Clinton covers poverty, philosophy, but not politics

Analysis:

This front page story in the Grand Rapids Press is based upon former President Clinton’s talk at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids’ annual dinner. This article is very short and lacks any serious commentary on his talk. There are two quotes from Clinton, one about how he had a bigger turnout than last year’s speaker and one about the human genome. The article also lists three of Clinton’s favorite TV shows. Ask yourself what relevance that has to readers. There were also two people cited in the story who both were at the talk, but neither of them addressed the topics of his talk, only his speaking style and that hearing him “brought him down to a human level.”

Story:

He was funny. He was impassioned. And yes, he was long-winded.

He was, in short, Bill Clinton.

“Thank you for giving me the only time in my life when I drew a bigger crowd than Bono,” he quipped Monday in his speech to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.

He referred to the Irish rock star who spoke at last year’s event, drawing perhaps a few dozen less than the 2,100 Clinton pulled in.

The 60-year-old two-term president gave the crowd plenty of serious talk, rattling off statistics about world poverty and death from AIDS. He dissected the flaws of the U.S. health care system.

He also dished out philosophy, as when he talked about the human genome project. “When we sequenced the genome, we discovered we are 99.9 percent the same,” Clinton said.

That, he said, offers the best chance for solving what seem to be intractable political problems.

He even offered up his three favorite television programs: “24,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Boston Legal.”

The one topic he steered away from was politics and the presidential campaign of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The bejeweled and tuxedo-clad crowd seemed to relish this rock star of the Democratic Party in the midst of Republican country.

“He is one of the best orators, and I thought he was excellent,” said Grand Rapids investment executive Eileen DeVries.

Grand Rapids resident Mindy Olivarez, 31, said she enjoyed seeing the former president outside the political trappings of his office.

“It actually kind of brought him down to a human level. What resonated for me is that he asked people to be accountable for their part of the world.

“Very few people hold themselves accountable to look at the world as it is.”