Bill Clinton's speech

After standing in line a couple of weeks ago to get tickets (which we came perilously close to not getting-- had we gotten there about 5 minutes later, we would have been too far back in the line), the night finally arrived for Bill Clinton's Carlson Lecture at Northrop.

Melissa, Alex, and I got to Northrop a little after 3:00. The doors opened at 4, but there were already a few hundred people lined up to get good seats. When we finally got in, I was disappointed to find that the entire front half of Northrop's lower level was reserved for those with "gold stars" on their tickets-- I'm guessing those were professors, big Humphrey Institute donors, and other big shots. The other disappointment was that, despite shout-outs to "our wonderful students" and the stated goal of the lecture-- allowing students, business leaders, community members, and University employees, faculty, and administrators to learn together-- about 90% of the crowd consisted of "old people." (According to Alex, the "nutrient people"-- those who should be ground up in factories for their nutrients, like so many horse bones for Jell-O. KIDDING. But seriously.) Obviously, there was a huge demand for tickets, and not everyone who wanted them could get them. And, yeah, everyone pays taxes, which go to support the University, so they should be able to get tickets to a free event. But there was so little publicity on-campus that most students didn't even know about the tickets until they saw the signs at Coffman that said "Bill Clinton Tickets are SOLD OUT!!!" Tickets were such a precious commodity that, I am told, they were going for $50-$60 apiece on craiglist.

We finally got into the auditorium and sat down to wait. The event, scheduled to start at 5, didn't actually get going until 5:30 or so-- they had to wait for ole Bill's plane to arrive. There was the usual series of pointless introductions, but the most surprising was Walter Mondale's introduction of Clinton, which was really nothing more than an extended indictment of Bush. The extremely liberal crowd ate it up.

Finally, Mr. William Jefferson Clinton himself strode onto the stage, white-haired and looking much thinner than I'd remembered. (His new place must not be within running distance of a McDonald's.) There was a huge roar from the crowd and an immediate standing ovation. Obviously, the room was packed with Clinton fanatics. During the speech itself, Mr. Clinton was frequently interrupted by loud applause whenever he said something that could possibly be interpreted as remotely critical of Bush or the Christian Right. It got kind of annoying after a while, because I don't think this was a campaign speech or a Republican-bashing speech at all.

On to the speech itself:
Above all, Billy-boy proved he's still a great speaker. His speech was well-rehearsed and he was able to stray from the script and then expertly get back on-topic without missing a beat. From what I saw, he didn't even have notes or a script.

His speech began with his theory of the "interdependence" (not globalization) of the world. He said that the U.S. must prepare for a time when it is not the world's most powerful country, and explained the need to improve people's image of the U.S. through better communication. He said that, when U.S. troops, doctors, and NGOs went into the tsunami-affected areas this spring and showed that we were there to help, those people's image of the United States improved dramatically. In largely Islamic Indonesia, America's approval rating increased from the 30% range to over 60%, while bin Laden's approval fell-- because we offered real solutions instead of hate.

In his speech, Mr. Clinton also laid out a few of what he feels are the most important policy issues facing the nation today. I don't remember all of them, but he did say that reducing the national debt should be our top priority. The pitch and tone of his voice were so high that he strained the microphone when talking about the five tax cuts that he had received. He was able to effectively relate the issue of national debt to the reduction in our ability to solve other problems in the world: since U.S. debt sucks up 80% of the world's savings, all of that money is money that cannot be used to solve problems like global poverty, hunger, and the AIDS epidemic.

He also touched on the issue of national health care. He stated that the U.S. spends 15% of its GDP on health care, while Canada, the biggest spender of the developed countries with a national health-care system, spend only 11%. 50% of that difference goes towards administrative costs in the battle between insurance providers and health-care providers.

I don't remember the other issues he addressed, but he closed with an optimistic analysis of the state of the world: despite all the problems we see, it is now more possible for citizens to make social change in the world than at any other time in history. Two factors he cited here were the rise of the internet and the rise of the Non-Governmental Organizations (everything from the Red Cross to community food shelves).

Sorry this was such a long and boring entry. If you want more, here are some links:

MPR article
Pioneer Press article

Posted by smit2174 at November 6, 2005 5:42 PM | TrackBack