Remember when we had a REAL president?

Was is just 6 short years ago?  I was very fortunate to hear him speak at the University of Michigan commencement on Saturday, a great choice for those of us who are proud, progressive, liberal and educated alumni and/or
faculty of this great university, unlike the present president who spoke
at a small community college or our vice president who faced a boycott by
Brigham Young students and faculty who so deeply oppose the character and policies of this administration.  True - there were a few anti-abortion
protestors making an appearance, but the 59,000 people in the Big House
interrupted over 20 times with applause for Bill Clinton during his 22
minute speech.  What was the topic?  See below:

Clinton spoke of service, making the world better, working for the common good with a common endeavor to help others rise up.  He spoke of the need to make our country secure by building alliances not walls with other countries.  He stressed rebuilding our reputation around the world as the major source of humanitarian aid and relief to struggling nations.

He challenged our graduates to tackle global problems such as disease, poverty, climate change, resource depletion, economic inequality and political instability.  It was a call to doing more than just working, paying taxes and voting - it was a call to being a good citizen of our country and the world.  

What a joy to hear such an inspirational speech from an intelligent, articulate, motivated former president.  It certainly was wonderful to have a message of "hope for the future of our country and the world" to
quote one graduating senior.

This is my first diary post - just trying to spread a little "positivity" in these negative times.  

•  Any comments or suggestions???

  by moose67 on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 09:38:45 PM PDT

  •  No, but I like what you did.

    I'll admit I'm much less positive on Bill, but this is not the occasion to admit that.  It;s worth remembering that:

    1. he was the last elected president;

    2. he was the only president ever to actually fight terrorism;

    3. he actually strived, in small ways, to improve the lot of everyday people; and

    4. he's not a blood-crazy, treasonous, thieving, genocidal psycho like his successor.

    (PS - kewl autoformatting here - I did nothing to create this fine-appearing bullet-point list.  It just happened automagically.  Kudos to kos.)

    by Andy Lewis on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 09:47:36 PM PDT

    •  bill clinton

      i miss him every day.

      by gailwax on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 10:28:34 PM PDT

    •  Yes, you've about summed it up.

      I miss the days of the republic, before the Usurpation, and I look forward to having a President again.

      It boggles my mind that a Usurper could seize power in this country and hold it for six years, and live.

      by khereva on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 01:22:46 AM PDT

  •  I have the same feelings..

    and wrote a diary about Bill Clinton's visit to Kansas

    http://www.dailykos.com/...

    by KnowVox on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 06:00:44 AM PDT

•  Rec cuz it's nice to read something positive.

  I miss da man myself.

  by lorelynn on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 09:56:55 PM PDT

•  Thanks for the reminder...

  about the days when we had someone who could actually complete a coherent sentence in the White House...lol. I have my beefs with Clinton like NAFTA and what he allowed with the media consolidation, but compared to this criminal gang we've got in there now, he looks like a saint.

  by uniongal on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 09:59:12 PM PDT

•  Bill Clinton Can Always Make You Feel Great

  While sending your job overseas, handing the airwaves to the Republican party, presiding over the decline of your union or maneuvering behind the scenes to have his wife continue his neoliberal project of eliminating the last traces of progressive politics in America in favor of an subtly oppressive, center-right twilight zone where the beautiful people jet off to Davos to save the poor in Africa while the poor in America eat platitudes from the war-mongering corporate whores at the DLC.

  Or am I being negative?

  by Near Vanna on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 10:07:16 PM PDT

  •  well - maybe just a tad...

    many of those policies were started by Reagan or
    Bush41 - but Clinton could have tempered or reversed them - and I'm not a Hillary fan either.

    by moose67 on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 10:22:34 PM PDT

•  Bill Clinto was the best president

  our country has had in my lifetime.  

  by dangangry on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 10:12:19 PM PDT

  •  yes, he was

    And most of the time he was in office, I was pissed at him for something or other that wasn't "progressive." I should have appreciated that after 12 years of Reaganbush it was going to take time to just dig out of the coffin-hole of regressivism they had dug for us.

    by brainiacamor on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 05:36:07 AM PDT

•  no actually...i don't

  by lightnessofbeing on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 10:21:11 PM PDT

•  Clinton's speeches are enthralling to me.

  Sometimes you're just like damn, did he just explain something so wonderful?  I have my problems with him but I love his speeches.

  [Read on if you want to hear my weird free association rant that may or may not make sense as it is late and I am groggy on my way to bed]

  Now Bush, this may sound childish but I was under the feeling presidents were good and moral.  Like we always learned Abraham Lincold borrowed that book and walked miles to give it back. And he was so intelligent and read so many books. Honesty and intelligence was something we held dear in our presidents.

  Now Bush.  HE singlehandedly screwed that notion up forever.  Here we have a president who epitomizes the polar opposities of all those virtues.  Shame on him and what's he's done to our beloved presidency.  What the hell do we teach the kids now.  That Abraham Lincoln was stupid to read all those books, that being honest and returning books is a form of weakness.  What?  

  Just think, when President's day rolls around every year and the kids are learning about Honest Abe and George Washington, the cherry tree and all that well, these ideals have been trashed by these not so great people we have in the whitehouse...

  by Dianna on Sun Apr 29, 2007 at 11:00:07 PM PDT

•  Bill Clinton addressing the UK Labour Party

  was about the best thing we found on TV last Christmas morning when we were too lazy to get out of bed after finishing our tea (we live in Britain). And even though it clearly was a "filler" program and somewhat dated at that (the Labour Party had met the previous September), we were STILL enthralled, as always, by Clinton's command of the language, of the figures in his head, and of his audience. And my husband and I both lamented that we miss a REAL president: intelligent, articulate, insightful. So of course we watched the whole 90 minutes!

  For all his human flaws, Bill had/has true leadership -- he has the ability to make you think, offering ideas that are worth thinking about. And he makes you WANT to listen.

  All we've EVER done when seeing or listening to Dumbya is CRINGE and GASP....

  by demetroula on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 02:23:29 AM PDT