Former US president Bill Clinton, who is due to return to the campaign trail on behalf of presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry after major heart surgery, said on Sunday the choice between Kerry and US President George W. Bush was "profound."
Clinton was due to hit the campaign trail on behalf of his fellow Democrat yesterday and attend a rally in Philadelphia, in the showdown state of Pennsylvania just six weeks after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Clinton played down concerns about his recovery.
Asked if he was taking a risk, Clinton replied: "No I don't think so ... I think it's [the election] important and because the differences between the two candidates and the courses they will pursue in the next four years are so profound."
"I'm going out tomorrow [yesterday] ... I talked to my doctors about it and they made some very helpful suggestions," Clinton said, adding he was also hitting the stump because the race was so closely tied.
Democrats hailed their former leader's return to the campaign.
"President Clinton has enormous standing with the base of the Democratic party. He will energize it. He has incredible numbers, almost unbelievable numbers with African-Americans for example. So I think he will bring enormous energy to the Democratic Party base," Kerry adviser Tad Devine told Fox television.
But White House communications director Dan Bartlett dismissed Clinton's potential effect on the campaign.
"The fact that John Kerry's going to have to roll him off the surgery table and onto the campaign trail demonstrates a revealing aspect, that he's under-performing in key parts of his own constituency," Bartlett told Fox.
Clinton, 58, has been recuperating at his home in Chappaqua, New York, since undergoing surgery, limiting his campaign contributions to written statements and advice offered over the telephone.
Since leaving office, Clinton has continued as a force in the Democratic party and, despite the sex scandal that led to his impeachment, he remains a hugely popular figure in US politics.
He drew thousands of people on a book tour earlier this year to promote his best-selling autobiography My Life, and was widely seen as the star of the show at July's Democratic National Convention, overshadowing Kerry with a speech that electrified the party faithful.
A seasoned and extremely effective campaigner, Clinton was controversially kept away from the stump in 2000 by Al Gore, who believed his scandal-tarnished former boss would be a liability.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese