Hillary Clinton is the favorite Clinton of young Democrats

When Bill Clinton took the stage at the United Center at the Democratic National Convention last night, he received a standing ovation worthy of a Democrat who had won the presidency twice. But the cheer that greeted him was not as loud, or as long, as the one that greeted Clinton after losing twice.

Nearly a quarter-century after Bill Clinton left the White House, he remains a beloved figure in many Democratic Party circles. At several points during his speech, he brought the convention crowd to its feet with quips that recalled the Clinton of old. When Donald Trump speaks, Clinton exhorts Democrats in one line: “Don’t count the lies. Count the ‘I’s.” But like the other former Democratic president who spoke in prime time this week, Clinton was overshadowed by his wife.

Bill Clinton was for decades the more gifted communicator of the Democratic pair. That was not the case this week. On Monday night, after nearly two minutes of initial cheers from the audience, Hillary Clinton delivered a sharper, more forceful speech. She championed Kamala Harris as the candidate who could break “the highest, hardest glass ceiling,” and she mocked the man who prevented her from doing so herself: “He’s on the run now,” Clinton said of Trump.

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Time has eased Democrats’ anxiety over Hillary’s 2016 loss to Trump, and the quasi-president has become the former president’s primary appeal. That’s especially true for the younger Democrats who gathered in Chicago this week. Gen Z Democrats have far more experience with Hillary than Bill Clinton; those in their 20s weren’t even born before he left office. Hillary’s 2016 candidacy and the Women’s March that followed her defeat served as a political awakening for many of them. “She really paved the way for a lot of the organizing that’s happening today,” Sabrina Collins, a 25-year-old from Kentucky, told me.

Clinton was not the first choice of young Democrats in 2016, many of whom have rallied around Sen. Bernie Sanders’s progressive movement. But among Democrats coming of age, she has achieved a status that borders on iconic. On a shuttle bus winding its way through the crowded streets toward the United Center early Monday evening, I heard a woman in her twenties shout, “If I don’t hear Hillary Clinton speak, I’m going to riot.” For at least some Democrats, the bitterness over her loss to Trump—usually accompanied by rueful jokes about her inattention to Wisconsin that year—has given way to admiration for her resilience. Speaking to the Michigan delegation yesterday morning, outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow praised Clinton for her “courage” in putting a woman’s name on a presidential ticket, saying it would break, or at least lessen, the stigma Harris might face. “Don’t underestimate the power of this,” Stabenow said of Clinton. “We need to see the faces of women in power for power to exist.”

At an event hosted by the Gen Z group Voters of Tomorrow on Tuesday, Nick Roberts, a 24-year-old Indianapolis City Council member, shared his favorite moment from the convention’s opening night. He didn’t mention Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s energetic endorsement of Harris or President Joe Biden’s emotional farewell speech. For Roberts, the highlight of the night was Clinton’s denunciation of Trump’s 34 felony convictions, as the crowd in the arena began chanting “Lock him up!” At first, Clinton tried to ignore the shouts, then for a moment, she seemed to consider how to respond. Would she gently rebuke the crowd, as Harris has done when her supporters have started chanting at her rallies? Would she dare repeat the same chant Trump has used against her? Clinton chose to respond wordlessly, but knowingly. With a broad smile, she nodded for several seconds. Roberts loved it. “I know the campaign is trying to calm down,” he told Voters of Tomorrow attendees. “But with everything she’s been through in the last eight years, I think she deserved that 10 seconds of joy.”

At past conventions, it’s Bill Clinton who has provided the most electrifying moments. He’s addressed every DNC since 1980, and, as he noted last night, he’s attended every convention since 1972. His defense of President Barack Obama’s economic record in 2012 was so well-received that Barack Obama — the first of two future presidents to defeat Clinton’s wife — dubbed him “the secretary of state who explains things.” In 2020, Clinton was relegated to a five-minute video — his shortest appearance in more than 30 years. It was an entirely virtual convention because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it was also the first since the #MeToo movement cast a harsher spotlight on Clinton’s allegations of sexual misconduct (which he has denied) and his long history of extramarital affairs. In the late 1990s, many Democrats dismissed Clinton’s relationship with a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, as private, consensual and unworthy of public rebuke. Twenty years later, some of them have regrets. Kirsten Gillibrand, who succeeded Hillary Clinton in the Senate from New York, said in 2017 that Bill Clinton should have resigned over the Lewinsky affair.

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Gen Z’s attitude toward Bill Clinton seems somewhat indifferent. I asked several attendees at the Voters of Tomorrow event which Clinton they were most excited to see. All immediately said Hillary. When I asked about Bill, some politely declined to answer, saying they didn’t know much about him. “I’ll be honest: I’m new to politics, so I have a lot of history to catch up on,” said Misty Ly, a 20-year-old from Georgia. She said she’d never heard the name Monica Lewinsky.

The former president’s return to the convention stage didn’t spark any significant outcry from Democrats. His behavior toward women is no longer discussed, and most Democrats I spoke to this week said they had no problem with the party bringing him back. Bill Clinton’s speech lasted longer than Hillary’s, but it’s unclear whether he had more time or simply went on longer. took the extra time was unclear.

Clinton reportedly scrapped the original draft of his speech and rewrote it to be more upbeat and energetic after seeing Monday’s program. Yet moments after taking the stage, he had strayed from the prepared script. His voice was weaker than before, and he slightly mispronounced Kamala’s name twice. Clinton’s ramblings and improvisations sometimes detracted from the speech’s rhythm and cadence. One of the most applauded lines was a joke about his age — and Trump’s. Clinton turned 78 earlier this week, two months after Trump. “The only personal conceit I want to assert is that I’m still younger than Donald Trump,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s strength as an orator is not in stirring up a crowd, but in silencing it. For much of his speech, the United Center listened in silence as Clinton explained his vision for the election. Echoing a memorable line from his 2012 speech, Clinton counted the number of jobs created under Democratic and Republican presidencies since the end of the Cold War—a total of 51 million. “What’s the score?” he asked rhetorically, insisting that he had triple-checked his statement. “Democrats: 50. Republicans: one.”

The crowd erupted, giving Clinton one of his biggest rounds of applause. He drew a few cheers last night. Alluding to his advanced age, Clinton wondered at one point how many more conventions he would have the chance to speak. Democrats will likely be thrilled to see him again, as they always have. For now, though, he is not the Clinton they most want to see.