text: It's a fact of life in Washington that what one party considers a principled stand, the opposition considers pigheadedness. Compromise? That's the other guy's problem. 
   
   But when former President Bill Clinton took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, he portrayed President Barack Obama as a pragmatic compromiser who has been stymied at every turn by Republicans. There was no mention of the role that the president and the Democrats have played in grinding compromise to a halt on some of the most important issues facing the country. 
   
   That was among the lines by the former president and others Wednesday that either cherry-picked facts or mischaracterized the opposition. A look at some of them: 
   
   CLINTON: "When times are tough, constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world, cooperation works better. ...Unfortunately, the faction that now dominates the Republican Party doesn't see it that way. They think government is the enemy and compromise is weakness. One of the main reasons America should re-elect President Obama is that he is still committed to cooperation." 
   
   THE FACTS: From Clinton's speech, voters would have no idea that the inflexibility of both parties is to blame for much of the gridlock. Right from the beginning Obama brought in as his first chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a man known for his getting his way, not for getting along. 
   
   One of the more high-profile examples of a deal that fell apart was the outline of a proposed "grand bargain" budget agreement between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner in 2011. 
   
   The deal would have required compromise from both sides. It slashed domestic spending more than most Democrats wanted and would have raised some taxes, which most Republicans oppose. 
   
   Boehner couldn't sell the plan to tea party factions in the House or to other conservative activists. And Obama found himself accused of going too far by some Democratic leaders. The deal died before it ever even came up for a vote. 
   
   In another instance, Obama appointed a bipartisan group, known as the Simpsons-Bowles Commission, to recommend ways to fix major fiscal problems like Social Security and Medicare. The commission issued its recommendations but fell three votes short of formally endorsing them. And Obama mostly walked away from the report. He later incorporated some of the less contentious proposals from the report into legislation he supported. 
   
   But that ensured the tough compromises would not get made. 
   
   The problem with compromising in Washington is that there are few true moderates left in either party. The notion that Republicans are the only ones standing in the way of compromise is inaccurate. 
   
   ___ 
   
   CLINTON: Clinton suggested that Obama's health care law is keeping health care costs in check. 
   
   "For the last two years, health care spending has grown under 4 percent, for the first time in 50 years. So, are we all better off because President Obama fought for it and passed it? You bet we are." 
   
   THE FACTS: That's wishful thinking at best. The nation's total health care tab has been growing at historically low rates, but most experts attribute that to continued uncertainty over the economy, not to Obama's health care law. 
   
   Two of the main cost-control measures in Obama's law _ a powerful board to keep Medicare spending manageable and a tax on high cost health insurance plans _ have yet to take effect. 
   
   Under the law, Medicare has launched dozens of experiments aimed at providing quality care for lower cost, but most of those are still in their infancy and measurable results have yet to be obtained. Former administration officials say the law deserves at least part of the credit for easing health care inflation, but even they acknowledge that the lackluster economy is playing a major role. 
   
   Meanwhile, people insured through the workplace by and large have seen little relief from rising premiums and cost shifts. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, the average premium for job-based family coverage rose from $13,375 in 2009 when Obama took office to $15,073 in 2011. During the same period, the average share paid by employees rose from $3,515 to $4,129. 
   
   While those premium increases cannot be blamed on the health care law _ as Republicans try to do _ neither can Democrats claim credit for breaking the back of health care inflation. 
   
   ___ 
   
   CLINTON: "I know many Americans are still angry and frustrated with the economy. ... I experienced the same thing in 1994 and early 1995. Our policies were working but most people didn't feel it yet. By 1996, the economy was roaring, halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in American history." 
   
   THE FACTS: Clinton is counting on voters to recall the 1990s wistfully and to cast a vote for Obama in hopes of replicating those days in a second term. But Clinton leaves out the abrupt downward turn the economy took near the end of his own second term and the role his policies played in the setting the stage for the historic financial meltdown of 2008. 
   
   While the economy and markets experienced a record expansion for most of the rest of Clinton's two-term presidency, at the start of 2000, there were troubling signs. Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned in February 2000 that "we are entering a period of considerable turbulence in financial markets." 
   
   Sure enough, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average both peaked in March 2000. The bursting of the high-tech bubble dragged down the economy and markets through the rest of the year. From September 2000 to January 2001 when Clinton left office, the Nasdaq dropped 46 percent. Even now, in 2012, the Nasdaq has not returned to its 2000 peak. By March 2001, the economy toppled into recession. 
   
   Also, as president, Clinton supported the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law dating back to the Great Depression that separated banking from high-risk financial speculation. Robert Rubin, who had been Clinton's first treasury secretary, helped broker the final deal on Capitol Hill that enabled the repeal legislation to pass. Some financial historians say the repeal of the law paved the way for banks to invest in risky investments like mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations that played a role in the 2008 financial meltdown. 
   
   ___ 
   
   CLINTON: "Their campaign pollster said, `We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.' Now that is true. I couldn't have said it better myself _ I just hope you remember that every time you see the ad." 
   
   THE FACTS: Clinton, who famously finger-wagged a denial on national television about his sexual relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky and was subsequently impeached in the House on a perjury charge, has had his own uncomfortable moments over telling the truth. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," Clinton told television viewers. Later, after he was forced to testify to a grand jury, Clinton said his statements were "legally accurate" but also allowed that he "misled people, including even my wife." 
   
   ___ 
   
   Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report. ||||| Former U.S. President Bill Clinton addresses the second session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 5, 2012. 
   
   CHARLOTTE, North Carolina | 
   
   CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton made a more comprehensive case for President Barack Obama's re-election in 49 minutes on Wednesday than the rest of the speakers at the Democratic Convention could muster in the 11-1/2 hours that preceded him. 
   
   In a detailed and passionate endorsement of his former rival, Clinton amplified the central argument of Obama's campaign: that voters face a choice between Democratic policies that lead to broad prosperity or Republican policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. 
   
   But he didn't stop there. 
   
   Frequently veering from his prepared remarks, Clinton tackled important topics that have been largely absent from this tightly scripted convention. 
   
   He praised Obama's 2009 stimulus, his expansion of college aid, and his efforts to boost renewable energy. He explained how Obama's healthcare law would benefit ordinary Americans, and warned that Republican healthcare cuts would hurt the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. He argued that Republicans would deepen the country's fiscal woes and prevent more people from voting. 
   
   He unraveled Republican attacks on Medicare spending and welfare that have been deemed misleading by independent fact-checkers and warned that proposed Republican cuts to healthcare would hurt the poor and disabled, not just the middle class. 
   
   And he tackled a question that initially flummoxed Obama aides when Republicans pressed it last weekend: Are Americans better off than they were four years ago? 
   
   "The answer is yes," Clinton said. "But too many people are not feeling it yet." 
   
   A MODEL FOR OTHER DEMOCRATS 
   
   Clinton's arguments are sure to be a template for other Democrats during the two months leading to the November 6 election, said Samuel Popkin, author of "The Candidate: What it Takes to Win - and Hold - the White House." 
   
   "He did a better job of messaging Obama than the Obama people have done," said Popkin, a professor at the University of California-San Diego. 
   
   Though Clinton is rarely concise, Democrats and Republicans alike say he has few equals when it comes to explaining complicated subjects. 
   
   "It was what we needed to put things in plain English so people understand," said Florida delegate Kevin Muth. 
   
   Obama has had less success on that front. 
   
   Economists say his 2009 stimulus created millions of jobs, but most voters view it as a failure. Polls show that most Americans like many aspects of his 2010 healthcare law, but they don't like the overall package. 
   
   And his overhaul of financial regulations won him many enemies on Wall Street, but gained little traction among the general public. 
   
   Republicans used this complexity to their advantage as they portrayed the stimulus as a green-energy boondoggle and turned "read the bill" into a rallying cry against the complicated health-care overhaul. 
   
   Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has steered clear of specifics on the campaign trail and explained his proposals to cut spending and simplify the tax code only in broad strokes. 
   
   Clinton argued that while the details may not be known, Romney's policies would either balloon the national debt, shift more of the tax burden to the middle class or hollow out programs such as child nutrition and transportation. 
   
   Otherwise, the math doesn't add up, he said. 
   
   "I'm just a country boy from Arkansas and I came from a place where people thought two and two equals four," Clinton told the delegates. 
   
   Many of the convention's speakers have focused on a handful of topics, such as reproductive rights and amnesty for the children of illegal immigrants, that appeal to important elements of the Democratic base. 
   
   Clinton aimed for a wider audience. 
   
   By tackling the entirety of Obama's record and Romney's proposals, Clinton sought to win independent voters who are still unsure whether they will see improvement if they give Obama another four years in office. 
   
   "Bill Clinton is the cleanup hitter and is aiming at the center of the electorate," said Hunter College political-science professor Andrew Polsky. 
   
   (Additional reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by David Lindsey and Alden Bentley) ||||| (CNN) -- The second night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured speeches by Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, as well as Elizabeth Warren, candidate for the U.S. Senate. The following contributors offered their assessments. 
   
   Analysis: Clinton speech hit Obama's marks 
   
   Alan Brinkley: Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious 
   
   It has always been remarkable, I think, how Bill Clinton can bring a crowd alive, and that's what he did on Wednesday night. It was a speech full of wonky policy issues, the things he likes so well. But after so many months of paid advertisements playing ugly criticisms of the opposition, Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious. 
   
   For years now, conventions have been carefully organized for television without any real energy or excitement, one of the reasons that so few people are watching them anymore. But Clinton turned the convention into a real conversation about policy, about politics, and about the future. 
   
   His viewers might not agree with much of what he says, but his speech was still an event of the campaign. I wonder whether President Obama, who can give a pretty good speech himself, feels that Clinton has overtaken him. I wonder if Clinton's speech will lead to a more honest way of arguing about ideas and policy. I doubt it. But it might help at least some people to think about serious things. 
   
   Alan Brinkley is the Allan Nevins professor of history at Columbia University. 
   
   John Avlon: Our most talented politician makes Obama's case 
   
   Bill Clinton's speech reminded many Americans why he remains our country's most beloved and naturally talented politician, for all his faults. 
   
   On Wednesday night, he cut through the predictable partisan spin by making a credible and compelling case for Barack Obama's re-election -- better, frankly, than the president has made himself to date. 
   
   Full disclosure: I was a Clinton kid. I was a freshman in college in 1992, and Bubba's campaign inspired the sense that there was a third way, between the far right and far left, that could actually solve problems instead of simply demagoguing them. He was my sub-generation's JFK, and he inspired my unapologetic centrist politics. 
   
   Bill Clinton can talk policy without putting anyone to sleep. That means communicating a love of ideas that can be put into action. And so in Wednesday night's speech he offered a seminar in how to contrast constructively; putting forward stats that resonate with common-sense values. 
   
   Case in point: Clinton's analysis of health care reform, and even the comparative deficit and debt plans, resonates on Main Street because he talks in terms of values and respects the intelligence of the American people. He surgically skewered the alternative Republican plans as well. In the process, he reminded us that good policy can be good politics, connecting with humor to the head and heart. 
   
   Opinion: Bill Clinton, the reverse Clint Eastwood? 
   
   Some of the unrelenting Clinton nostalgia from baby boomers stems from the fact that he reminds them of when they were younger than today, and possibly wealthier and more influential than they might be now. But the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton are today apparently the most admired Democrats among Republicans -- who once made hating them a cottage industry, as they do with the Obamas today -- is ironic and sadly hilarious, a reminder of how shallow and unprincipled poisonous hyperpartisanship always ultimately is. 
   
   If Bill Clinton were constitutionally eligible for another term, he would win. If swing voters all listened to Wednesday night's speech, I believe Barack Obama would win this election. 
   
   But Clinton's speech Wednesday night was both a seminar and a reminder of why we should love civic debates, as a matter of style and substance, focused on policy as well as politics. Write this line down: "Democracy ... does not have to be a blood sport; it can be an honorable enterprise that advances the human interest." Remember it and aspire to it, taking heart amid all the heat, to persevere in the belief that something at least a little bit better can always be within our reach. 
   
   John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights. 
   
   Maria Cardona: Clinton answers the 'better off' question with resounding 'Yes!' 
   
   President Clinton's speech, delivered in his unique, well, Clintonesque manner, crystallized the choice this election. He spelled out in the way only he can why Republicans seem to have a visceral reaction to President Obama and how that has kept them from putting the interests of the nation before their politics. And he did it with emotion that was rational, passionate and pragmatic. 
   
   He spoke directly to those disaffected swing voters who are disenchanted with the pace of the change they voted for in 2008, by explaining that it was not Obama who changed or who didn't work to deliver, it was the Republicans who kowtowed to their extreme wings and put the goal of defeating the president before any commitment to solving the big problems facing this nation. 
   
   He set the record straight on Medicare and on GOP fabrications about Obama's stance on welfare reform, and he unequivocally answered the question of whether we are better off today than when Obama took office: The answer was a resounding yes. Clinton's credibility and history with a similar economic situation (though Clinton said that no president could have fixed the damage Obama was handed in just four years) made him the right messenger to the right audience at the right time for Obama. He delivered and he delivered big. 
   
   Other notable speeches? Elizabeth Warren, Cristina Saralegui -- the Latina Oprah Winfrey -- and of course Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student smeared by Rush Limbaugh for speaking out for contraception coverage. They spoke to critical audiences within the Democratic Party: progressives who see Warren as a champion and crusader for consumer protection against a Wall Street run amok; progressive and independent women for whom Fluke embodies concern about politicians making decisions about their bodies, their families and their lives; and Latinos for whom Saralegui is an icon. She was introduced by a compelling "Dreamer," Benita Veliz, underscoring the importance of immigration reform. 
   
   All three women spoke eloquently and from the heart about the only candidate in the race they said would fight for middle-class families, women, Latinos, Dreamers. One who would uphold the ideals of fairness, opportunity, hard work and compassion that reflect a country where everyone has the chance to achieve the American dream. 
   
   Maria Cardona is a Democratic strategist, a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee. 
   
   Gergen: Now it's up to Obama 
   
   Ana Navarro: Sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas 
   
   On Wednesday night, Bill Clinton showed us what a political comeback looks like. In 2008, during the Democrat primary, he went from being the "first black president" to being accused of racism. 
   
   I know Bill Clinton, and when I saw him shortly after the election, he was deeply hurt. He thought Obama and the media had been terribly unfair to Hillary and to him. 
   
   Tonight, the man who was marginalized in 2008 came to the rescue of the man who marginalized him. And he did it in classic Clinton style: long, didactic, funny and very damn good. 
   
   I am a Republican, but I love a good political speech regardless of who gives it. Clinton was at the top of his game. He started with a bipartisan preamble, even giving credit to Presidents Bush 41 and 43. Then he went on to teach a master lesson on a partisan attack. 
   
   It says a lot about how Clinton is perceived and how Joe Biden is perceived that the former president got a night as the headliner all to his own, while the sitting vice president did not. 
   
   This night was sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas. In 2000, Al Gore wanted to be his own man and couldn't keep Clinton far enough away. Today, Barack Obama wants to be Bill Clinton's heir and cannot keep him close enough. However, this does create a problem for Obama. He now needs to top Clinton's speech, and Bill set the bar quite high. 
   
   Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and commentator, served as national Hispanic campaign chairwoman for John McCain in 2008 and national Hispanic co-chair for Jon Huntsman's 2012 campaign. 
   
   Ruben Navarrette: A great storyteller, but you have to read between the lines 
   
   Bubba is back. And, from the sound of it, he never left. 
   
   Bill Clinton did Wednesday what he needed to do for Barack Obama. With a speech that was substantive and entertaining, the Democrats' Great Communicator energized the party's base. He laid out the narrative of the Obama presidency, better than anyone in this administration -- including the president himself -- has been able to do in the last three and a half years. He recited and refuted some of the more damning criticisms that Republicans lodged against Obama last week at their convention. And he assured the American people that he -- to continue a familiar theme from the Clinton years -- felt their pain and understood their worry over a fragile economy. 
   
   This being a Clinton speech, there were great lines. The former president pointed out that Obama had appointed to his cabinet people who had supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary. "Heck," Clinton said, "he even appointed Hillary." 
   
   And this being a Clinton speech, there were also half-truths. For instance, you remember when GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan was criticized by the left for blaming Obama for not acting on the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles plan for debt reduction, without revealing the little detail about how he himself didn't support it. Clinton called the Simpson-Bowles commission a "balanced approach" but didn't mention that Obama had failed to heed its recommendations. 
   
   As someone who writes a lot about immigration, I heard one other line that jumped out at me: "If you think the president was right to open the doors of American opportunity to young immigrants brought here as children who want to go to college or serve in the military," Clinton said, "You should vote for Barack Obama." 
   
   He was referring to Obama's announcement several weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security would take applications from young illegal immigrants who are interested in two years of temporary "deferred action" to keep them from being deported. 
   
   Again, Clinton left out one detail that suggests he is the last person who should talk about deporting anyone. 
   
   Immigration attorneys tell me that when they're fighting a deportation order against an individual, they first must overcome the legacy of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. That law, which was authored by a Republican -- Texas Rep. Lamar Smith -- makes it easier for the federal government to deport illegal immigrants and harder to fight their removals. And who signed that terrible bill into law? 
   
   Yep, Bill Clinton. The former president is a great storyteller, as we all know. But, whether he is defending Obama or himself, you have to read between the lines. 
   
   Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. 
   
   Memorable lines from the speeches 
   
   Joanne Bamberger: Reaching voters at the 'ragged edge of the middle class' 
   
   Elizabeth Warren was a great choice for the party faithful to introduce former president Bill Clinton. In the telling of her personal story of pulling herself up by her own bootstraps, as well as her reluctance to take on the bigger political struggle of running for Senate, she was able to connect the crowd with a message that is central to the Democrats' message: that the country has been built on the backs of middle-class people who struggle every day, not the supposed "job creators," a la Bain Capital. 
   
   Warren also used her story of creating the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau to remind voters that the system is rigged through the tax code for the wealthy. Using a "calling it like she sees it" approach, she reminded the crowd that there's a big difference for the country between celebrating the success of those who do the hard work of everyday life, and those who funnel money into offshore accounts, something most families can't even fathom. 
   
   The themes of the night were inclusion and partnership for Clinton, who used his speech to help map out the clear difference between the two parties, as he reiterated that Republicans aren't reluctant to eat their own if they deviate one small inch from their party line. 
   
   One doesn't have to have experienced living at the "ragged edge of the middle class" to have empathy for those who have. Both Warren and Clinton did have moments in their lives when they were at those ragged edges, and that's what makes them powerful voices for their party to reach those voters who are still at that edge. 
   
   Joanne Bamberger is the author of "Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America." 
   
   Obama to speak after Clinton's forceful endorsement 
   
   Roland Martin: President Clinton gives the GOP hell for one night 
   
   In sports, every coach desires a big game player who, no matter the game or the conditions or the opponent, will show up and deliver in the clutch. 
   
   In politics, President Bill Clinton is such a player. 
   
   The Time Warner Arena was constantly on fire Wednesday, each speaker giving the next a hard act to follow. But when the 42nd president of the United States took to the stage, there was no doubt that he still has it. 
   
   Every major applause line, Clinton hit. And he didn't do so by offering up a lofty speech. It was homespun, down-home. The audience ate it up. 
   
   For the GOP, it had to be painful to see a former president back on the big stage delivering a big speech for an incumbent president facing a tough re-election campaign. 
   
   President Clinton gave the GOP hell for eight years. Wednesday night, he gave them hell for one more night. 
   
   Roland Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin." 
   
   Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. 
   
   Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion. 
   
   The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors. ||||| Bubba is back — off script but on message, according to TV pundits of all stripes. 
   
   Former President Bill Clinton’s nearly 50-minute speech Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte was praised by panelists and reporters on all three major cable-news networks. 
   
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   “I’ve been watching this former president of the United States going back to 1992 when I was CNN’s White House correspondent, and I have to tell you, this may be the best speech I have ever heard Bill Clinton deliver over all of these years, and I listened to so many of his speeches during his eight years as president,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said. 
   
   “Affable. Effective. As a Democrat it doesn’t get any better,” MSNBC’s Ed Schultz said. “I’m sitting here and I’m giddy. This is exactly what [President] Barack Obama needed.” 
   
   GOP political adviser Steve Schmidt said Clinton’s political prowess is unmatched on either side of the isle. 
   
   “I wish to God as a Republican we had someone on our side who had the ability to do that,” Schmidt said on MSNBC. “We don’t. It would be great if we did.” 
   
   Fox News’ Brit Hume raved, “I’ve always said if I were ever in trouble and if I were guilty, especially if I were guilty, I would want Bill Clinton there to defend me. Nobody does it better. He’s the most talented politician I ever covered and the most charming man I’ve ever met. And no one in my view can mount an argument more effectively than he can.” 
   
   Then Hume tempered his praise. 
   
   “That doesn’t mean everything he said was true,” he said, later adding, “It was a little self-indulgent, and it was about 30 percent too long.” 
   
   GOP commentator Alex Castellanos said on CNN that Clinton’s speech may have sealed Obama’s reelection. 
   
   “Lock the doors, you don’t have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done. This will be the moment that probably reelected Barack Obama,” he said. “Bill Clinton saved the Democratic Party once. It was going too far left, he came in as the new Democrat and took it to the center. He did it again tonight.”
target: – Bill Clinton gave one of the finest speeches of either convention—and of his career—in Charlotte last night, making the case for Obama more effectively than the Obama campaign has managed most of the time, pundits say. He won praise from Democrats and Republicans alike, although fact-checkers found plenty to take issue with. Clinton's "detailed and passionate endorsement" made a more comprehensive case for Obama's re-election in 49 minutes than the rest of the DNC speakers could manage in the previous 11 hours, writes Andy Sullivan at Reuters. Clinton explained tough topics and dismantled Republican arguments masterfully, writes Sullivan, who calls Clinton "Obama's most valuable weapon." "This will be the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama," GOP commentator Alex Castellanos tells CNN. "Bill Clinton saved the Democratic Party once. It was going too far left, he came in as the new Democrat and took it to the center. He did it again tonight," he says. There was even praise from Fox, notes Politico. "Nobody does it better," gushed Brit Hume. "He’s the most talented politician I ever covered and the most charming man I’ve ever met. And no one in my view can mount an argument more effectively than he can." He added, however, that the speech was "self-indulgent" and about half an hour too long. The fact-checkers at the AP were among the few not swooning for Bill. Clinton "cherry-picked facts or mischaracterized the opposition" several times, they declare. Among other things, he ignored the Democratic contribution to political gridlock and credited ObamaCare instead of the poor economy with keeping health care costs down.