All I could think as I waited with nervous anticipation this morning in the parking lot of the McSwain Extension Center was “Bill Clinton is going to be in Sanford! Wow. This is why I do this job.”
Then we waited. And waited. And waited. Clinton was an hour-and-a-half late, though the crowd didn’t seem to hold it against him. He swooped into town in a rush and left just as quickly, barely even touching the sandy southern Lee County soil. But this town won’t soon forget it.
Although I am not really sure just how many votes he’ll get out of the event. It seemed that the crowd was more interested in seeing a celebrity than hearing about Hillary’s plans for our future.
Bill Clinton is still wildly popular in most Democratic circles, and I would venture to assume that he would easily walk away with the nomination even today if he were running against Obama and probably have little trouble with McCain, either.
But he’s not running, and I often wonder if it is good for Hillary to use him as a surrogate at all.
His speech was classic Clinton: pseudo-frank talk about gas prices, oil, the war and education, among other topics now popular in Democratic circles. But he knows how to move a crowd and is the most charismatic person I’ve ever seen in, well, person. He could probably get up there and read the phone book for an hour and the crowd would want more at the end.
His use of self-deprecation to endure himself to Sanfordians, such as his quip about doughnut holes in the current senior citizen prescription drug plan (“I always liked the doughnut hole because it was the most guilt-free part of the doughnut. Now they’ve given the doughnut hole a bad name, too.”), was, as usual, masterfully done.
A good time was had by all. And at least he came to see us. It’s like we matter or something. Imagine that.
