Last week I had the opportunity to attend two inspiring speeches by two inspiring men, all in one day! William Jefferson Clinton and Paul Martin both happened to come to London, Ontario on Nov 26th, and I was lucky enough to be able to fit both of them into my schedule. Of course one cost $100 to attend, and the other was free; can you guess which speaker cost $ to attend?
William Jefferson Clinton, 43rd President of the U.S.
He was 30 minutes late, and the crowd was kept occupied with entertainment from the Canadian Tenors. As the secret service took their place, Bill Clinton finally walked up on stage with the sound of Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 playing over the audio system. As an evidently tired and fatigued Clinton walked up to the podium, the first thing I noticed was that the man had aged. I guess I was used to seeing him on television ten years ago and wasn’t expecting that.
Clinton launched into his speech by tackling a very complicated topic, the credit crisis. He explained the foundations of the crisis, how it all happened, and how deep it had penetrated into America’s nervous system. He explained the complex issue in a simplistic manner, reaching out too all demographics of the crowd. What an amazing ability!
So what were my overall thoughts? Clinton’s charisma and communication skills are second to none (even on a tired day). He has a certain way of communicating complicated topics in layman’s terms and easily resonates with the average Joe – a true sign of leadership. I’m not sure if it was worth $100 to attend, but I guess it’s something I will look back on and tell my kids about. Ok back to his speech…
When the topic of Canada came up, he praised Canada as the U.S.’s most important trading partner and quoted the U.S.-Canadian trading relation as perhaps the closest relation in the world. He referred to the interdependence between our two economics, spitting out economic facts and quoting historical events that surely made him come across as a knowledgeable scholar. It was evident that Clinton was the real deal. He wasn’t full of fluff (like a soon to be former president), but rather hugely knowledgeable about history, religion, and geography – qualities one would expect out of a President. As the topic of Afghanistan was brought up, he thanked Canada for our involvement and pleaded that we should see it through to the end. He talked about how Canada was only one of a few countries actually fighting terror in Afghanistan, as opposed to showing face and avoiding the heated conflict areas. He said that the U.S. hopes that Canada will continue its mission in Afghanistan to the end, but if we didn’t they would still be very thankful for our service and would honour our role in the mission. The crowd seemed relieved to hear that.
Clinton was very candid and transparent about his thoughts on the current state of America. Most surprisingly, he talked about how the American military was ‘broken’. In fact he said it three times. He talked about how America had over-stretched its military by taking part in two wars, and how many of their soldiers were on their 4th or 5th consecutive military tour. “It will take years for us to rebuild our military,” said Clinton.
When the topic of the automotive crisis came up, he pled with the crowd to support a joint U.S./Canada bailout package, explaining that the big three North American automotive manufacturers were deeply rooted both in Canada and the U.S. “It makes sense for a cooperative bailout,” exclaimed Clinton.
Bill went on to offer additional clues about what to expect under President-Elect Obama. “Military will be the last resort, not the first.” Thank god for that! He discussed how the U.S. needs to fix its global image, which has obviously been hurt by the policies of the Bush Administration. He talked about how America’s economic growth over the last ten years had largely been based off a non-diverse set of driving factors (primarily real-estate, financial services, and consumption), and how America needs to rejuvenate itself as an innovator. He implied that there was a large likelihood that America would be investing big $$ in infrastructure over the coming years, and would be transitioning their health care system into one somewhat resembling that of Canada’s.
When asked about Hilary Clinton, he referred to her as the hardest working civil servant that he’d ever seen and how she would make a great Secretary of State.
Bill Clinton spent a significant amount of time discussing the AIDS/HIV situation in Africa and how his charitable foundation was making a difference. “America can’t depend on Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, we need to leverage the internet to accept donations from anyone no matter how little or large the amount. We must not stop our work in Africa despite the downturn.” He praised Canada and Ireland as the first two countries to commit to reoccurring AIDS/HIV drug funding to help bring down the cost of those drugs. As he departed the stage, another U2 song came on the audio system – this time “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Perhaps, Clinton was a U2 fan, or perhaps Bono’s role as a leader, activist, and close friend over the years had had a profound effect on him and his initiatives in Africa?
So where was Bill Clinton off to after the talk? He was going home for American Thanksgiving where Chelsea (his daughter) was making turkey dinner. Bill seemed happy to be going home to his family. He mentioned that Hilary and him would be excused from any cooking duties this year, and would just be responsible for setting up the dinner table.
Paul martin, 21st Prime Minister of Canada
The former Prime Minister of Canada entered the University of Western gymnasium in a casual manner. Barely any security was present unlike Clinton’s talk earlier on in the day. Mr. Martin came with a simple message in mind and delivered it in a surprisingly effective fashion. I wasn’t expecting Martin’s speech to match that of Clinton’s, but I must admit that it was close. It was short, sweet, candid, and inspiring.
Martin talked extensively about his greatest accomplishment; turning Canada’s deficit into a string of surpluses. He talked about how it was ok for Canada to go into a deficit during the downturn if we committed to coming back into a surplus position within three years. He did, however, caution that Canadians should not have to live through another series of cuts like those exhibited in the 1990’s in order to bring us back into a surplus. He mentioned that Canada was the country with the highest probability of paying of its debt in our lifetime, but how we should be conscious of the fact that coming out of a deficit situation is very difficult to do.
On the topic of financial bailouts, “We must commit to bailing out certain industries and companies to avoid a depression. We’ll likely need to choose which industries will get help and which will not,” said Martin. He alluded to the fact that government bailouts are about getting the biggest economic bang for the buck.
What I liked most about Martin was his honesty. He came across as an honest man, and a leader that wants Canada to excel. When he didn’t know the answer to a question he admitted it and simply said, “I don’t have to pretend that I know the answer to everything anymore – I’m no longer Prime Minister.”
At the end of his speech, he talked briefly about the third world and how we shouldn’t stop our investment in Africa during the downturn (similar to Clinton’s message). He went on to emphasize that Canadians should also not forget that many of our aboriginals (within Canada) live in third world conditions and that we must fix this. “Aboriginals are the fast growing segment of our population; we need to take action now,” said Martin.
Two inspiring speeches by two inspiring men…all in one day. Lucky me!