Bart,
Last night my dream finally came true - I met
the greatest President in my
lifetime, and possibly in US history...William
Jefferson Clinton!
The event was organized as a fundraiser for his
Library/Foundation. I splurged on a $250 package,
that included meeting the President and getting
my photo taken with him. I arrived promptly at 6:30,
but they didn't start letting people in until
7pm. The place is called 'Capitale', in the heart of Chinatown.
It used to be an old bank, transformed into a
Club/Lounge...huge place! It was amazing to see the
diversity of the people there, white, black,
asian, middle eastern, men, women, old, young.
There had to be at least 2,000 people there,
possibly even more.
I was allowed to go to the room on the second
floor, and mingle with the $250 crowd. After having
a few vodka tonics (open bar), we started assembling
into a line for our photo-op. As I got closer,
and got my first look at him, it was kind of
unbelievable. Here, 20 feet away from, stands a man
whom I admire and respect greatly. Smiling,
laughing, shaking hands, taking pictures.
It was my turn, I came up and shook his hand,
and gave the usual, 'Honor to meet you Mr.President!',
He asked for my name, and told me it's great
to meet me, too. They took the picture, but before I
walked away I handed him a photo that I took
in the summer of 2001 from my house in Queens,
WTC in sunset with a plance flying over it (I
think I've sent it to you before?). He looked at it,
and said 'Wow, this is amazing!
Thank you very much! God Bless You!' (I can die happy now).
After that I went downstairs, and everyone waited
patiently until he was done doing photos.
I got right up to the stage, and shortly after
he came down to speak. The crowd broke into applause.
His press secretary introduced him, he said 'Mr.
President, these are your people. We sold out
every ticket, and then some for this event',
and then he started speaking.
I've heard his speeches before, and I always enjoyed
listening to him. But something about standing
2 feet in front of him, and listening live -
that makes it even better. What a great feeling listening to
a leader, a President speak so clearly, intelligently,
without notes, and straight to the point. He talked
about his foundation, and what he is working
on (AIDS with Mandela, impoverished areas in US and
across the world). He talked about the
current administration, and some of its policies. Talked about
the tax cut...I can't quote him directly but
the jist of it was:
"Take for example the tax cuts..the administration
made a choice to push these tax cuts through so
people in my income bracket can get a big tax
cut, and a nice refund. That's great. But all choices have
consequences, and we have to think about those.
500,000 poor kids will have their after-school programs
eliminated, 100,000 police jobs will be cut,
82,000 college kids will become ineligible for financial aid,
another $250 million will be cut from Financial
Aid programs, etc, etc, etc...but Bill Clinton will have
a nice refund. Similar situation with Iraq
where we're spending billions of dollars to rebuild, provide
education, free healthcare. All are great
things, but they come at the expense of American kids,
firemen, police men, schools, environment, etc....What
I have to say to you stay involved, and be involved.
Doesn't matter how you feel about the 2000 election
outcome (lots of boos), if you agree or disagree
with the Supreme Court ignoring the 40,000 ballots
(cheers, laughs and applause), stay involved.
We didn't get compasionate conservatism, we got
radical conservatism. They used to call my way
of doing things the 3rd way...well we now have
the 4th way. Don't despair! Nothing lasts forever! "
He went on talking about a few other things, mentioned
Hillary, got a few jokes in. His speech was
broken many time by applause, boos towards the
current administration and laughs. After about 30
minutes, he was done, and he walked in the front
shaking hands and taking pictures. I got a few
photos of him speaking, and a few real close-up
(once I get them developed, will email them to you).
I shook his hand again, and thanked him.
The woman next to me asked him a question, didn't
hear what it was, but I heard his response:
"The Republicans get away with a lot of stuff
because they are so forceful and united, and 9/11
gave them a mandate to push through radical changes
that they would've never gotten away with.
But what we have to remember at the end of the
day is we are right, our ideas are right, and what
we believe in is the best for America!"
After that he left, and that was it. This
was one of the best experiences in my life, and I don't
regret for a minute spending all that money!
Alex