Bill Clinton looks good. Fit, rested, relaxed, certainly better than he looked at any time in his presidency. He received a rousing reception here in Veracruz, partly just for his presence, but I think largely because Mexicans of all political persuasions remember him as a great friend of their country. He used enormous political capital to ensure the passage of Nafta and he coordinated the rescue following the peso crisis in 1995.
What made the reception particularly strong was the contrast this posed to the current situation. Mexican political and business leaders feel they have fallen off the map for the United States since 9-11. They’re probably right.
Clinton had the generosity to say that he thought then-governor Bush’s position on Mexico and Latin America in the 2000 election had been very good. But Bush and the administration had been “understandably” distracted by the war on terrorism. Now, he said, it was probably time to rebalance the situation.
The main part of Clinton’s speech was about the nature of our interdependent world. I suspect it’s what passes for his stump speech these days, and it was certainly fluent, interesting and engaging. His basic point was that interdependence can be both positive and negative, and we have to find ways to stay on the path of positive interdependence. In the Middle East, he said, “Young people are dying because old people decided they prefer negative interdependence to positive interdependence.”
In the question and answer session, Clinton roamed widely and I think honestly. Asked what he’d do if he could have a third term in the presidency, he said, “I made a lot of mistakes in my first term because I didn’t understand Washington’s culture. When I did understand it, I thought it was crazy. But I did fine then.” When many in the hall laughed, he replied, “No one forces us to take on these jobs. If you don’t want the pressures the job brings, you can stay at home.”
He’s a firm believer in politics as the art of compromise. “You know people think you have no principles if you compromise. But for politics to work, you have to sit down with people you disagree with and reach decisions. You have to make principled compromises.”
Returning to the question of what he’d do in a third term, Clinton said he would concentrate on energy policy. “We need to drastically reduce our reliance on foreign oil.” He’d focus on conservation and alternative energy sources. Then a thought occured to him: “You should be doing this, too. Mexico could become a leader in alternative energy. Veracruz could become the world’s first energy self-sustaining city and people would come from all over the world to see it. Mexico could create so many jobs with this it would make your head spin.”
The generosity of the Internet continues to amaze and hearten me. Following my technical problem yesterday I received a detailed, helpful reply from Hussein Kanji. I haven’t yet had the time to try his various suggestions, but I’ll do it when I get a chance.