Bill.
This evening I had the pleasure of witnessing the oratory prowess of the one and only William Jefferson Clinton, as he stumped for Al Franken at the Mpls Convention Center. It was the first time I’d ever seen or listened to him in real life, and while I could have done without all the other speeches prior to his (most of which I’d heard before), I was glad not to have missed out. It seems like the sort of thing that should be on your life achievement list; his reputation as an incredible speaker is not inflated in the slightest. Even though I was tired and hungry and foot-sore from standing around for nearly two hours, in spite of the fact that we all had some idea of what he was going to say, I was rooted to the spot for the 30-odd minutes he spoke. I think seeing him on TV doesn’t really do it justice, you have to witness it first-hand to truly appreciate it. He speaks with such an understated intensity that it feels like you might be the only person in the room. It was amazing. And, after he got through his support-Al-and-Obama stump portion (punctuated at least once or twice with his characteristic hand gesture!), he provided us with a little insight on the bigger picture, using his own experiences as a backdrop. It was a bona fide speech that was completely unexpected. Hooray!
