Post by PaulaB on Jan 26, 2004 15:24:57 GMT -5
Clinton wows crowd of 2000 in Fort Lauderdale
By Buddy Nevins Sun-Sentinel
January 26, 2004
SUNRISE — There was no phalanx of police motorcycles surrounding Bill Clinton's limousine on his way to the Office Depot Center on Sunday. No one played Hail to the Chief when he walked on stage.
But the 2,000 or so who paid up to $250 apiece to hear Clinton cheered him as wildly as when he was president. "You can't be too enthusiastic. I'm not so young anymore. I might think I'm still president," Clinton joked.
After more than three years of President George W. Bush, Democrats in the audience were thrilled to hear the familiar raspy drawl in person.
"I love him. I just love him," said Nan Grant of Boynton Beach.
Many in the highly partisan crowd are still licking the wounds from the 2000 election, which they think was stolen from Democrat Al Gore when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida.
"You actually voted for Al Gore and me in 1996," Clinton said, referring to Florida. "You did it again in 2000, I think."
It was a sure-fire applause line.
Clinton, who receives about $100,000 per speech, was the first public figure to give a lecture for the new South Florida Speakers Series.
The former president said the key to his philosophy is that the world is interdependent and the United States should learn to cooperate with other nations on everything from Iraq to trade and health care.
"Most of the problems in the modern world are not suited to unilateral solutions," Clinton said.
He criticized the Bush administration for rebuking international agreements on everything from the Koyoto Protocol on fighting global warming, to the nuclear test ban treaty.
"I believe we cooperate when we can and act alone when we must. The other party believes we should act alone when we can and cooperate when we must," he said.
"There is a significant difference."
He called security the most important shared responsibility of nations.
Cooperation between the United States and foreign security services produced most of the victories in the war against terrorism, destroying 20 al-Qaida cells since the World Trade Center attacks, he said.
Clinton said the United States will not continue its leadership in the world unless it grows economically, and that growth is threatened by Bush's economic policies.
He blamed the Bush tax cuts, saying they are causing huge deficits and threatening the retirement benefits of average Americans. He warned the deficits would have to be repaid by today's children.
Turning to politics, Clinton said he would not endorse any of the Democrats running for president until after the party's nominee is picked because they all helped him during his administration.
Asked what he has done since leaving office in January 2001, Clinton said he is writing his memoirs in longhand. They should be finished in a couple of weeks.
He also gives speeches, travels around the world in an attempt to end conflicts and visits Washington once a week to see his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York.
www.tcpalm.com/tcp/home/article/0,1651,TCP_996_2604449,00.html
By Buddy Nevins Sun-Sentinel
January 26, 2004
SUNRISE — There was no phalanx of police motorcycles surrounding Bill Clinton's limousine on his way to the Office Depot Center on Sunday. No one played Hail to the Chief when he walked on stage.
But the 2,000 or so who paid up to $250 apiece to hear Clinton cheered him as wildly as when he was president. "You can't be too enthusiastic. I'm not so young anymore. I might think I'm still president," Clinton joked.
After more than three years of President George W. Bush, Democrats in the audience were thrilled to hear the familiar raspy drawl in person.
"I love him. I just love him," said Nan Grant of Boynton Beach.
Many in the highly partisan crowd are still licking the wounds from the 2000 election, which they think was stolen from Democrat Al Gore when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida.
"You actually voted for Al Gore and me in 1996," Clinton said, referring to Florida. "You did it again in 2000, I think."
It was a sure-fire applause line.
Clinton, who receives about $100,000 per speech, was the first public figure to give a lecture for the new South Florida Speakers Series.
The former president said the key to his philosophy is that the world is interdependent and the United States should learn to cooperate with other nations on everything from Iraq to trade and health care.
"Most of the problems in the modern world are not suited to unilateral solutions," Clinton said.
He criticized the Bush administration for rebuking international agreements on everything from the Koyoto Protocol on fighting global warming, to the nuclear test ban treaty.
"I believe we cooperate when we can and act alone when we must. The other party believes we should act alone when we can and cooperate when we must," he said.
"There is a significant difference."
He called security the most important shared responsibility of nations.
Cooperation between the United States and foreign security services produced most of the victories in the war against terrorism, destroying 20 al-Qaida cells since the World Trade Center attacks, he said.
Clinton said the United States will not continue its leadership in the world unless it grows economically, and that growth is threatened by Bush's economic policies.
He blamed the Bush tax cuts, saying they are causing huge deficits and threatening the retirement benefits of average Americans. He warned the deficits would have to be repaid by today's children.
Turning to politics, Clinton said he would not endorse any of the Democrats running for president until after the party's nominee is picked because they all helped him during his administration.
Asked what he has done since leaving office in January 2001, Clinton said he is writing his memoirs in longhand. They should be finished in a couple of weeks.
He also gives speeches, travels around the world in an attempt to end conflicts and visits Washington once a week to see his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York.
www.tcpalm.com/tcp/home/article/0,1651,TCP_996_2604449,00.html
