Posted on 07/19/2003 12:38:17 PM PDT by kattracks
Clinton and his wife, Hillary, joined the audience as they sang "Happy Birthday" to the former South African president, who turned 85 on Friday.
Later, they were among some 1,600 guests who attended a banquet to honor the man who is revered at home and abroad as a hero who preached racial reconciliation to his apartheid-scarred nation despite the 27 years he spent imprisoned by the white, racist regime.
Guests at the banquet included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Robert DeNiro, South African President Thabo Mbeki and former President South African President F.W. de Klerk, who released Mandela from prison in 1990 later shared the Nobel Peace Prize with him.
In his earlier speech, Clinton laid out a three-step plan he said Western nations could use to help raise Africa out of poverty. It included relieving Africa's foreign debt, increasing trade and helping to "unleash huge amounts of resources" for development.
Speaking to an audience that included retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, rock musician Bono and politicians from across South Africa, Clinton was interrupted several times by applause during a speech in which he compared Mandela to Mahatma Gandhi.
He spoke at length about his family's attachment to Mandela. It began when he and his daughter, Chelsea, watched a television broadcast of Mandela "walking to his freedom" in 1990.
"I am only his third-biggest fan in my family," Clinton said, bringing a wide smile to Mandela's face who received a hug from Hillary Clinton.
Clinton also spent considerable time outlining what he felt were the continent's priorities the menace of AIDS, the need for education, and the success of democracies.
Of the 42 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 29 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS has already killed more than 17 million in that region and more than 11 million African children have lost at least one parent to the pandemic.
"We can't work for Africa, or against Africa, but must work with Africa," Clinton said.
Clinton and his wife, Hillary, joined the audience as they sang "Happy Birthday" to the former South African president, who turned 85 on Friday.
Later, they were among some 1,600 guests who attended a banquet to honor the man who is revered at home and abroad as a hero who preached racial reconciliation to his apartheid-scarred nation despite the 27 years he spent imprisoned by the white, racist regime.
Guests at the banquet included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Robert DeNiro, South African President Thabo Mbeki and former President South African President F.W. de Klerk, who released Mandela from prison in 1990 later shared the Nobel Peace Prize with him.
In his earlier speech, Clinton laid out a three-step plan he said Western nations could use to help raise Africa out of poverty. It included relieving Africa's foreign debt, increasing trade and helping to "unleash huge amounts of resources" for development.
Speaking to an audience that included retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, rock musician Bono and politicians from across South Africa, Clinton was interrupted several times by applause during a speech in which he compared Mandela to Mahatma Gandhi.
He spoke at length about his family's attachment to Mandela. It began when he and his daughter, Chelsea, watched a television broadcast of Mandela "walking to his freedom" in 1990.
"I am only his third-biggest fan in my family," Clinton said, bringing a wide smile to Mandela's face who received a hug from Hillary Clinton.
Clinton also spent considerable time outlining what he felt were the continent's priorities the menace of AIDS, the need for education, and the success of democracies.
Of the 42 million people worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 29 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS has already killed more than 17 million in that region and more than 11 million African children have lost at least one parent to the pandemic.
"We can't work for Africa, or against Africa, but must work with Africa," Clinton said.
Clinton expounding. . .Cannot stand it. . .
Justice has yet to be served upon Bill Clinton. . .waiting. . .waiting. . .
I wish the AP article included the actual paragraph (or, even, the sentence) in which Clinton said Mandela is a "gift to humanity."
Bush's recent Independence Day speech: (as quoted in the Washington Times)...
America's strength and prosperity are testaments to the enduring power of our founding ideals, among them, that all men are created equal, and that liberty is God's gift to humanity, the birthright of every individual. The American creed remains powerful today because it represents the universal hope of all mankind.The AP article does not say who Clinton thinks gave us the "gift" of Mandela.
Maybe Clinton was afraid he would be raked over the coals for mentioning God's name, like Bush was.
PRESIDENT BUSH’S ATTEMPTS TO MAKE CHRISTIANITY THE STATE RELIGION
Where once there were only references to good and evil, President Bush’s language has not only become increasingly religious, but also increasingly evangelical. While all of our 43 presidents have thus far been more or less Christian, Bush’s speeches have contained progressively more references to the Christian god, and the evangelical values he purports as a born again Christian, than his modern predecessors.I have a question: Does Clinton even make a show of carrying his Bible around with him any more?His 2003 State of the Union Address contain many such references. “The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to humanity.
Carolyn
Mandela was a Marxist ANC terrorist.
"The reservoir tip up political discourse."
Oh, ick. I just had a mental image of Bill Clinton singing to Mandela the way Marilyn Monroe sang to John F. Kennedy.
Maybe Clinton meant to say, "Compared to ME, Mandela is a gift to humanity."
Whitewater Stock (To the Elvis Presley tune Jailhouse Rock) The taxpayers threw a party as I was hauled to jail. The welfare queens were there and they began to wail. The voters were ecstatic and the country began to swing. You should've heard those knocked up interns sing. What a shock, everybody, what a shock. Everybody in the whole cell block was once a dealer in Whitewater stock. Me and Gore hit up China for a campaign loan, While Lewinsky was blowin' on my slide trombone. Craig Livingstone said let's lie, rape, rob, My whole administration was the Dixie Mob. What a shock, everybody, What a shock. Everybody in the whole cell block was once a dealer in Whitewater stock. As I once said to Chelsea and Hillary: "What's the harm in a little infidelity. As a Democrat, laws and morality are not supposed to apply to me, Don't be like Tripp, you're Democrats, you're supposed commit perjury." Not a shock, everybody, not a shock. Everybody in the whole cell block was once a dealer in Whitewater stock. Now I'm in my cell seekin' satisfaction all alone, Dreaming of an intern licking an ice cream cone The warden said, "Hey, buddy, I got a teen daughter, you think I care? Go take a whizz on the electric chair." Got a shock, everybody, got a shock. Everybody in the whole cell block was once a dealer in Whitewater stock. My cellmate said "Doing time is a piece of cake, no one's lookin', now's our chance to make a break." I turned to my cellmate and said, "Nix nix, without Hillary, now it's safe to write to chicks" Not a shock, everybody, Not a shock. Everybody in the whole cell block was once a dealer in Whitewater stock.
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