A Positive Future, as Seen by Former President Bill Clinton
By Kelly Kinas ‘17
A lot of people are pessimistic about the United States of America’s future. The economy hasn’t been doing amazingly well. The two main political parties are constantly at odds and are too stubborn to compromise. Many people are worried. Fortunately for us, on Friday November 7th at Bovard Auditorium, Former President Bill Clinton reminded us all that change can be our friend and must happen to ensure that the U.S. continues to be an amazing country.
As I was talking to some trustees and professors at the reception after the speech, I never got to experience President Clinton while he was in office. Being born in 1994, I was 6 when President Clinton left office. While I have listened to his speeches on youtube, it was extremely special to hear him speak in person this past Friday.
Former President Clinton started his speech talking about his framework. A framework is a way to understand all of the news we hear from day to day. He urged all of the students that, while they do not need to agree with his framework, it is imperative that we have one.
One of Former President Clinton’s main points was that the world is filled with interdependence and that interdependence will only increase. It can be either positive or negative but isolationism is not an option. Also, social media and technological advances will allow for more positive involvement worldwide but can also lead to negative use like ISIS. Former President Clinton stated that to increase the positive, we need to define terms of interdependence in positive terms. He said to have more widely shared opportunities and more shared responsibility.
I strongly agreed with all of President Clinton’s claims but one of my personal favorites is that the world needs to have a shared community that highlights difference in a positive ways. He stated that every person’s shared humanity is much more important than any specific trait that others disagree with and that identity politics is at times positive, like having Cinco de Mayo in LA, but can be negative. Former President Clinton again referenced ISIS in this instance.
One of the major questions that Former President Clinton wanted to answer was how are we going to have a positive outlook on identity politics. He answered by saying that we need networks of creative cooperation and we need to agree on what we want to do and disagree on how to do it, that way we can find out the most successful way to create a positive outlook.
President Clinton’s main points were that creativity is important and networks of creative cooperation and cooperators. The entire speech was extreme interesting and it was a joy to watch and listen to such an amazing speaker and man. The University of Southern California was honored to have President Clinton speak. It made me more optimistic about the future. Maybe life won’t be so bad after all.
Fight on!
