I think Bill Clinton's speech tonight is far more important than Hillary's speech was last night.  We knew what Hillary was going to say, that supporting Barack Obama is the most important thing and that her supporters needed to get over it, or John McSame will end up President.  Any semblance of a political future she had was 100% dependent on her nailing that speech and making all the right noises.  She did.

Bill Clinton on the other hand is not restrained by that.  He knows he's the only two-term Democrat President still around, and that gives him a hell of a castle wall to perch upon and direct the slings and arrows at whoever he damn well wants to.  He's been Hillary's pit bull since the spring and he's taken some pretty brutal shots.  I'm honestly not convinced that he's going to play nice at all.  Nobody's making him do so, not even Hillary can control the guy.

Now, he won't come out and attack Obama directly.  But I seriously doubt he's going to praise the man either.  He's hurt because Obama's camp has portrayed him as a racist, and the Big Dog is all butthurt at that.  Too bad.  Bill Clinton knew at every step of Hillary's campaign what he was doing and what he was saying.  He knows the reality of Plan 2012 and what's coming down the pike for the next four years economically and socially in this country.

Bill Clinton is not a stupid man, especially when it comes to knowing how relationships work.  He's acting like a spoiled child because it's politically convenient for him to do so, he can make a mess and still get away with it...he's Bill Clinton.  Ain't nobody gonna call him out.

Except the Obama camp did.  That wasn't part of the plan.  Obama was supposed to step aside and have the Big Dog have another shot at the White House.

Now he's got one final shot at assuring Hillary Plan 2012.  It'll come at the cost of African-Americans, but he figures he has four years to mend fences...and we're not going to vote for a Republican after Katrina.  It might even work, he figures.  That Bill Clinton charm will work in the long run, right?

So, here I am after defending the guy back in the 90's, wondering just how hard he's going to try to screw Obama over tonight.  I shouldn't be considering that, really.  Bill Clinton should be giving an amazing speech and he should be behind Obama all the way.  The reality is he's not, and he has nobody to blame but himself.

So either we're going to see Bill Clinton suck it up and do what he has to do, or we're going to see him blow a hole in the side of the S.S. O-biden and try to sink it.  The fact that I don't know what he's going to do scares me a little.  But it does NOT surprise me.  Not anymore.  Bill Clinton could come to bury Caesar and he is the one guy in the party who could get away with it...after all he's been getting away with it for a while now.

Will he emulate Ted Kennedy?  That's the kind of passing the torch speech that the Big Dog needs to make, it was a beautiful, emotional speech that sealed Ted Kennedy's role as the real elder statesman of the party and voice of our traditional liberal values.  Bill Clinton could do that, he's more than capable.  I don't think he will.

If he gives the subtext that Hillary Plan 2012 is on tonight, Obama is in real trouble.  If he gives the subtext that it's over and that he's accepted the fact it's over, and that Obama is the way to the future, Obama still has a real shot at winning.

But the fact that I don't know what he's going to do, and the fact that I'm finding myself questioning the guy is the real problem here.

We'll see what happens.

Cross-posted at ZVTS.