Big Man on Campus
Former Pres. Bill Clinton visits ASU

By Scott Nicholson

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Thousands of people, most of them Appalachian State University students, waited more than two hours to hear former Pres. Bill Clinton speak at Varsity Gym on the college campus in Boone Tuesday in support of his wife’s, Sen. Hillary Clinton, bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton opened by thanking a number of local leaders and ASU officials and said, as a football fan, he was pleased to be in the home of “the greatest upset in football history,” referring to ASU’s victory over Michigan last year.

Clinton said the country has many big economic challenges due to high energy prices and exploding health care costs. He said mortgage foreclosures were a sign of the recession and the current administration had failed to develop a jobs program. He said Pres. George W. Bush’s “trickle-down economics” had not worked and asked why average family income “was a thousand dollars lower today than it was when I left office.”

“This time it has to become a country of shared prosperity again,” he said, saying Hillary Clinton’s policies would do just that. He said world problems couldn’t be solved alone, citing organized crime, narcotics traffic and terrorism as issues needing world attention.

“We’re in this together, like it or not,” Clinton said, saying the Bush administration set up rules for itself that were different from what the country expected of other countries.

Clinton said the United States was failing on global warming and human rights and said Hillary wanted “to send a larger message to the world,” getting back to diplomacy instead of war.

He said incomes wouldn’t increase until new jobs were added, and Sen. Clinton had the best plan to create new jobs, particularly through alternative-energy development. She would repeal subsidies to large oil companies and develop policies that lead to more energy-efficient public buildings.

“Every single landfill in this country should be closed and biofuel used to generate electricity,” he said.Bill Clinton said Hillary was campaigning successfully, despite being outspent, and said her energy plan would create both short-term and long-term benefits by releasing federal oil reserves and calling for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into high oil prices, “the only candidate who proposes this.”Clinton said oil prices would continue to rise, but current technology to raise gas mileage should already be in use, though he noted it was an expensive investment for auto makers. He said a tax credit for fuel efficiency would spur new technology and public use of efficient vehicles.

The former president tied the sagging economy to the record number of home foreclosures. “She is the only candidate now to have a plan to stop this thing (mortgage foreclosures) in its track,” he said.

The economic stimulus tax rebate was a good plan but wouldn’t stop the foreclosures, he said, with mortgage payments rising, while the value of the houses declined. Hillary’s plan would help states pay banks to prevent foreclosures.

Clinton said health care costs were rising because insurance companies didn’t pay all claims and paperwork took 30 percent of insurance cost. He said the health care system couldn’t sustain costs that doubled every seven years. He said Hillary Clinton’s plan would allow people to keep their plan if they wanted or to get the same plan that members of Congress had. Health-care subsidies would go to low-income families and small businesses, saying other countries got better health care for less money than the U.S. did.

Sen. Clinton favors, Pres. Clinton said, abandoning the “No Child Left Behind” legislation, boosting college education funds and having universal preschool programs. “We have to make it possible for every student to go to college and stay as long as you want to,” he said.

He suggested the economic prosperity during his tenure from 1992 to 2000 would be duplicated under Hillary’s plan, saying the bottom 20 percent would see an increase in income. “She is determined to take this country back to a balanced budget,” he said.

He said she was the most qualified person to take care of veterans and restore the country’s standing in the world and take a measured approach to withdrawing troops from Iraq. Bill said Hillary had been on the Armed Services Committee and worked with Republicans to pass legislation, which is why she had support of two former members of the joint Chiefs of Staff and would make the best Commander-in-Chief.

The crowd was largely enthusiastic, cheering particularly loudly for student-loan and environmental issues. Sloane Lipscomb waited for an hour and a half to crowd onto the gym floor, where a podium was set up for Clinton, then waited nearly another hour before he arrived.

“I love Bill and Hillary,” she said. “I’m a longtime Bill Clinton fan. Our family has always been fans of Bill Clinton, and we’ve always supported Bill and Hillary.”

Student Maggie Hindsman said, “A lot of us came whether we support Bill and Hillary or not. It’s not often we get people of that stature here, and it’s nice to get the recognition. It makes us feel better about ourselves.”

John Ross, a music professor at the school, said he was at the event to learn more and had not yet made up his mind between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with the May 6 primary looming.

Jean and Dan Stillwell were also undecided. They’d seen Bill Clinton when he visited the area to designate the New River as a National Scenic River in 1998. “We were followers of his, so we wanted to hear what he had to say,” Jean said.Dan added, “We think a lot of Bill and what he’s done in this country. We’re pleased by his book on giving. I’ve read the biographies of both Obama and Hillary.”Pres. Clinton’s visit was part of Sen. Clinton’s “Solutions for America” campaign.

Before the ASU event, Clinton spoke at a private fundraising