NEW ORLEANS, March 16, 2008
Bill Clinton Defends Stance On Obama
Politico: Former President Says Election Has Caused Experience To Look Like A Liability
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President Bill Clinton hosts the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University, a new project to engage college students to make commitments to address global issues, at Tulane University, New Orleans, Saturday, March 15, 2008. (AP)
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Interactive William Jefferson Clinton Follow the ups and downs of President Clinton's years in office, see photos and learn about his life before and after the presidency.
Former President Bill Clinton told college journalists assembled Sunday by mtvU that the push for change in this election has caused experience to look like a liability instead of an asset.
“This is the first election in history that I can remember where experience - and having, actually, experience as a changemaker - should be a disability for being elected,” Clinton told four undergraduate journalists from around the country at the inaugural “Editorial Board” of the College Media Network started by mtvU, a college-oriented channel of MTV.
Clinton’s frustration with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), flashed at several points during the mostly cordial 45-minute conversation in Tulane University’s student activities center.
“If you were part of making good things happen in the ‘90s and stopping bad things from happening in this decade,” he said. “Then you were part of a culture of conflict and you are so yesterday. So the only way we can have a good president is to make a completely new beginning.”
Clinton also declared that he has been inaccurately portrayed as attacking Obama during the South Carolina primary. The issue is sensitive because Clinton’s aggressive campaigning has threatened his overwhelming popularity in the African American community.
“Contrary to the myth, I went through South Carolina and never said a bad word about Senator Obama - not one,” Clinton said.
The former president took a lower profile role in his wife’s campaign after he compared Obama’s victory in the South Carolina primary to the wins there by Jesse Jackson, another black candidate. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told black newspaper executives last week that she was “sorry if anyone was offended.”
Asked why Obama is consistently receiving 90 percent of the black vote, Clinton replied: “Iowa happened. The minute it became possible that he could be the nominee, he was going to win the lion’s share of the African-American vote. … And I never begrudged it.”
“You can’t blame the African-American community for being proud of having a candidate who’s immensely impressive, who has had a lot of support in the North among non-African Americans and has generated all this excitement among young people,” the former president continued. “I don’t think it’s rocket science. … The fact that people are excited about Senator Obama’s candidacy in the African-American community is entirely understandable.”
Clinton was at Tulane for the three-day inaugural meeting of CGI U, a new project of Clinton Global Initiative, which is part of the William J. Clinton Foundation.
The non-partisan CGI, started in 2005, brings together 1,000 world leaders in New York every year. The university version will challenge college students and universities to tackle global problems with practical solutions. CGI U’s four main focus areas are energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace, and poverty alleviation.
“We have the problems that are also present on global scale,” Clinton told the students. “There’s been an increase in inequality in incomes and availability of jobs and access to health care and education around the world - and within many wealthy countries, including ours.”
The “Editorial Board” participants were senior Drew Dickson of Tulane University’s “Hullabaloo”; junior Joshua Sharp of the University of Southern California’s “Daily Trojan”; junior Vanessa Rozier of Howard University’s “Hilltop”; and sophomore Lily Lamboy of Smith College’s “Sophian.”
The students were aggressive and Clinton got a bit heated at a few points. “Wait a minute - you asked the question, so yo have to let me answer,” he said when asked a pointed question about his own role in the campaign. “You don’t get to slant it, and ask me the question, and then” interrupt.
Another time, he said when discussing Obama’s position on money from lobbyists: “Let me finish. I’m going to answer this. But I have a right to answer this. You can’t let him posit a choice that doesn’t exist.”
Clinton responded hotly when asked: “How is that the guy that the guy from Hope is the insider from Washington”?
“I think that every election should be about hope, and every election should be about the future,” he said. “I have no problem with that. But how anybody could I’m the Washington insider when I live in New York and I have not gotten - I’m not in politics anymore. And if you look at it, I think that all I have done is keep pushing America into the future in what I do in my post-presidential life.”
On other issues, Clinton:
--Showed detailed knowledge of the campaign’s nuts and bolts, including throwing out precise figures while complaining about Obama’s use of political action committee money early in his campaign: “He spends 40 percent of the PAC money - 43 percent, to be exact - on Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina politicians. … Those states constitute 3.7 percent of America’s population. … So therefore it’s not true that he has run a campaign without any special-interest money influencing the presidential campaign.”
-- Said he believes Congress next year may “get rid of’ the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy allowing gays to serve as long as they do not discuss their sexual orientation.
“It would have been a better policy if it had been implemented the way General [Colin] Powell and I agreed to implement it. … I think we may have the support now in Congress to get rid of it all together,” Clinton said. “That’s what we should do. We should do what every other major country has done and allow gay to honorably in the military. … I’m not defending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ on the merits. … Our guys came to us and said, ‘Look. If you don’t agree to this, they’re going to bury you. You will have nothing.’ ”
--Told how he came to support legalization of gay in the military: “What flipped me on this - what made me strongly in favor of allowing gays to serve in the military--was the first Gulf War. … In the first Gulf War, the military knowingly shelved plans to replace more than a hundred people in critical military positions who were gay. They let them serve and as soon as the war was over--these people had risked their lives for our country, and they served honorably--then they … kicked them out. So that plus [then-senators] Bob Kerrey, John Kerry and … one or two other Vietnam veterans coming to me and saying, ‘We’ll stick with you on this, because we think it’s ridiculous.”
mtvU, a unit of Viacom and part of MTV Networks, is a channel for college students - airing on 750 campuses nationwide - that features music videos from emerging artists, coverage of student-led activism, and other programming.
An edited version of the meeting, "mtvU Editorial Board: President Bill Clinton" will premiere on mtvU and mtvU.com March 26 at noon Eastern and Pacific.
Editor’s Note: As part of a Politico partnership with MTV, Mike Allen worked as a mentor with the editorial board participants on Saturday.
By Mike Allen
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
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Why wont Hillary release her tax returns? People with nothing to hide don''t usually hide.
The main excuse we''ve gotten so far is that Hillary Clinton just has too much on her plate. "I''m a little busy right now," she said during the Ohio debate. "I hardly have time to sleep. But I will certainly work toward releasing, and we will get that done and in the public domain."
That was three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, Howard Wolfson promised the returns would be released "on or around April 15." But weren''t the returns completed and filed a long time ago? Doesn''t Clinton''s accountant have time to print them out and make some copies (note to Clinton''s accountant: many Kinko''s are open 24 hours).
In short, it''s well past time for Hillary Clinton to be as "vetted" as she claims to already be -- and to have this vetting done now by Democratic voters rather than later by GOP hit squads. She needs to live up to the standard she laid out for Rick Lazio, the opponent in her 2000 Senate race. At that time, she said it was "frankly disturbing" that Lazio was holding back on releasing his tax returns.
What a difference eight years -- and tens of millions of dollars (some of them from questionable deals) -- can make.
Posted by kstar42 at 04:00 PM : Mar 17, 2008
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he is gonna adress the canceer called race discrimination that has been eating into the American society and that has recently shown its face
All the other 43 presidents have not been able to do so that is why we have the likes of pastor Wright both among the black and the whites
He is in the best position to adress this issue and right now he will use his position as a leader to do do so
Hillary apologised in New orleans about the comments
she again did apologise in Washington when she adrresed a group of journalists
This just shows how dishonest they are and yet nobody is pointing that out
This is the kind of mind set that we have to change
For your information in my community i have managed to make some republicans to change to democrats and the more you make such comments the more we are determined to have Barack in the WH. me and my family have doubled our efforts and it will not be in vain because its all for the good cause
I thought when she took questions from black reporters right after the Mississipi pri she apologised
so it was all show and when it hasnt worked, take back the fake apology
they are never really sorry for anything
I can never vote for her and i will never trust her
Im a white woman but i would rather vote for Barack than to bring someone who lied under oath back to the WH
too hard go to youtube and watch Bill Clinton and
Chirs Wallace on fox news then come back and run
that no nothing mouth
is more comeing
Hillary no time for on the job training this
country is headed for a Depression JPMorgan buys out
Bear Stearns 2$ a share thats going hurt a lot of
small people and the feds Guarantee 30 billion.
Dollers so Morgan buys them out for 236 million
with a government guarantee for 30 billion now
This is a BUSH deal I have never voted for BUSH 1 or
2 thats way we need the Hillary Clinton in most of
you reading this might not know about the SAVEING and LOWNS scame that was th bush boys too.
As a voting Democrat from the old school of Bill & Hillary Clinton, Mondale, Ferarro. I''''m happy to learn that Governor Rendell has come out for Hillary in our great State of Pa.
The old guard is alive & well here. They''''ve expressed the belief the shepherd boy Obama is a Democrat out of line, not sure what that means, but it is clear that the Governor has connections, and assured us that Hillary will win Pa.???
Each day his constituents gather together at the summit to find new ways to distain, mock, belittle, ridicule, and start rumors circulating concerning Obama. His camp is encircled & he is outnumbered. He has to go it alone! Somehow, we''''ve been told that Pa,Ny,Oh,Nj, are superdelegate states and since Rendell was president of the DNC, I''''m sure he knows the ropes. We don''''t understand this but it sounds like a pretty slick trick.
We''ve been told that Our Great White Hope is in Hillary and that she is entitled to the nomination and nothing is going to stand in HER way. I trust this will be good news for Bill, most Pa, & the Mainstream News. We are not Gender biased.
This is fun & we''re just warming up here in Pa. It''s Polka time so lets roll out the barrel & start the count down for Hillary. Go Hillary! We love you Bill!
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