President Clinton's Visit to UAlbany

I have been a fan of Bill Cinton since he became a candidate for President.  I visited Hope, AR with friends from Sheveport, LA (the visit coincided with a mid-summer watermelon festival in Hope--it was very HOT) to attend the grand opening of the Clinton "museum" there, a restored building (which, if I remember correctly, was a former railroad station) where I saw again the film, "The Man From Hope" which had been used so effectively during his first campaign.  Later that summer I bought a full size cutout of Bill in Atlanta and carefully transported it on my flight home.  Bill  has been a permanent guest in my home in Albany since then staying primarily in the guest bedroom.  However, he always joins us downstairs for parties and he never fails to enjoy the action.  In fact, if he hasn't been brought to the party, one guest or another generally asks about Bill and requires his presence. 

So I was especially eager to have the opportunity to be among those who attended his presentation at the University at Albany on Wednesday night.  He was, as always, a compelling speaker, one that had us alert throughout his hour-long speech and the extended Q & A session that followed.  You have probably seen reports of his address:  his suggestion that we imagine the upstate economy in ten years fueled by graduates of major public universities like ours.  In fact he mentioned some areas of study that will be essential to this growth:  nanoscience, public policy, and public administration.  I was disappointed he didn't include public health; after all, his daughter is studying public health at Columbia and his Foundation is accomplishing so much in the field of public health.  That criticism aside, I found his speech very forward thinking and made me hopeful for the future.

I know there's been some grousing about the amount paid by the Student Association to President Clinton for one evening's work.  However, I have four degrees from the University of Albany and over many, many years, I have paid a lot of student activity fees--I think I got my money's worth on Wednesday night!