 Impeached Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday that BritainÂ’s economy, environmental policy and attempts at modernization were envied in the United States, where comparable policies under President George W. Bush were lacking.
Speaking to a packed audience at London’s Guildhall, Clinton specifically responded to criticisms that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labour party were “long in the tooth, or at least missing quite a few,” or past their prime. “If you live where I live in the establishment bubble in Manhattan and you look across the Atlantic, it does not look that way,” he said.
ClintonÂ’s 45-minute speech on progressive politics and globalization, organized by the Smith Institute, a Labour-leaning political think tank, touched on a wide array of topics, including the war in Iraq, job outsourcing, the threat of communicable diseases and even the Danish cartoons that infuriated much of the Muslim world earlier this year.
The 59-year-old former U.S. president, who was introduced by British Treasury chief Gordon Brown, also emphasized the potential impact of global warming, saying that, if it actually existed unchecked, it threatens to destabilize the global economy. “This is both the greatest threat and the greatest opportunity of our lifetime, and we’re not acting like it is,” Clinton said.
Clinton briefly spoke about the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq during a question-and-answer session, calling it a delicate issue that, if handled incorrectly, could create a “launching pad” for terrorist regimes in the Middle East.
About 50 picketers from BritainÂ’s largest trade unions stood outside the Guildhall during ClintonÂ’s speech to protest government plans to scrap a key pension rule allowing public sector workers to retire and collect their pension at age 60.
Instead, let's lower it, like in France. |