Melissa Ross
The nation’s 42nd president was appearing before the well-heeled Ponte Vedra crowd to talk about health disparities, and how to fix them, via his Clinton Health Matters Initiative.
But, of course, Bill Clinton couldn’t resist a few political remarks.
Like this opener: ‘We are all interdependent, even if we build a 5-foot brick wall across the Rio Grande.”
Or: “Of course, the tragedy in Paris is all on our minds. Let me tell you something about the French, though. As I was just saying to Hillary, they can be slow to burn, but when they get going, they are really something to watch.”
So is Clinton giving a stem-winder, naturally, although the much slimmer and more subdued former president these days mainly kept his remarks to the imperative of improving public health.
The CHMI has been on the ground in Northeast Florida since the fall of 2013. Also active in Coachella Valley; Central Arkansas; Greater Houston; Adams County, Mississippi; and Knox County, Illinois, the organization creates and implements a five-year plan to improve the health of each community.
In Jacksonville and surrounding counties, some top goals include better bike and pedestrian access, higher graduation rates for young black males, and more access to mental health care.
Clinton expounded on those themes, frequently bringing the narrative back to his much-reported quadruple bypass surgery. “I’m the oldest man in my family for three generations. That’s because I decided a while back that I simply wanted to live long enough to be a grandfather.”
But tying the health of one local community to the geopolitical challenges much on the minds of the movers and shakers in the room, Clinton stressed the importance of interdependence and collaboration to solve problems large and small.
“People sitting around tables just like these can change the world. I want to defeat ISIS. And we can in this way.”
With the scandals of his administration long behind him, no mention of his wife’s current campaign, and no questions allowed from the crowd, Clinton kept it on message.
“The truth is, I’m totally useless in the current political environment because I’m not mad at anybody. I just want to get something done in whatever time I’ve got left on this Earth.”
