Clinton: Bin Laden killing helps Obama deflect Romney critique

Former President Clinton says that Republican GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney can call President Obama a lot of things, but "appeaser" is not one of them.

"He had one line that I think could cost him the election," the former president told students at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark., this weekend. That line, Clinton said, came after the Florida primary, when the former Massachusetts governor said, "President Obama has adopted a policy of appeasement and apology."

Clinton said he hopes that Romney uses the line in a debate with Obama. The president, Clinton said, could remind voters that he ordered the mission to kill terrorist Osama bin Laden. Clinton imagined Obama responding like this: "I'm sorry. I'm not an appeasement candidate. I killed him."'

"The curtain would come down," Clinton said, laughing. "The fat lady would sing."

Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas, said he likes Romney as a person but believes that he has hurt himself by changing positions so often. He compared Romney to a pretzel. "I just don't think he can undo it," Clinton said.