[FuzzyDunlop]

He also said this:

In a taped interview aired on "Closing Bell," the still-popular 42nd president called the current economic conditions a "recession" and said overzealous Republican plans to cut the deficit threaten to plunge the country further into the debt abyss. (Clinton's office released a statement after the interview).
"What I think we need to do is find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what's necessary in the long term debt-reduction plans as soon as they can, which presumably would be after the election," Clinton said.
"They will probably have to put everything off until early next year," he added. "That's probably the best thing to do right now. But the Republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently, including for upper income people, and I don't think the president should do that."

and this:

Like the current Oval Office resident, Clinton blamed much of the economic damage on the sovereign debt crisis - "this European thing that's having a bigger impact than people know" - as well as politics, saying, "The thing that cost jobs here has been the Congress's policies."