Clinton’s comments concerned both the 2012 election and this year’s midterms. Clinton to Dems: Don't run from fight

Former President Bill Clinton says Democrats should “embrace” even their more controversial policies, not back down from a fight, according to a new report.

The remarks come as Democrats running in red states grapple with how to discuss President Barack Obama’s controversial health care law, which Republicans are betting will be a central issue of the 2014 midterms.


In a piece posted at RealClearPolitics and at NationalMemo.com, author Joe Conason wrote that Clinton reflected on his own time in politics as he discussed the subject this week.

“I thought that Democrats had a tendency to shy away from things they had done that were unpopular, (and) talk about positions they had that were popular,” he said. “And that my own experience had convinced me — going back to ‘94 and even more when I was governor [of Arkansas] — that that was always a terrible mistake. That you had to turn in toward all controversies and embrace them — even if you said you were wrong or a mistake was made. You couldn’t not deal with it.”

Clinton’s comments concerned both the 2012 presidential election and this year’s midterms, the piece said. Clinton’s spokesman confirmed that they were offered in an interview.

“When [Obama] asked me to speak for him in North Carolina [at the Democratic National Convention], I said that I would do it — but that I could only do it and be effective if he let me explain and defend the health care deal,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is considered a top contender for the 2016 Democratic nomination and is expected to make a decision this year about whether she will run. She has largely defended the health care law, though has signaled that she would support “evidence-based changes” to aspects of the measure that aren’t working.