The Wake

Nearly 5,000 people filled Northrop Auditorium to its capacity in order to spend a cool, rainy evening with former President Clinton on Saturday, Nov. 5. Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, University President Bob Bruininks and J. Brian Atwood, dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, also spoke at the event, which was part of the 25th anniversary of the Carlson Distinguished Lecture Series.

Doors opened at 4 p.m. and the program was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. General admission seating guaranteed the early arrival of many attendees. The Wake had not been granted a media pass, so I was in line with a friend by 12:15, determined to sit in the best spots available and to perhaps even get close enough to get a decent picture (as it turned out, security didn’t allow our “media-size” camera into the event without a media pass). As soon as the doors opened, the crowd rushed for seats.

Many of the people who had determinedly waited at the front of the line for hours appeared noticeably disappointed when it was clear that the entire front and center section was saved for those with connections to the Carlson family. The media bank took up the front left of seating, although the general audience was given seating directly behind them in that section. Otherwise, general admission was primarily relegated to the back and the balcony. These seating arrangements highlighted an issue of access that first reared its head on the morning tickets became available.

Free tickets for the Clinton lecture were given out at multiple locations on Oct. 18, starting at 8 a.m. At Coffman Union bookstore, the St. Paul Student Center and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs building (where members of the U-DFL camped out overnight in order to guarantee being first in line), all the tickets had been given out within ten minutes after opening. At Northrop, which opened at 10 a.m. and where I ultimately received my ticket (after trying and failing at the Humphrey Center), there were enough people waiting in line by about 8:30 a.m. that all the tickets were spoken for. Humphrey students received tickets automatically, but, all in all, students (at least undergraduates) constituted an obvious minority of those who were able to get tickets. Perhaps this was due to most students’ unwillingness to get in line at six in the morning or conflicts with class times, but I’m inclined to think that the problem was a lack of communication and detailed information to students. With tickets going so quickly, it seems likely that many students might have simply found out too late to get one.

For those of us who were lucky enough to have tickets, the lecture was well worth the wait. Clinton gave an hour-long, wide-ranging speech where he outlined five points relating to his goal of establishing more integrated communities in today’s interdependent world. Although the tone of the lecture was more academic than politically partisan, Clinton was clearly preaching to the choir (after all, most of the audience devoted the time and effort of loyal fans to see him) and his pointed criticisms of the Bush administration were naturally well-received.

In the area of foreign policy, he emphasized a need for the U.S. to work together with other countries and organizations. “In an interdependent environment – and that’s where we are – you can not possibly kill, jail, or occupy all your actual or potential enemies. Therefore, you have to spend at least as much time trying to make a world with more partners and fewer enemies. It’s a lot cheaper than fighting a war,” Clinton says.

He says that one of his biggest points of departure with the current administration is his view on the importance of institutional cooperation, especially with the United Nations, and a more multilateral foreign policy. “We won’t be the supreme political, military and economic power forever. We should be trying to build a world we would like to live in when we’re not the only big dog on the block,” Clinton added.

Clinton also took particular issue with the Bush administration’s penchant for tax cuts that benefit high-income people such as himself, and the country’s subsequent dependence on foreign loans. “We’ve never cut taxes in wartime before, and asked other countries to pay for it,” he says. “We can go forward together, but not if people like me demand a free ride, while we send the children of middle-class America and poor America around the world to put their lives in danger and refuse to pay for it.”

He questioned the ethics and the wisdom of such economics, which he said uses 80 percent of the world’s savings in order to loan the United States necessary funds. “Until this country walks away from it, we are going to pay the price. Other people aren’t stupid; they know we do this. Don’t you think people around the world know this about us? Don’t you think this has something to do with the way they look at us?”

Clinton says the government should spend money on health care and job creation, which he also says could be better accomplished if the United States was more committed to innovative energy programs. “The best social program is a job, and when people have jobs you have money to help the poor, to invest in education, to invest in the environment, to invest in health care, to spend around the world,” he says.

Despite the problems he sees with U.S. policy, Clinton cited the increased number of democracies worldwide, the internet’s role as an instrument of political action, and the rise of non-governmental organizations as reasons to believe in the power of individuals and he closed with a call to action. “The thing that makes me most optimistic is that private citizens now have more power to do public good than at any point in history,” he says. “You’ll always like the outcome of some elections and dislike the outcome of some others. Stay politically active, feel passionately about these things, but do not use your disappointment at a given government policy or a particular election as an excuse to believe you are disempowered.”

Archived audio of the lecture is available on Minnesota Public Radio’s website ().