Former president Bill Clinton took another dig at the economic legacy of President Obama while championing his own on Wednesday, saying through his wife Hillary's policies, "we could all rise together again for the first time in 20 years."
At a campaign event in Maryland, Clinton touched on several subjects, including his wife's plan to address student debt as she tries to fend off Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I., Vt.) surprisingly strong bid for the Democratic nomination.
"This is very important," Clinton said. "We could liberate the energies of these kids, and they could help to lift America so we could all rise together again for the first time in 20 years. We can do that, if we do the right thing."
That time frame would go back to 1996, the year Clinton was convincingly re-elected to the White House. Obama has consistently touted his economic record since taking office in 2009, but wages have remained flat throughout the recovery since the Great Recession, and the first quarter of 2016 saw negligible economic growth.
Bill Clinton has made a habit of taking digs at Obama's record while stumping for Hillary. He remarked the world was "in tough shape" on Tuesday, and he also noted last week that "unlike when I became president, a lot of things are coming apart around the world now."
He made an even more cutting remark in March, saying that with Hillary in the White House, the country could put the "awful legacy of the last eight years behind us."
"If you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that when we were practicing trickle-down economics and no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her," Clinton said.