i was watching meet the press yesterday and i was pleased with what bill clinton was saying so i thought i'd share. here is a snippet from the transcript:
PRES. CLINTON: The American--first of all, I wish we could have a cessation in the use of the word Africa for just 18 months while America learns that Africa is a continent that just in sub-Saharan Africa has 48 separate countries, and that it's not just the geography, it's the politics, the culture, the language, everything is different, and that yes, there's been bad news in Darfur, yes, there's been bad news out of Zimbabwe, but you have country after country after country with very high growth rates and remarkable progress. I mean, Rwanda, genocide in '94, 10 percent of the country dies in 90 days. Four years later, their per capita income still well under $300 a year, 10 years later, $1,000 a year. Nearly quadrupled their per capita income. That's the real Africa. That is far more representative of what the African people are doing and can do tomorrow than the other, and I really wish every time we talked about it--you should discuss it with your news people--whether we would mention a country. You might say, "Oh, by the way, it's in Africa," but we've got to stop thinking of Africa as a monolith.
Before he talked about his work in Africa, he was talking about how great Obama is, which of course made me happy. He did so in a very clear and honest way. He admitted he had just met Obama and is working on building a relationship with him. Unlike most politicians, Bill has a way of articulately communicating "real talk" instead of politickin mumbjo jumbo. Here's the link for the full transcript: Big ups to Bill.
PRES. CLINTON: The American--first of all, I wish we could have a cessation in the use of the word Africa for just 18 months while America learns that Africa is a continent that just in sub-Saharan Africa has 48 separate countries, and that it's not just the geography, it's the politics, the culture, the language, everything is different, and that yes, there's been bad news in Darfur, yes, there's been bad news out of Zimbabwe, but you have country after country after country with very high growth rates and remarkable progress. I mean, Rwanda, genocide in '94, 10 percent of the country dies in 90 days. Four years later, their per capita income still well under $300 a year, 10 years later, $1,000 a year. Nearly quadrupled their per capita income. That's the real Africa. That is far more representative of what the African people are doing and can do tomorrow than the other, and I really wish every time we talked about it--you should discuss it with your news people--whether we would mention a country. You might say, "Oh, by the way, it's in Africa," but we've got to stop thinking of Africa as a monolith.
Before he talked about his work in Africa, he was talking about how great Obama is, which of course made me happy. He did so in a very clear and honest way. He admitted he had just met Obama and is working on building a relationship with him. Unlike most politicians, Bill has a way of articulately communicating "real talk" instead of politickin mumbjo jumbo. Here's the link for the full transcript: Big ups to Bill.
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