More of a patriarch than a playboy today, Clinton now wants his country to be more open and cooperative towards Muslims, and avoid trying to fight the world’s ills alone. Is Bush listening? Apparently not
FACE-to-face with the 42nd President of America! Does one shoot a question or take his photo? The gut-wrenching decision makes the brain waves move at supersonic speed.
“Mr President, what do you think of Pakistan?” is all I can muster, while missing a heartbeat.
“Your country’s cooperation in catching Al Qaeda leaders is significant,” he replies and with genial warmth, proceeds to praise Musharraf for wanting to sit at the table and talk with Vajpayee.
Bill Clinton is charming, handsome and visceral. He’s in no rush to return to his table and shake hands with a long line of guests who have paid $1,000 each to attend the gala black tie event organized by Asia Society. Serendipitously, I make my next move: a photo-op (of course!). Taking advantage of no hangers-on around him... (you see, location is not only important in real estate, but also when stalking a celebrity, except in this case, it’s purely accidental that I happen to be near an area leading to the washrooms as he comes out), good sport Clinton lets my camera click away while he poses.
Asia Society, America’s leading institution dedicated to fostering understanding of Asia and communication between Americans and Asians is holding its annual dinner with President Clinton as the guest of honour and speaker. The venue is the posh Cipriani restaurant on 42nd Street on Park Avenue, in Manhattan.
Attended by a glitterati of 450 America’s most celebrated, come to hear Clinton talk on the future of ‘US Engagement with Asia’, the magnificent hall with giant Romanesque archways and a high gilded ceiling is packed with round tables stacked with ambrosial delicacies. Dim lights, dazzling dresses, sparkling wine and tons of red roses, make for an evening with Bill Clinton easily the most enticing.
Exuding a soberly gravitas — solemn and eloquent — the mood he sets for the night is serious. Gone is the puffy bibulousness — the butt of jokes in the past. Clinton today is a trimmer, leaner and a reserved man — more of a patriarch than a playboy.
His office is in the heart of Harlem and his Foundation’s focus is fighting HIV/AIDS; empowering the poor; reconciling the racial, ethnic and religious divide, and setting up citizen service. His aim is to strengthen the capacity of Americans and others around the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.
More outstanding is Clinton’s help to India. Establishing and guiding the activities of the American India Foundation, not surprisingly then, he’s looked upon by Indians here as their greatest spokesman and ally.
“America,” he tells the audience, “has not had warm relations with India for 40 years. So, I support a rapprochement with India as President Bush is doing now. But, at the same time, it’s helpful to tell our friends (India) the truth.”
And what to Clinton is the “truth” that must need be told to India?
“There has been horrible sectarian violence in Gujarat in which over 2,000 Muslims got killed. It makes a mockery of Gandhi’s principle of racial diversity and religious harmony.” Clinton continues to castigate India for allowing communal violence “the worst in its nation’s history”.
“This is simply bizarre — on the one hand India has breathtaking technology to boast, and on the other, it has Hindus and Muslims fighting over a mosque with the former wanting to build a temple on it. We (America) have got to figure out a way of helping them out of this mess.”
“Driven with sectarian violence, if India does nothing about it, then India’s economy will suffer because of its policy of estrangement — there has to be love and respect between communities and religions,” urges Clinton who is “closely involved with India and wants it to deal with its religious diversity the way Gandhi would have wished.”
Referring to Rajat Gupta, the dinner co-chair and managing director of McKinsey & Company, Inc. Worldwide, a leading global strategic management consulting firm founded to serve senior management on problems, Bill Clinton speaks of how Rajat and he raised millions of dollars for Vajpayee’s Fund for the Gujarat earthquake “as asked by the Prime Minister.”
Still, Clinton wishes to do more: “I want the American Indian Foundation to do what the Jewish organizations do for the welfare of their people. I want India to be better off, to fund models of economic developments but the conflict between India and Pakistan has wrecked the Indian economy in the past eight years with a declining per capita income of $300 while its defence spending has soared by 22 per cent.”
Surprisingly, on the Kashmir dispute, Clinton is quite categorical: “I think it’s impossible to get over the real problem.”
Nonetheless, if America does not do something, “there will be a terrible price to pay.” Prime Minister Vajpayee “is already 78 years old and as a last resort, he has one more time offered to end hostilities with Pakistan and President Musharraf has given a good response. It is very important for America to support this peace process.”
Speaking of the “hot conflict between the two nuclear powers,” what makes it all the more scary according to President Clinton is that “both have less than perfect knowledge of each other’s capability.”
Dilating on American foreign policy, Clinton, the first Democratic President who was awarded a second term in six decades, says the “the US formula” held fast for over a century where “we valued our military strength and economic and political cooperation with the others. But now we have to make a decision if we want peace in the world and that starts with Asia.”
Clinton delineates three choices for America:
1. To decide the most important thing: should America continue to pursue a more unilateral course, “where we are free to discard any treaty we dislike and dictate others to give up their freedom to act because we have the power to do so”. This is most “hazardous” where there will be “no marriages” (laughter and claps from the crowd) and we will be out of business partners.”
2. To cooperate “whenever we can with whoever wants to agree with us and has the same interests as us” — as it happened in Afghanistan, but not “in Iraq where other than Britain, the world was against us when we decided not to agree with Blix in search for weapons of mass destruction.” To “excoriate, disagree and ridicule countries like France, Canada and Mexico because they did not support the US in its war against Iraq is wrong.”
3. To copy the Asian model where the US and Asian countries like China have joined WTO or “Pakistan has cooperated with us in apprehending terrorists.”
Having led his country to enjoy the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in the US history, Clinton wants America to be more “open and cooperative” in dealing with Muslims around the world.
“Islam has an honoured place in our society. As President, I wanted to mend our fences with Iran. I even apologized to them for America’s disruptive role in the 1950’s in Iran, but they came back to us saying they were not ready to talk to us. Still, we must continue to dialogue with the Iranians.”
His message in totality: “We simply cannot afford to be indifferent and act unilaterally, even with our strong military we can’t fight the world’s ills alone.”
But don’t we all know that Bush has already trashed the advice to the dustbin of history!
More of a patriarch than a playboy today, Clinton now wants his country to be more open and cooperative towards Muslims, and avoid trying to fight the world’s ills alone. Is Bush listening? Apparently not 
