Charlotte , North Carolina ( CNN ) -- Wednesday 's convention programming followed Tuesday 's standard script : red meat for the base in the early hours , capped off with a slightly sweeter offering in prime time for independent consumption . But there was nothing routine about Bill Clinton 's speech . The 48-minute address -- nearly 3,200 words of prepared text and a thousand more of classic Clinton riffs -- checked off nearly every item on the Obama campaign 's wish list : . • Appeal to the persuadable who cite bipartisanship as a key quality : Clinton praised Eisenhower . He quoted Reagan . He even got an arena-full of loyal Democrats to cheer George W. Bush . Gergen : Now it 's up to Obama . `` Through my foundation , in America and around the world , I work with Democrats , Republicans and independents who are focused on solving problems and seizing opportunities , not fighting each other , '' Clinton said . `` When times are tough , constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world , cooperation works better . '' • Re-frame Romney without alienating bipartisanship-worshipping swing voters : Heading into Wednesday , Clinton 's presidential record and his assessment of Romney had played a starring role in campaign ads ... for the Republican nominee . Both members of the GOP ticket have maximized that advantage by singing Clinton 's praises on the trail . But the risk for Romney had been that in highlighting and praising Clinton 's judgment , he invested in it a legitimacy that gave Clinton 's attacks Wednesday even more potency . Clinton 's toughest punches came wrapped in silk gloves ; his most brutal critiques were paired with a side of smiles , jokes and ad libs -- the sort of delivery that allows an attack line to resonate far beyond the base . Hillary Clinton in Asia , misses husband 's speech . • Push back on the GOP 's welfare attack : Despite near-universal pans from fact-checkers who have repeatedly found the claim that Obama has gutted the work requirement for welfare a false one , Republican and Democratic consultants alike had concluded Romney campaign 's summer push on that front had begun paying real dividends . Enter the man who signed the original 1996 welfare reform bill into law . `` This is personal to me , '' Clinton said . `` ... .But I am telling you the claim that President Obama weakened welfare reform 's work requirement is just not true . But they keep on running ads claiming it . You want to know why ? Their campaign pollster said , 'We are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers . ' `` The Romney campaign made a gamble with its Clinton praise . Wednesday was a case study in the inherent pitfalls of that sort of approach . • Cast Obama as his ideological heir and most likely to bring back the Clinton boom years : Clinton acknowledged the sluggish recovery but drew a direct parallel to his own presidency : `` I experienced the same thing in 1994 and early 1995 . Our policies were working and the economy was growing but most people did n't feel it yet , '' he said . `` By 1996 , the economy was roaring , halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in American history . '' Obama was starting with a much weaker economy , he said -- and `` no president '' could repair the damage in a single term . `` But he has the foundation for a new modern , successful economy of prosperity . If you renew the president 's contract , you will feel it . You will feel it . '' In other words : an Obama second-term economy would look a lot like mine . Obama has used some variation of that theme in his stump speech for months . But Clinton was able to draw a straighter line between their records . Republican strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos dubbed it `` the moment that probably re-elected Barack Obama . '' Obama to speak after forceful Clinton endorsement .
Ex-president 's 48-minute speech , much of it ad-libbed , was classic Clinton . Clinton promoted the value of bipartisanship in getting things done in the real world . He was able to re-frame Romney without alienating swing voters .