Clinton: Obama faces same debate from '92 bid

Bill Clinton celebrated the 20th anniversary of the start of his presidential campaign by offering a vigorous defense of President Barack Obama against what he called the same anti-government stances he faced during his presidential race and two terms in office, AP reported. The former president told a crowd of about 5,000 people Saturday outside the Old State House Museum in downtown Little Rock, the same spot where he announced his White House bid in 1991, that Obama faces a different set of challenges but is battling the same questions about the role of government in growing the economy. "Underlying those challenges is the same old debate about whether government is the problem or whether we need smart government and a changing economy working together to create the opportunities of tomorrow," Clinton told the crowd, which was flooded with old campaign signs for him or his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost to Obama in 2008's Democratic nominating contest. The speech was the centerpiece of a weekend commemorating Clinton's presidential announcement, but it also offered plenty of parallels between his presidency and Obama's, including opposition on multiple fronts from Republicans. "There's not a single example on our planet, not one, where an anti-government strategy has produced a vibrant economy with strong and broad-based growth and prosperity," Clinton said. Clinton said Obama has offered plans to stimulate the economy, reduce the long-term debt and address the housing crisis, and it's now up to Congress "to act on those plans, and if they don't like them, then come up with better ideas." Holding hands with Hillary Clinton, the former president arrived at the stage to Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," the song that became the anthem of his 1992 presidential bid. The weekend's events included the dedication Friday of a $10.5 million pedestrian bridge at his presidential library. Clinton joked that when he decided to run for president, his mother was the only one who believed the-then governor of a small southern state would win the presidency.