. horrible earthquake in Haiti.

Through my foundation, both in America and around the world, I'm work working all the time with Democrats, Republicans and Independents, Sometimes I couldn’t tell you for the life who I’m working with because who are focused we focus on solving problems and seizing opportunities, not fighting each other. all the time.

And so here’s what I want to say to you, and here’s what I want the people at home to think about. When times are tough, and people are frustrated and angry and hurting and uncertain, the politics of constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world, cooperation works better. But what is good politics does not necessarily work in the real world. What works in the real world is cooperation. What works in the real world is cooperation, business and government, foundations and universities. Ask the mayors who are here. Los Angeles is getting green and Chicago is getting an infrastructure bank because Republicans and Democrats are working together to get it. They didn’t check their brains at the door. They didn’t stop disagreeing, but their purpose was to get something done. Now, why is this true? Why does cooperation work better than constant conflict? Because After all, nobody's right all the time, and a broken clock is right twice a day. All of us are destined to live our lives between those two extremes. And every one of us — every one of us and every one of them, we’re compelled to spend our fleeting lives between those two extremes, knowing we’re never going to be right all the time and hoping we’re right more than twice a day.

Unfortunately, the faction that now dominates the Republican Party doesn't see it that way. They think government is always the enemy, they’re always right, and compromise is weakness. Just in the last couple of elections, they defeated two distinguished Republican senators because they dared to cooperate with Democrats on issues important to the future of the country, even national security. They beat a Republican congressman with almost a hundred percent voting record on every conservative score, because he said he realized he did not have to hate the president to disagree with him. Boy, that was a nonstarter, and they threw him out.

One of the main reasons America should we ought to re-elect President Obama is that he is still committed to constructive cooperation. Look at his record. Look at his record. Look at his record. He appointed Republican secretaries of defense, the army and transportation. He appointed a vice president who ran against him in 2008, and he trusted him that vice president to oversee the successful end of the war in Iraq and the implementation of the recovery act. And Joe Biden did a great job with both.

He — President Obama — President Obama appointed several members of his Cabinet members who even though they supported Hillary in the primaryies. Heck, he even appointed Hillary. Wait a minute. I am — I am very proud of her. I'm so proud of her and grateful to our entire I am proud of the job she and the national security team have done for America. for all they've done I am grateful that they have worked together to make us safer and stronger and to build a world with more partners and fewer enemies. I’m grateful for the relationship of respect and partnership she and the president have enjoyed and the signal that sends to the rest of the world, that democracy does not have a blood — have to be a blood sport, it can be an honorable enterprise that advances the public interest. 

Now besides the national security team, I'm also very grateful to the young men and women who serve our country in the military who’ve served our country in uniform through these perilous times and I am especially grateful to Michelle Obama and Jill Joe Biden for supporting those military families when while their loved ones are were overseas and forhelping supporting our veterans, when they come home bearing the wounds of war, or needing help with education, housing, and jobs. or jobs or housing.

President Obama's whole record on national security is a tribute to his strength, and to his judgment, and to his preference for inclusion and partnership over partisanship. We need more if it in Washington, D.C.

Now, we all know that He also tried to work with congressional Republicans on health care, debt reduction, and jobs, but And that didn't work out so well. Probably But it could have been because, as the Senate Republican leader said, in a remarkable moment of candor, said two full years before the election, their No. 1 priority was not to put America back to work, but it was to put the President Obama out of work. Well, wait a minute Senator, I hate to break it to you, but we're going to keep President Obama on the job. 

Now, are you ready for that? Are you willing to work for it. Oh, wait a minute. In Tampa — in Tampa — did y’all watch their convention? I did. In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president's re-election was actually pretty simple pretty snappy: we left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in. 

Now — (cheers, applause) — but they did it well. They looked good; the sounded good. They convinced me that they all love their families and their children and were grateful they’d been born in America and all that — really, I’m not being — they did. And this is important, they convinced me they were honorable people who believed what they said and they’re going to keep every commitment they’ve made. We just got to make sure the American people know what those commitments are.

Because In order to look like an acceptable, reasonable, moderate alternative to President Obama, they just didn’t couldn't say very much about the ideas they have offered over the last two years.You see They couldn’t because they want to go back to the same old policies that got us into trouble in the first place: They want to cut taxes for high-income Americans even more than President Bush did; They want to get rid of those pesky financial regulations designed to prevent another crash and prohibit future bailouts; They want to actually to increase defense spending over a decade $2 trillion more than the Pentagon has requested without saying what they'll spend the money it on; And they want to make enormous cuts in the rest of the budget, especially programs that help the middle class and poor kids children As another president once said- there they go again.

Now I like the argument for President Obama's re-election a lot better. Here it is. He inherited a deeply damaged economy, He put a floor under the crash, He began the long hard road to recovery, and laid the foundation for a modern, more well-balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses, and lots of new wealth for the innovators.

Now Are we where we want to be today? No. Is the president satisfied? No Of course not. But Are we better off than we were when he took office, with an And listen to this. Listen to this. Everybody — (inaudible) — when President Barack Obama took office, the economy was in free fall, It had just shrunk 9 full percent of GDP. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Are we doing better than that today? The answer is yes.

I understand the challenge we face. Now, look. Here’s the challenge he faces and the challenge all of you who support him face. I get it. I know it. I’ve been there. I know many A lot of Americans are still angry and frustrated with the about this economy. Though If you look at the numbers, you know employment is growing, banks are beginning to lend again. And in a lot of places, and evenhousing prices are picking up a bit even beginning to pick up, too many people don't feel it. But too many people do not feel it yet.

I experienced had the same thing happen in 1994 and early 1995. We could see that the Ourpolicies were working, that and the economy was growing but most people didn't feel it yet. Thankfully, By 1996, the economy was roaring, everybody felt it, and we were halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in American history the history of the United States. But — wait, wait. The difference this time is purely in the circumstances. President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. Listen to me, now. No president- no president, not me or not any of my predecessors, no one could have repaired all the damage that he found in just four years. 

Now — but — he has — he has laid the foundation for a new, modern, successful economy of shared prosperity. But conditions are improving and if you'll renew the President's contract you will feel it. I believe that with all my heart. Folks, whether the American people believe what I just said or not may be the whole election. I just want you to know that I believe it. With all my heart, I believe it. Now, why do I believe it?

I'm fixing to tell you why. I believe it because President Obama's approach embodies the values, the ideas, and the direction America must has to take to build a 21st century version of the American Dream in: a nation of shared opportunities, shared prosperity and shared responsibilities. shared responsibilities, shared prosperity, a shared sense of community.

So let’s get back to the story. In 2010, as the president's recovery program kicked in, the job losses stopped and things began to turn around.

The Recovery Act saved and created millions of jobs and cut taxes — let me say this again — cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people. And, In the last 29 months the our economy has produced about 4.5 and one-half million private sector jobs. We could have done better, But last year, the Republicans blocked the president's jobs plan costing the economy more than a million new jobs. So here's another jobs score: President Obama plus 4.5 and one-half million, congressional Republicans zero.

Over that same period, During this period — during this period, more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been created under President Obama- That’s the first time manufacturing jobs have increased since the 1990s. And I’ll tell you something else. The auto industry restructuring worked. It saved more than a million jobs, and not just at GM, Chrysler and their dealerships, but in auto parts manufacturing all over the country. That's why even the auto-makers that who weren't part of the deal supported it. They needed to save the those parts suppliers too. Like I said, we're all in this together.

So what’s happened? Now there are 250,000 more people working in the auto industry than on the day the companies were restructured. So — now, we all know that Gov. Romney opposed the plan to save GM and Chrysler. So here's another jobs score: Are you listening in Michigan and Ohio and across the country? Here’s another job score: Obama 250,000, Romney, zero.

Now, The agreement the administration made with management, labor and environmental groups to double car mileage over the next few years is another good deal that was a good deal too: it will cut your gas prices in half, your gas bill in half. No matter what the price is, if you double the mileage of your car, your bill will be half what it would have been. It will make us more energy independent, It will cut greenhouse gas emissions, and add another 500,000 good jobs according to several analyses, over the next 20 years, it’ll bring us another half a million good new jobs into the American economy.

President Obama's "all of the above" energy plan The president’s energy strategy, which he calls “all of the above,” is helping too- the boom in oil and gas production combined with greater energy efficiency has driven oil imports to a near 20-year low and natural gas production to an all-time high. Renewable energy production has also doubled.

We do need more new jobs, lots of them, Of course, we need a lot more new jobs. but there are already more than three million jobs open and unfilled in America today, mostly because theapplicants the people who apply for them don't yet have the required skills to do them. We have to prepare more Americans for the new jobs that are being actually going to be created in a world fueled by new technology. The old economy is not coming back. We’ve got to build a new one and educate people to do those jobs. That's why investments in our people are more important than ever.

The president and his education secretary has have supported community colleges and employers in working together to train people for open jobs that are actually open in their communities. And, even more important after a decade in which exploding college costs have increased the drop-out rate so much that we've fallen to the percentage of our young people with four-year college degrees has gone down so much that we have dropped to 16th in the world in the percentage of young people with college degrees. So the president’s student loan is more important than ever. Here’s what it does — (cheers, applause) — here’s what it does. You need to tell every voter where you live about this. It his student loan reform lowers the cost of federal student loans and even more important, it gives students the right to repay the those loans as