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| | Clinton praises youth service, addresses business community
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 By Rob Moritz and Wesley Brown Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Standing in front of Central High School on a cool overcast Tuesday morning, President Bill Clinton recalled the school's historic past and praised 40 young people who have volunteered for a year of community service in the city. It was the first of two official Clinton appearances Tuesday ahead of Thursday's grand opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center. He also addressed the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. At Central High, the former president spoke of the importance of unity and public service before swearing in the new City Year Corps members during a ceremony in front of the school, the site of the 1957 school desegregation crisis. City Year is a national community service program in which people ages 17 to 24 get a chance to be teachers, mentors and leaders to schoolchildren. The 40 volunteers will be spending the coming year working at several schools in the Little Rock School District. The program started 16 years ago in Boston and was the inspiration for Clinton's AmeriCorps citizen service program during his first term in office. More than 330,000 youth have participated in City Year - 75,000 this year. Along with Little Rock, there are City Year programs in 14 other cities and a program is to begin next year in Johannesburg, South Africa. "We should be doing this in every other place in the world that is divided," Clinton told a crowd of more than 300, including many students. "The world is being torn asunder and terrorism is being fueled by people who say that our differences are more important than our common humanity." He went on to say he was tired of seeing maps dividing the country into blue states and red states and he hopes City Year will bring people in the United States and abroad together. "We have to make a make a world with more partners and fewer enemies," he said. "That's what City Year, that's what AmeriCorps is all about, more important than our common humanity." Clinton was welcomed at the podium by two City Year volunteers, Julie Wolf of Massachusetts, and Eddie Yates of Little Rock, a graduate of Central High. Also attending the event was retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination this year. Clark, who later was active in John Kerry's presidential campaign, was the former NATO supreme commander during the 1999 bombing of Kosovo and peacekeeping efforts afterward. The former president praised Clark for his years of military service. "I have rarely met any person whom I regard more highly and whom I thought loved our country more or served it better," Clinton said about Clark. Clark said City Year is a way for people to get involved in the current world situation. "We're at war abroad. We're facing a threat we're not really able to pin down and go after. We've got men and women from our community serving in uniform abroad and so many people are asking what can they do to help. "Well, I think the answer is right here," Clark said, pointing to the 40 City Year Corps members. "And you, can see in these fine men and women in the red jackets. This is public service, this is helping America." After leaving Central High School, an unusually subdued Clinton reflected on his presidency during the largest gathering ever of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. He also expressed his appreciation to the throng for their efforts in making the presidential library and park a reality. "The fact that this is actually happening is beyond my comprehension," Clinton told the overflow audience of more than 3,000 business leaders, politicians, civic officials and chamber patrons. "None of it would have been possible ... without the people of Arkansas." In what may be remembered as one of Clinton's shortest speeches, the former president talked mostly about the economic impact that the library can have on Little Rock and Arkansas and why he wanted the library to be built in his home state. "I turned down massive amounts of money to put the library in two others states," Clinton said of the $165 million complex that will officially open on Thursday. "I wanted people in Arkansas to see ... what it is like to be president and to let ordinary people see what the work of a president and national government is all about." Clinton even said that he hoped that those who disagreed with his policies would put aside any partisan feelings to embrace the importance of the presidential library. "When people come here, I hope they will see, whether they agreed or disagreed with my policies, that we did what we thought was right," Clinton said, adding that "cynicism is not an appropriate response to democracy." Clinton also championed the architectural genius of the new library, even joking about some critics who have likened it to a giant trailer house. "I wanted to build a building that would capture the imagination of the people today and in the future," Clinton said, adding that he studied all the other presidential libraries before deciding on the unusual design of the structure. He also said that economic developers and business people in Arkansas, using the library as an example, can develop new businesses based on the conservation of energy and preserving the environment. Clinton's 20-minute address also touched on many of the issues that were important to him, including his economic policies, job creation, HIV/AIDS prevention and racial and religious reconciliation. The former Arkansas governor also said that during the recent presidential race, he urged Democrats not to focus so much on the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas but to put their energy into finding other jobs that pay a comparable amount. "We haven't found another source of jobs to fuel our economy," Clinton said. "I don't believe there is a government on earth that can create a long-term economic policy - that must come from the private sector." Before Clinton took the podium, his former chief of staff, Thomas "Mack" McLarty, introduced him as a "bridge builder and peacemaker." "We are here to celebrate a man and a legacy that we honor," McLarty said. |
