Commentary
Bill Clinton must have a short memory, or be intent
on not remembering vast portions of his presidency (I
believe it's the latter, as Clinton is a walking
encyclopedia, a human database).
After being introduced by James Greenwood, President
of BIO, Clinton remarked that Greenwood was one of the
GOP congressman whom he liked during his time as
President (Greenwood once represented the State of
Pennsylvania). But he had to be careful in saying
it because he could destroy Greenwood's reputation.
It drew chuckles from the audience, but I wondered
if this was being chummy for the sake of being chummy.
Greenwood did vote to begin impeachment proceedings
against Clinton, so I guess Bill is preferring to
focus on the issues the two hold in common, rather
than their differences.
And that is the essence of Bill Clinton - here is
a president who had to work with a Republican Congress
from 1994 forward. He reached across the aisle out
of necessity and he's been quite effective at it
since leaving the White House.
Who could've imagined Bill Clinton working so closely
with George Bush, whom he defeated for the presidency
in 1992? It was a bitter campaign with Bush
questioning Clinton's patriotism for opposing the
Vietnam War on foreign soil. And Clinton delivered
his fair share of attacks on the Bush White House.
Surely, there was some residual bitterness over the
campaign.
Yet the two drove tsunami relief fundraising efforts
together. Clinton said that Americans gave over a
billion dollars, with 30% of households contributing
- half of the donations arriving via the Internet.
Clinton still tells the "Gee, how far we've come"
technology stories, which seem to change a little
from venue to venue and maintain the same theme. At
BIO, he mentioned that he has a cousin in north
Arkansas who plays chess online with a man in
Australia, something which would've been inconceivable
not too long ago. Clinton is awed by
the increasingly interdependent world we live in, one
with easy travel, easy access to information and
technology, and open borders. It's a speech he's
been giving for years now. And as Clinton concedes,
not all interdependence is good. He quickly turned his
attention to the immigration debate and question of
how to secure America's borders, which has dominated
the news of late. Clinton was vague, urging
the BIO audience to not "give in to xenophobia, or
the naive notion that we don't need to pay attention
to our borders." So we still don't know if he favors
the McCain legislation, the Kyl legislation - we have
no idea what he thinks.
Some more precise views from Clinton surfaced as he
addressed genetically modified crops and national
energy policy.
As president, he said he did everything he could to
support the biotechnology industry and its
application to modern life. And he "pleaded guilty" to
supporting genetically modified crops and insinuated
that opponents are driven by fear, drawing much
applause from the audience. Utilizing less fertilizer
and increasing productivity, genetically modified
crops are clearly a positive, said Clinton.
Energy policy is the area that seems to carry the
greatest urgency for Clinton. "If we made a serious
decision to go to a clean energy future, we would
reverse the declining wages problem," said Clinton.
Clinton had stated earlier that average wages have
declined - in constant dollars - by $1,000 during
recent years, even with surging productivity. And
while unemployment has dropped recently, that's
mainly due to the large number of Americans who have
stopped looking for work since 2001. Clinton said that
if those people were to seek work, unemployment would
be closer to 6%, instead of 5%.
[Donald Luskin fans: here's your chance to sound off
... and remember, I didn't say it this time - Bill
Clinton did]
But a clean energy economy can create jobs, insists
Clinton. While Clinton said that the energy bill
passed last year was a "good bill" - with tax
credits for solar energy, f.e. - he promptly ripped
into it, saying it was "a pittance of what we should
be spending."
Clinton believes the nation must move to biofuels,
particularly celluosic, as "the conversion ratio is
better." Today, farmers and refiners produce billions
of gallons of ethanol from corn. But to make enough
biofuels to effectively slash oil use, many - like
Clinton - believe we'll need to move toward cellulosic
biofuels, which are made from whole plants, not just
the corn kernel. Clinton said there are all kinds of
agricultural waste streams that can be used for energy
purposes.
[I have more from the Clinton speech to report, but
due to a flight, I have to get going]
Bill Clinton must have a short memory, or be intent
on not remembering vast portions of his presidency (I
believe it's the latter, as Clinton is a walking
encyclopedia, a human database).
After being introduced by James Greenwood, President
of BIO, Clinton remarked that Greenwood was one of the
GOP congressman whom he liked during his time as
President (Greenwood once represented the State of
Pennsylvania). But he had to be careful in saying
it because he could destroy Greenwood's reputation.
It drew chuckles from the audience, but I wondered
if this was being chummy for the sake of being chummy.
Greenwood did vote to begin impeachment proceedings
against Clinton, so I guess Bill is preferring to
focus on the issues the two hold in common, rather
than their differences.
And that is the essence of Bill Clinton - here is
a president who had to work with a Republican Congress
from 1994 forward. He reached across the aisle out
of necessity and he's been quite effective at it
since leaving the White House.
Who could've imagined Bill Clinton working so closely
with George Bush, whom he defeated for the presidency
in 1992? It was a bitter campaign with Bush
questioning Clinton's patriotism for opposing the
Vietnam War on foreign soil. And Clinton delivered
his fair share of attacks on the Bush White House.
Surely, there was some residual bitterness over the
campaign.
Yet the two drove tsunami relief fundraising efforts
together. Clinton said that Americans gave over a
billion dollars, with 30% of households contributing
- half of the donations arriving via the Internet.
Clinton still tells the "Gee, how far we've come"
technology stories, which seem to change a little
from venue to venue and maintain the same theme. At
BIO, he mentioned that he has a cousin in north
Arkansas who plays chess online with a man in
Australia, something which would've been inconceivable
not too long ago. Clinton is awed by
the increasingly interdependent world we live in, one
with easy travel, easy access to information and
technology, and open borders. It's a speech he's
been giving for years now. And as Clinton concedes,
not all interdependence is good. He quickly turned his
attention to the immigration debate and question of
how to secure America's borders, which has dominated
the news of late. Clinton was vague, urging
the BIO audience to not "give in to xenophobia, or
the naive notion that we don't need to pay attention
to our borders." So we still don't know if he favors
the McCain legislation, the Kyl legislation - we have
no idea what he thinks.
Some more precise views from Clinton surfaced as he
addressed genetically modified crops and national
energy policy.
As president, he said he did everything he could to
support the biotechnology industry and its
application to modern life. And he "pleaded guilty" to
supporting genetically modified crops and insinuated
that opponents are driven by fear, drawing much
applause from the audience. Utilizing less fertilizer
and increasing productivity, genetically modified
crops are clearly a positive, said Clinton.
Energy policy is the area that seems to carry the
greatest urgency for Clinton. "If we made a serious
decision to go to a clean energy future, we would
reverse the declining wages problem," said Clinton.
Clinton had stated earlier that average wages have
declined - in constant dollars - by $1,000 during
recent years, even with surging productivity. And
while unemployment has dropped recently, that's
mainly due to the large number of Americans who have
stopped looking for work since 2001. Clinton said that
if those people were to seek work, unemployment would
be closer to 6%, instead of 5%.
[Donald Luskin fans: here's your chance to sound off
... and remember, I didn't say it this time - Bill
Clinton did]
But a clean energy economy can create jobs, insists
Clinton. While Clinton said that the energy bill
passed last year was a "good bill" - with tax
credits for solar energy, f.e. - he promptly ripped
into it, saying it was "a pittance of what we should
be spending."
Clinton believes the nation must move to biofuels,
particularly celluosic, as "the conversion ratio is
better." Today, farmers and refiners produce billions
of gallons of ethanol from corn. But to make enough
biofuels to effectively slash oil use, many - like
Clinton - believe we'll need to move toward cellulosic
biofuels, which are made from whole plants, not just
the corn kernel. Clinton said there are all kinds of
agricultural waste streams that can be used for energy
purposes.
[I have more from the Clinton speech to report, but
due to a flight, I have to get going]
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