Clinton Has Davos’ Vote

Published in Les Echos
(France) on 27 January 2011
by Nicolas Barré (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Erin Summers. Edited by Piotr Bielinski.
If the elite at Davos had a vote, they would vote Democrat. Bill Clinton, 64, dazzled the audience at Davos, just as he has done for the past decade. Obviously, his own talent counts for a lot: In front of 500 people, he has the rare ability to make it seem as if he is speaking to each person individually. Incidentally, the session was titled “A Conversation with Bill Clinton.”

Each person therefore had the impression of sharing secrets with the former president in a fireside chat. Bill Clinton is the same as ever, a campaigning politician who takes aim at the Republicans and is especially critical of “his” party for having lost the midterm elections. “[We] raised $1.6 billion and didn’t spend even 10 percent of it to tell the American people what they had done. We had no national message and they did.”

He is a politician … and also the unremitting ambassador from an America who believes in its ability to rebound: “America always does the right thing after exhausting every other alternative [paraphrased from Churchill] ... we have to finish this exhaustion phase and get the show on the road. Don’t bet against us because we’ll come back again. Everyone who has bet against us the last 200 years has lost money.” Applause could be heard throughout the room. That is called confidence.


Si l’élite de Davos votait, elle voterait démocrate. Comme chaque année (son premier Davos remonte à dix ans), Bill Clinton, 64 ans, a fait un tabac. Evidemment, son talent personnel compte pour beaucoup : il a cette faculté rare, devant 500 personnes, de faire comme s’il parlait à l’oreille de chacun. D’ailleurs, la session était intitulée : « une conversation avec Bill Clinton ».

Chacun avait donc sans doute un petit peu l’impression de partager au coin du feu les confidences de l’ancien président. Mais Bill reste Clinton, un politicien toujours en campagne, attaquant les Républicains et surtout critiquant « son » parti pour avoir perdu les élection mid-term. « Nous avions levé 1,6 milliard de dollars pour ces élections et nous n’avons pas été fichus d’en utiliser ne serait-ce que 10% pour mener une campagne nationale efficace. Tout est parti dans les élections locales… »

Politicien… et aussi inlassable ambassadeur d’une Amérique qui croit en ses capacités de rebond : « l’Amérique fait toujours le bon choix après avoir épuisé tous les autres [Ndlr : une paraphrase de Churchill]… Il serait temps que l’on finisse d’épuiser tous les choix et que l’on prenne la bonne direction. Ne pariez pas contre nous, nous allons revenir. Tous ceux qui ont parié contre nous depuis 200 ans ont perdu de l’argent ! » Applaudissements nourris dans la salle. Cela s’appelle la confiance.
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