Friday, November 19, 2004

1 part Clinton, 2 parts Bush, 1 part Carter, and a dash of Bono and The Edge...

Ok so lets see if my computer will let me post this this time....

So today I saw some clips of the Clinton library dedication on MSNBC.com. George HW, George W. and Clinton gave great speeches.

I was impressed.

The theme of all the speeches was the need to end the divisions in America. Not only did they speak of it, but they also lived it out. There was an obvious respect and kindness from all of the former presidents as well as W. It wasn’t the forced admiration for the public either. There was genuine friendship evident.

When I was in HS I was a pretty dumb kid, so I didn’t actually try to be informed on issues, I just let the conservative culture around me shape my opinions of Clinton. This is sad, because he really accomplished a lot of stuff (and yes he did screw up as well). That said I enjoyed two parts of his speech. He talked about the negative ads some; he said that remarked to a friend of his a couple of days before the election of 2004 “Am I the only person who likes both Kerry and Bush? That doesn’t think they are both bad people? That they just have two different views?”

The other thing that struck me was such a great statement. He mentioned that he was more of a red state and a blue state kind of guy and said “conservativism at its best draws the lines that should never be crossed. Progressivism at its best tears down the walls that either don’t need to be up anymore, or never needed to be there in the first place.” (paraphrase).

I love that…I wish moderates were able to run in this country, but unfortunately they have to adopt a radical plan on either end of the aisle.


Anyway, other highlights were when George HW talked about his dislike of debates and how when he looked at his watch in 92 he really was wondering if Ross Perot was ever going to stop talking. Very funny.


Finally, despite a lackluster performance in the rain, Bono and the Edge’s were still a good highlight :)

peace

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