Clinton, Bush Booked for Toronto Appearance
Posted by Wendy King on 04/20/2009
Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will appear together in Toronto next month on a public stage for the first time since Mr. Bush ended his presidency, in a remarkable twist on the cultural cold war that Barack Obama and others are trying to lay to rest.
The two will be appearing at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on May 29 for a moderated “conversation” that is expected to last about two hours.
It is odd to think of the two presidents seated side by side, chatting amicably about the events of the past 16 years, as they are expected to do, and about the global and domestic challenges facing the United States and Canada.
After all, Mr. Bush set out to dismantle much of what Mr. Clinton accomplished, from balancing the budget to fighting global warming, even as President Barack Obama has set out to erase the Bush legacy by reversing his tax cuts, prohibiting the torture of terrorism suspects, withdrawing from Iraq and rejoining the campaign against greenhouse gases.
In that sense, their joint appearance is that of two veterans in a war that some hope may be drawing to an end.
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush, both 63, are the only two presidents from the Baby Boom generation. (While Mr. Obama, at 47, technically qualifies, he identifies much more with the Internet-savvy, social-networking Gen-Xers and even the millennials who came along after.) It now appears the two presidents may be the last of their kind…
www.theglobeandmail.com
Posted by
Wendy King
on 04/20/2009. Filed under
International.
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