2/15/2007 12:18:00 AM
Clinton holds court
Former president draws huge crowd to Rice campus
BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff
Former President Bill Clinton urged Rice students to adopt a global perspective to tackle the challenges facing the United States during his Feb. 8 speech on campus.
"Any concerned citizen needs a world view, a framework, within which to absorb and evaluate all the apparently disparate events that are going on,” Clinton said.
A crowd estimated at more than 4,000 students, faculty, staff and special guests turned out to hear Clinton’s speech, titled “Embracing Our Common Humanity — Meeting the Challenges of Global Interdependence in the 21st Century,” which was sponsored by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy.
The former president touched on a wide range of topics, from energy policy to health care to the role of the United States in the world.
Clinton was joined on the stage by Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian, Rice President David Leebron and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who each gave opening remarks.
Clinton began with a lighthearted comment on his speaker’s fee. After acknowledging that he was not being paid “one red cent,” he joked that he had instead received “Jim Baker’s solemn promise that in the event of an election challenge in 2008, [Baker] will not represent the Republican nominee for president.” When the laughter subsided, Clinton said, “I made that up on the spot. I really don’t have that commitment.”
Turning to the focus of his speech, Clinton asked the audience what “the fundamental character of the 21st century” is. He argued that it will be interdependent, and while that interdependence is positive, it can be “unequal, unstable and unsustainable.”
Clinton then laid out a list of ways citizens could help alleviate the inequality, instability and unsustainability he foresaw.
He urged Americans to engage in what he called “home improvement” by cutting energy consumption, reducing carbon emissions, addressing income inequality and agreeing on a plan to cover the millions who lack health insurance.
On foreign policy, Clinton called for greater emphasis on cooperation.
“As we’re finding out in Iraq and other places,” he said, “there are limits on our ability to just impose our will — which means we should always have a preference for diplomacy.”
After speaking for 40 minutes, Clinton answered questions that Rice students had submitted in writing prior to the speech.
He insisted the U.S. government’s recent emphasis on the Middle East is not misplaced.
He said, “There are Muslims all over the world who would feel completely different about our country and the West generally if we were seen to get a fair and decent deal for the Palestinians in the Middle East.”
Asked about his feelings toward Baker for his role in the disputed 2000 presidential election, Clinton praised Baker’s successful efforts. But, Clinton added, “My quarrel was not with him. It was with the Supreme Court decision [that ended the vote recount in Florida]. I think the Supreme Court decision will go down in history as one of the five worst decisions ever rendered by the Unites States Supreme Court.”
Another question dealt with President George W. Bush’s use of the term “war on terror.” Clinton called it a “legitimate phrase to use” under the circumstances. But he cautioned, “The real danger with the war on terror is not that terrorists ought not to be made war on, it is the implication that you can solve it with weapons alone.”
Clinton’s main theme revolved around citizen participation. He offered several anecdotes of common people getting involved in larger events. Addressing the Rice audience, he said, “You have more power to do than any group of Americans ever have. And there’s plenty of doing that needs to be done.”
