Via The Hill's Cameron Joseph, Paul Ryan went pretty hard at Barack Obama during the culturally conservative, Values Voter Summit.
And, once again, the GOP ticket elevated Bill Clinton to make a point about Obama.
"In the Clinton years the stated goal was to make abortion safe, legal and rare," he said.
"That was a different time and a different president. Now apparently the Obama-Biden ticket stands for an absolute, unqualified right to an abortion at any time, under any circumstance and even at taxpayers' expense."
Throughout the cycle, Republican candidates have contrasted Barack Obama unfavorably with Clinton. At my most recent count, Romney and his allies have included one of the Clintons in at least six ads.
But of course, Clinton was loathed by Republicans during his presidency.
So here's my question -- twelve years from now, will the GOP bash the 2024 Democratic nominee by comparing him or her unfavorably to..... Obama?
You could make the case both ways.
On one hand, Obama won't be running for elective office, so there'd be no downside to praising him; in fact, as with Clinton, there'd be an upside. Praising a past Democratic president creates the impression that you're not partisan.
On the other hand, Clinton genuinely was more centrist than Obama, so the current Republican contrasts actually are based -- not just on political savvy -- but also political reality. It's hard to find an area where a future Republican could say "But that Obama was a moderate" and then spend time praising him.
