Clinton partly blames the anti-government sentiment of the tea party for the weak economy. Inside Bill Clinton's new book

Bill Clinton says in a new book that the debt-ceiling showdown in Washington last summer made the country look “weak and confused,” and that President Barack Obama now has a “tough hand to play” in negotiating with lawmakers, The Associated Press reports.

In “Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government For a Strong Economy,” Clinton says the deficit deal that was finally reached between Obama and congressional Republicans didn’t do much to grow the economy or solve the country’s debt problem, and he notes that Obama should have raised the debt limit when Democrats controlled the House, the AP said.


The former president partly blames the anti-government sentiment of the tea party for the weak economy, but also writes that the Obama administration should have made a stronger case for some of the earlier decisions the president made, like the stimulus and bank and auto industry bailouts, the wire says.

The economy is now “a mess,” and Obama has “a tough hand to play,” the 42nd president warns in his book.

Clinton, who has recently spoken out in strong support of Obama’s new job plan, recalls in the book the lack of a unified message from Democrats during the 2010 midterm elections. Clinton writes that as much as he tried to explain “in plain language” what the Obama administration had accomplished during the midterms, he and Vice President Joe Biden “couldn’t persuade” Democrats to settle on a set of clear talking points, the AP said.

“Back to Work” is set to hit bookstores on Nov. 8. AP said it purchased a copy of the book.