Clinton Talks Like a Centrist at Cooper Union
Hotline On Call has the full text of former president Clinton’s speech at Cooper Union’s commencement today. Quite an interesting and – if I may say so – good speech. Some excerpts follow:
“Too often in the past twenty-five years our elections and political discourse have been marked by the triumph of personal attacks, baseless or irrelevant assertions, and blind ideology over evidence argument. Too often the purpose of an election has been to concentrate wealth and power by dividing the public and diverting our attention away from pressing problems to matters that excite deep political passions but that will take up less than 1% of a candidate’s time if he or she is elected.
But all the attacks, accusations, and ideological diatribes cannot make the facts go away. They matter. So do thinking, reasoning, and honest respectful arguing, especially when the problems and solutions are complex.
… The great challenge of the 21st century is to build up the positive force of interdependence and reduce the negative ones, and in so doing, to build more integrated communities, locally, nationally, globally. Integrated communities require three things: shared responsibilities, shared opportunities, and shared values – everyone deserves a chance and has a responsible role to play; competition is good but we do better when we work together; are differences matters, making life more interesting and the search for answers more promising, but our common humanity matters more.
… [P]olitics and government remain profoundly important. We cannot hope to move from the present unequal and unstable state of interdependence to integrated national and global communities if we continue to fight elections on narrow grounds, with tactics assured to produce more heat than light, and to divide us into warring camps, incapable of principled compromise.
I believe the American people know this. The deep yearning for a larger, unifying politics explains at least in part the strong positive reaction former President Bush and I have received for our work together in the aftermath of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. It explains why lawmakers like my wife and Senator McCain are trying to find common ground on climate change, and why Hillary has reached out to Republicans as well as Democrats to find common solutions to our healthcare problem, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and the needs of our men and women in uniform.”
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6 Responses to “Clinton Talks Like a Centrist at Cooper Union”
A superb rebuke of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns and Karl Rove’s political career, not to mention every misbegotten, punishing day of Bush’s presidency.
A recent poll found the American public favoring Clinton as president over what we’ve had since by landslide majorities. It’s easy to see — and recall — why.
How refreshing to read a speech from a true centrist, who truly sought and through his post-presidential activities, is still seeking to unite us. Our nation will be licking its wounds from this cultural civil war between the social conservatives and just about everyone else for some time to come, but Bill Clinton nailed it when he said that this is just a smokescreen for unprecedented consolidation of wealth that has been the hallmark of this administration.
It is so obvious when you look at the true effect of Bush’s tax cuts and even the unfair advantage gained by corporations who profit greatly by hiring illegal aliens, at the expense of the middle class.
Budget cuts urged by this administration were also aimed at the poor and middle-class- cutting school lunch programs, Medicaid, food stamps and guaranteed student loans.
Can Bill Clinton serve as Vice President if we vote for Hillary?
I’m not sure why people think Bill Clinton is an extremist from the left wing. He always governed pretty much from the center. In fact, he was the most centrist POTUS we’ve seen since Teddy Roosevelt.
Of course, in that light, I’m not really sure why he was the darling of the Democratic party either.
flaime- His political genius lay in his ability to reach out to the left and right while governing from the center. The far right of course, couldn’t stand him. At this critical time, this is the only kind of leader that has any hope of unifying us, imo.
Two of the primary differences between GWB and WJC are that Clinton has a slick delivery style, and that the media (mostly) loved WJC.
It’s fairly obvious that GWB is _trying_ to lead from the center – he’s crossed the aisle on a number of occasions, but he’s not adept enough to carry it off.
And, of course, WJC didn’t have dedicated “Hate Clinton” propagandists going after him, either.
As for why was WJC viewed as a leftist? How about the Gays in the military fiasco? The abortive Socialized Medicine attempt? I don’t recall if he actually came out and supported the anti-Second Amendment activists, but he sure-hell didn’t come out in favor of the Second Amendment. And, of course, he had his war, in the Balkans. Anyone know when we are going to hear about Clinton’s “Exit Strategy”?
Bookman
I’m not saying all of Clinton’s policies were popular with the right or the left, just as Bush’s centrist immigration policy is so unpopular on the right, as was his nomination of Harriet Miers. But he was pro-business, instituted long-needed welfare reform and was able to leave office with a huge surplus, after eight years of prosperity. When he went into the Balkans, it wasn’t viewed worldwide as a unilateralist invasion, as was the invasion of Iraq.
He’s worked as an ex-president to raise money for the causes he believes in- fighting childhood obesity, fighting aids, aid for Katrina victims and aid for the tsunami victims.
As for Bush, he hasn’t been able to govern from the center because the Conservatives supported him in both elections, and have pressed him to fulfill their agenda. They vetted his Supreme Court picks, and have supported his policy on tax cuts. The amendments banning gay marriage and prohibiting flag burning cater to them. I really don’t see that Bush has done anything for the moderate middle class-or attempted to do anything for them-his privatization of social security was a total bomb, as was his proposal for private health care accounts.