Clinton Has Davos’ Vote
Published in Les Echos
(France) on 27 January 2011
by Nicolas Barré (link to original)
(France) on 27 January 2011
by Nicolas Barré (link 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.
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.