Former PM Jean Chretien channels Bill Clinton in Liberal convention rally cry

I was watching as former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien spoke on Sunday, moments before his party elected Justin Trudeau to be the champion of the next generation, trying to place my finger on where I had heard the speech before.

It was an impressive speech, impressive enough to whip a room of Liberal supporters into a frenzied, cheering lather. He went on at length about his own accomplishments, touched in passing on the positivity of the next generation of leadership and mostly heaped praise on his party brand.

And he attacked, directly and without remorse, their enemies in a way that someone fearing political recourse could not. Frankly. Naming names, chewing on the details and spitting them back in all the right faces.

It was a lot of fun to listen to, and in the back of my mind there was a niggling that I had heard it before. A quick scan through Twitter put my mind at ease. I had heard it before. Chretien was doing the “Bill Clinton.”

Clinton, the great orator of the U.S. Democratic Party, gave a similar speech for Barack Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. It was a rallying speech, it was a compelling speech. It was presented by a former leader old enough to cause reminiscing, new enough to still be relevant and still charismatic enough to be entertaining. [ Related: Justin Trudeau elected new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada ] Most entertainingly, he was mean. Mean to the Conservatives and NDP. Not that Trudeau sent them good vibrations later, but Chretien tore at them like they were kids who should get off his lawn. Here are some highlights from his speech: On the NDP In Montreal, the NDP were wondering … whether they should remove the word “socialist” from their constitution. They did it, apparently. But to do that, they needed a two-thirds majority. Two years ago, they wanted to change their name, because they had been called the New Democratic Party for more than 50 years. It is almost wrongful advertising. Nothing new in that, is there. But it didn’t work, because they failed to capture the two-thirds majority to make the change. However, they just tabled the bill for one single vote (more than half) to be enough to lose us the country in a referendum. And all that to please the separatists, pander to the separatists. Mr. Mulcair, you have two problems this morning. The word socialist has disappeared from your constitution. You also have a problem with national unity. The solution is very simple, isn’t it? Become a Liberal again. On the Bloc Quebecois On the other hand, the Bloc … they are wondering whether they shouldn’t abandon the word “sovereigntist” to replace it with “independent minded.” Why not “separatist” while you are at it? After 40 years, they are still looking for the right vocabulary to hide what they are all about. The best word is separatist, everyone knows that. What do they want. They want separation (of Quebec from Canada), they should be honest enough to say so. On the Conservative government’s foreign policy Losing a seat at the United Nations security council never, never would have happened under Lester B. Pearson, under Pierre Elliot Trudeau, under Brian Mulroney, and under me. That embarrassing loss has nothing to do with the so-called “principled foreign policy.” It is the result of a failed foreign policy. Canada needs a new Liberal government to restore our reputation in the world. I go around the globe and people all ask me, “What is happening to Canada?” I tell them, wait a few years.

On Stephen Harper’s love of pandas

When I went to China, two times with a delegation of premiers and hundreds of businesspeople, we signed deals worth billions of dollars for goods and services. We sold advanced technology like two CANDU nuclear reactors. When Stephen Harper went to China, he came with two rented panda bears. Apparently you say in English, we don’t need a “Panda-ering government.”

[ Political Points: Tory MP says Trudeau ran on his celebrity status ]

On the Conservative government’s economic failings

Twenty years ago, I had the honour of leading the Liberal party when we defeated the Conservative government. After huge deficits, we balanced the books. And now we are back in deficit. We had surpluses … that Canada doesn’t have any more. We made massive investments in knowledge economy, we refused bank mergers and deregulation. We set Canada on a course that enabled us as a country to withstand the world economic crisis of 2008. Stephen Harper did not accomplish this. Mr. Flaherty bragged about our banking system. Mr. Flaherty, let me remind you that it was your party and your leader that gave me hell in those days for those decision. And you still dare to brag about it?