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They have been foes and they have been, kind of, friends. And on Friday afternoon, President Obama and former President Bill Clinton walked unexpectedly into the White House briefing room for a news conference that was part surreal flashback, part one-two political punch.
With Mr. Obama standing largely silently at his side, Mr. Clinton took over the lectern to lend his backing to the tax compromise the White House reached this week with Republicans. And then Mr. Clinton went on, for half an hour, answering questions and holding forth on topics from triangulation to Haiti to the mortgage crisis and the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Even after the 44th president excused himself and left the room, the 42nd went on. On cable TV, Mr. Clinton’s presence in front of the blue backdrop with the White House logo was familiar, as were the wagging finger and the occasional bitten lip.

Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama turned up suddenly after meeting privately together for almost 90 minutes in the Oval Office. With no warning to Mr. Obama’s aides, the two men wandered through the nearly deserted West Wing — most staff members were at a holiday party — and tried to get into the briefing room but found the door locked. Only after they finally encountered Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, were arrangements made to turn on the lights and microphone and assemble the press corps.

“I have reviewed this agreement that the president reached with the Republican leaders,” Mr. Clinton told reporters. “The agreement taken as a whole is, I believe, the best bipartisan agreement we can reach to help the most Americans.”

After finishing one soliloquy, Mr. Clinton summed up with, “for what it’s worth, it’s what I think.”

From the side, and just out of camera range, Mr. Obama piped up: “It’s worth a lot.”

But after Mr. Clinton began taking questions, the current president politely interjected that Michelle Obama was expecting him at one of the many holiday parties that presidents host during December.

“I’ve been keeping the first lady waiting,” Mr. Obama said.

“I don’t want to make her mad,” Mr. Clinton quipped. “Please go.”

And with that, Mr. Obama quietly departed, leaving Mr. Clinton to continue his conversation with the media that so bedeviled him in the same room so often.

The decision to ask Mr. Clinton to the White House, and then to have him make a public statement, was the culmination of a campaign by the administration to put pressure on Congressional Democrats by highlighting support for the tax deal from Democrats around the country, from the mayor of Kokomo, Ind., to governors. On Friday, they announced support from the mayors of Akron, Ohio, and Orlando, Fla.

But Mr. Clinton is clearly the biggest gun in that arsenal.

“In my opinion, this is a good bill, and I hope that my fellow Democrats will support it,” Mr. Clinton said. “We all see this differently. But I really believe this will be a significant net plus for the country.”

Mr. Clinton praised Mr. Obama’s willingness to compromise as a principled decision.

“There are a lot of fights worth having,” he said, “but this holds the promise that after the fights are over, we will be able to find principled compromise on those as well. To me, that’s worth doing.”