by Tim Jones
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Seven years out of the Oval Office have not changed the habits of former President Bill Clinton, who was chronically late for many of his appointments during his two terms in office.
Clinton, making a swing through Missouri on Sunday on behalf of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, arrived 35 minutes late for an appearance at the University of Missouri's Columbia campus. Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden gave a windy speech in advance of Clinton's arrival, but that did not fill up all the dead time while an estimated 2,000 people who had stood outside for more than an hour, waiting to get in, waited even longer for Clinton to appear.
When the former presdient arrived, it was shades of another trademark policy wonk session, with Clinton delivering a tutorial on health care, higher education funding, the mortgage loan crisis, global warming job opportunities, hybrid cars, a definition of what a president should be, and a reminder that New York state --which his wife represents-- is not the liberal bastion that New York City is.
He finished his remarks in about an hour --comparable to one of his shorter State of the Union addresses-- and did not take questions from the audience.
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Comments
The event occurred on Saturday, not Sunday. He was very well-received by the audience, and I heard no complaints about the wait (it took quite some time to get the crowds of people into the gym anyway, and many people were shut out due to fire codes). Unfortunately the sound system made it difficult to understand most of what the speakers were saying.
Posted by: Jackie S | February 3, 2008 12:04 AM