As many of the community know, Bill Clinton is in St. Louis today to support Claire McCaskill's run for the U.S. Senate. I just got back from a rally where Clinton spoke - and came away more impressed than ever in his speaking ability and charisma. It goes without saying, but he truly was a once in a generation individual, the natural successor to leaders like Roosevelt and Kennedy. This was the first time I had seen him speak in person, and he did not disappoint.
More about the details on the flip side...
The event surprisingly began almost on time - doors were scheduled to open at 8:15, with the event beginning at 9:00, and although the doors didn't open until 9:00, the first speaker began talking shortly after 9:30. Roger Wilson, the former governor of Missouri, is the current Missouri Democratic Party chairman, and still a very good speaker. He entertained the crowd for a bit, and introduced a series of Missouri officials who had shown up to support McCaskill, such as our current secretary of state, Robin Carnahan, our current attorney general, Jay Nixon (who will likely be our next governor in 2008), as well as Russ Carnahan (Dick Gephadrt's successor in Congress) and other local and state officials.
One of these was Susan Montee, who is running to replace McCaskill as state auditor - who let us know that if elected she would be the first state auditor who was a licensed CPA as well as being an attorney. That was somewhat surprising - but Wilson informed us that attack ads on her indicated that folks ought to vote for her opponent so that "the governor won't be bothered with all those audits." What could explain the GOP's theories more clearly than their desire to operate in private and secret with no oversight.
McCaskill spoke briefly after this and then turned the stage over to the Big Dog. Before getting into the substance of his speech, I'll let you know that he didn't talk about the Path to 9/11 directly, but made an impassioned plea that we need to stay out of the business of politicizing tragedy - that's what the other side does, and not what we stand for.
As with several speeches I've heard Clinton make since he left the White House, he made light of his recent wealth as an attempt to portray the Republican tax cuts as both foolhardy and unnecessary. He also makes a strong point of tying this to our burgeoning borrowing from our trade competitors. "So every day, our government goes hat in hand to China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea (and Mexico - our 10th largest creditor) and asks, 'can we borrow some money to pay for tax cuts for the rich and our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan'"
Another focus of Clinton's speech was the opportunity presented by high oil prices to finally make a real investment in clean energy. This seems like a no-brainer. As oil increases in price, other forms of fuels become more economical and we have the opportunity to reduce our dependency on imports as well as doing something to help reverse the global warming problem.
Clinton reminded us that he was able to balance the budget not by any crazy tricks or wild schemes but through one thing - arithmetic. He figured that if 2 + 2 = 4 in Little Rock and St. Louis, it probably did in Washington too. Somehow the Republicans have forgotten that over the last six years as they enrich their special interests at the expense of the vast majority of Americans.
Clinton also spoke about the core difference between the two parties today - we have a philosophy, they have an ideology. The primary difference is that the GOP ignores evidence that contradicts their ideology - they already have the answers. We're willing to listen to evidence and form our policies accordingly. This leads into the main theme - we have seen the past six years of Republican rule - they've had complete control of the entire government and what have they given us? Medicaid cuts? College aid cuts? No minimum wage increase? A prescription drug plan that Einstein couldn't figure out? Focus on repealing the estate tax (estimated cost $25 billion) vs. failure to inspect cargo containers at our ports and airports (estimated cost $800 million). Over $300 billion spent in Iraq, and countless lives ended, ruined, and changed forever on both sides...
Clinton made quite a few comparisons between McCaskill and Harry Truman. The most telling was on the case of war profiteering. I didn't know this - but while Truman was in the Senate, he led the effort to expose war profiteering and corruption at the height of World War II, which in part, led FDR to choose him as a running mate in 1944. As a long-time state auditor, McCaskill is uniquely positioned to be a big player in the investigations we hope will begin in earnest next year with a Democratic Congress.
But the most poignant point of the morning was Clinton's appeal to return to the politics of unity as opposed to division. You could hear the subtle anger in his voice as he spoke about how the GOP trashed the character of Max Cleland in the 2002 elections along with all the other shameful campaigning that sought to capitalize on the tragedy of 9/11. He quietly asked us not to do the same in response. He reminded us that there is no doubt that if Harry Truman were running for his Senate seat today, the GOP would slander him as "weak on national security" because he had the temerity to question the (then-Democratic) administration's execution of the war effort.
I'm sure I don't need to say this - but this Missouri Senate race is a key battleground - the polls have this neck-and-neck and it is likely to remain so throughout the next two months. We can use all the help you can offer, either volunteering or contributing.
Thank you.