What Bill Clinton can do for Barack Obama

(CBS News) CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There was a time when Bill Clinton would have scoffed at the notion of helping Barack Obama win an election.

The two men effectively became enemies four years ago, when the political differences between then-opponents Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama grew personal. And no one appeared to take every slight more personally than Mr. Clinton, whose frustration that a man he saw as a political lightweight was successfully challenging his wife in the Democratic primary hardened into barely-disguised animosity.

The relationship has come a long way since then. That's due in part to Mr. Obama's decision to reach out to the former president (the two men bonded over golf last September), partly because he tapped Mrs. Clinton to be Secretary of State, partly because the two men are now both members of a very exclusive club, and partly because it is to the benefit of both to move on from their past differences. They may not be particularly close personally - the introverted Mr. Obama was never likely to develop a strong rapport with the glad-handing extrovert who preceded him - but they've managed to develop a solid bond since the relationship thawed in 2010. Solid enough, in fact, that Mr. Clinton now seems nearly as enthusiastic about Mr. Obama winning reelection as the president himself. 

"2008 was obviously directly impacted by the primary campaign, and there was some sorting out that had to happen after that campaign, but I think the relationship has really blossomed since then," said Mike McCurry, who was Mr. Clinton's press secretary for four years. "They talk to each other, I think, pretty regularly - there's a relationship that's grown and matured in the last two years."

"It's a very strong and healthy relationship, I think it sort of beings at the fact that there's only a limited amount of people who have actually had that job," added Democratic political consultant Chris Lehane, who was Al Gore's press secretary in the Clinton White House.

On Wednesday night, Mr. Clinton will deliver what is widely seen as the most important speech of the 2012 Democratic National Convention outside Mr. Obama's own, when Mr. Clinton will place Mr. Obama's name in nomination. Michael Waldman, who spent four years as Mr. Clinton's director of speechwriting in the White House, said one of the former president's most important tasks will be to engage voters prone to tuning out politics on a policy level.

"He is incredibly good at explaining policy in human terms and drawing contrasts between Democratic and Republican approaches in a way that is sharp but not shrill," said Waldman.

One of the biggest advantages to giving Mr. Clinton a prime-time slot is that he takes Americans back to a time when they were relatively well off -- and the nation was running a surplus -- under a Democratic president.

"He reminds the nation, and particularly independent and swing voters, that things were pretty prosperous in the 1990s because he rejected a lot of the Republican policies that are being advanced now," said McCurry. "He instantly evokes the memories of when things were a little better for Americans, and can credential Obama as a guy who will make the touch choices."

An aide to Mr. Clinton tells CBS News that the former president has been working on his speech for weeks -- and that he wrote almost all of it himself. Asked what to expect from in Mr. Clinton's remarks, a senior Obama campaign official pointed to an ad featuring the former president entitled "clear choice." 

"The Republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. That's what got us in trouble in the first place," Mr. Clinton says in the spot. "President Obama has a plan to rebuild America from the ground up, investing in innovation, education and job training. It only works if there is a strong middle class. That's what happened when I was president. We need to keep going with his plan."

On Monday, the Obama campaign acknowledged to CBS Newsthat it had not vetted Mr. Clinton's speech, prompting speculation that Mr. Clinton may not ultimately be completely on message. In May, when the Obama campaign was harshly attacking Romney's work at private equity firm Bain Capital, Mr. Clinton said of Romney's time at the company, "I don't think we ought to get into a position where we say this is bad work. This is good work."

The Obama campaign official dismissed the notion that Mr. Clinton's speech will not serve Mr. Obama well.

"This is a mountain out of a molehill that you guys are making," the official said. "No one's worried about it on our side because we know it's Bill Clinton. And he is an amazing economic validator for us."

Lehane, using a basketball metaphor, described Mr. Clinton as "exceptionally good at throwing the alley-oop."

"When he serves as a surrogate, he does not make it all about him," Lehane said of Mr. Clinton. He favorably compared the former president to Republican National Convention keynote speaker Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., who spoke for 16 minutes last week before mentioning Romney.

Mr. Clinton has given a major speech at every Democratic convention since 1988 -- when his rambling nomination speech for presidential candidate Michael Dukakis earned terrible reviews. He has since improved significantly on the convention stage, to the point that some have suggested that he might be so good Wednesday night that he overshadows the historically-gifted orator he is there to support.

"Clinton should not hit a home run. He just needs to hit it real solid," said McCurry. "It's not his job to outshine Obama, because Obama's the one who's got to give the best speech of the week."

McCurry added: "He has an acute understanding of political theater, and understands exactly what his assignment is."

Part of that assignment will be for Mr. Clinton to convince the men and women who gave him eight years in the Oval Office -- and who have since help drive his approval rating to 66 percent, a 20-year high -- that Mr. Obama's policies mirror his own. That means both energizing the Democratic base and connecting the current president with the swing voters who were drawn to Mr. Clinton's business-friendly brand of Democratic politics in the 1990s. 

Waldman, Mr. Clinton's former speechwriter, suggests the former president is relishing the challenge.

"He loves this stuff," said Waldman.