Last Friday, on May 29, I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the highly anticipated talk with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.The afternoon started off with the President and CEO of TD Bank Financial Group (the top sponser of the event) introducing the two Presidents. Both men got an opportunity to speak to the audience on their own. This was followed by Frank McKenna, former Ambassador to the US (and currenty Deputy Chair of TD Bank Financial Group) sitting down with the two former leaders (on green couches… TD had no shame). He asked them questions regarding various issues affecting the world today and issues that were critical during their time in power. Throughout the afternoon, both Presidents delivered their individual opening speeches and responses to McKenna’s questions in such a way that clicked with the professional audience by using humour and insight into their combined 16 years in office . Without having to worry about political filters that come with being the current president, it was very interesting to see both men, especially President Bush, be in such a state of ease throughout the entire event. They both discussed about their lives in post-presidency and their current chartitable and global inititaives. Frank McKenna asked questions regarding
- the war in Afghanistan/Iraq,
- Clinton’s lack of action during the Rwanda genocide and how it relates to Bush’s response to the events in Darfur,
- Same-sex marriage and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”,
- the Cuban embargo,
- and the new requirement for Canadians to hold passports to enter the USA (to everyone’s suprised, both former Presidents had no clue that this policy was being enacted)
I hate to spoil everyone’s party, but there was no tension between the two former presidents. As eager as it was for the audience to see the former Democratic president and the former Rebpulican president brawl it out on stage, they were actually very cordial and brotherly to one another. Unlike Canadian politics, I assume it is a custom in the United States for former presidents to refrain from criticizing their successors regardless of party affliation.To no one’s suprise, Clinton was an excellent speaker. As the New York Times put it, he has officially spent more time as a former-President than as President. Throughout his 8+ post-Whitehouse years, Bill has made hundreds, if not thousands, of speeches across the world, set up many global initiatives and was recently named the special envoy to Haiti by President Obama. He joked about the swapping of roles with his wife and is now known across the world as “Hillary’s wife”. With the present Democratically controlled congress and a Democratic president, Bill Clinton had to be careful as to his responses to Frank McKenna’s questions. For example, when McKenna asked Bill about his views on Cuba, he simply responded by saying, with a humourous tone, that his views concurred with those of the current Secretary of State. It was also very refreshing to see Clinton outwardly reflecting and regretting some decisions he made as President, such as his inaction toward the Rwanda genocide, and having to “settle” on the mediocre “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy because of the GOP dominated congress at the time.Everyone knew what to expect from President Clinton, so I assume that many others in the audience, like myself, were highly anticipating the entrance of George W. Bush. To my surprise, Bush was very well spoken. He delievered his speech and answered McKenna’s questions with ease and confidence. He spoke in such a way that I have never seen him speak before throughout his tenure as President of the United States. This lead me to suspect that his “non-elitist” (to be politically correct) nature during the presidency was an attempt to appeal to those voters who value politicians that resemble themselves. Other than an abrupt and incomplete response to McKenna’s question regarding Cuba, I give President bush 4 out of 5 stars that afternoon. It would definitely have been tempting for Frank McKenna to go on a Bush-bashing streak during the Q and A session by outlining all the negatives during his presidency. But instead, McKenna approached the more controversial issues carefully with professionalism. President Clinton and Frank McKenna even outlined the positives by priasing Bush for doing more for the HIV/AIDS cause than any other of his predecessors and for forging a historic partnership with India.To my delight the audience remained very professional. There was no heckling, no booing, and no shoe-throwing. The mood outside the Convention Centre, on the other hand, was starkly different. The CBC building side walk across the street from the MTCC was littered with protestors. Some were holding signs accusing both President Bush and President Clinton of being war criminals. Some were calling 9/11 a fixed event by the US government. Overall I was fairly unimpressed. Not only were some protest messages over-the-line, but I believe there could have been more productive and effective means for individuals to get their message across. Ever since I returned from the States earlier this year, I notice myself having less and less patience for impractical populist movements, like this demonstration and the recent Tamil Tigers protest.But to end a brighter note, I thoroughly found this once-in-a-lifetime event to be quite the experience. I recommend all political-fanatics to take advantage of such opportunities in the future. Even though I was indirectly contributing to the G.W.Bush and Bill Clinton retirement fund (as some ultra-leftist protestors accused me of doing as I walked across the street), it was definitely worth the money to see two very different, yet similar, men share the stage and share with us what it was like being the most powerful man in the world.
