Obama, Clinton together at last

(REUTERS/JASON REED)

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Barack Obama's appearance with Bill Clinton last night in Kissimmee was a marquee event in Florida, where local TV networks planned to carry it live on 11 p.m. newscasts. It was also something of a love-fest, with Obama repeatedly praising Clinton's leadership in the 1990s, and Clinton praising Obama as the 21st-century leader America needs.

"In case all of you forgot, this is what it's like to have a great president," Obama said to 35,000 chilly people at a park here, outside Orlando. "Florida, I think you all agree with me that we all wish the last eight years looked more like the Clinton years."

The two men were not on the best of terms during the primaries, as Obama battled the former president's wife, Hillary Clinton. But last night they were all smiles as they crested the stage together. Clinton saluted the giant crowd, before Obama put his hand on Clinton's back as they walked to the podium.

Clinton praised what he called Obama's steady leadership during the economic crisis, and he defended Obama against John McCain's charges that his tax plan would "redistribute" wealth. Clinton said Republican leadership in the White House the last eight years had done just that, giving the wealthy even more than they had when he left the Oval Office.

"Don't tell me about redistribution," Clinton said.

"Folks, we can't fool with this," he continued. "Our country is hanging in the balance. We have so much promise and so much peril. This man should be our president."

Clinton also praised the diversity of the crowd, although he did so in a somewhat head-scratching way.

"Look at this crowd! It's not only big it is highly diverse," he said. "You've even got a few old gray-headed white guys like me. You haven't shut my demographic out yet. This is America's future."