We should listen to Bill

I don’t write about national politics very often.

As important as they are, I prefer to constrain my writing to things about which I feel I can fully explain.

I’m not sure if anyone completely knows everything about American politics. Trying to keep up with all of it is rewarding but also nearly impossible.

That’s why hearing Bill Clinton’s speech Friday was so refreshing.

I’ve never seen a president in the flesh before, so I went to Indianapolis in the morning to see him speak in the gym of my former high school.

In person, as I’m assuming is true of most former presidents, he has an enormous amount of what can only described as “swag.”

As he entered the room to enormous applause, he tried to keep the spotlight on Senate candidate Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd District, and gubernatorial candidate John Gregg, the men he was to promote.

While they spoke, he simply stood at the back of the stage, hands folded, with an amused, open-mouthed grin. But even as he said nothing, it was hard to stop watching him, and his speech proved why.

He was compelling because he respected the people he was speaking to.

Clinton promoted President Barack Obama’s run at a second term, but his larger focus was surprisingly local, with jokes about Hoosier landmarks and political figures. He cared enough to learn about the people he was speaking to and to give a talk that was actually tailored to Indiana.

I’m admittedly liberal, but that doesn’t mean I readily identify with or support every Democratic candidate.

My editorial job here at the Indiana Daily Student has made me very aware of why I believe what I believe.

If anything, I appreciate opposing views more than those similar to my own because I’m able to see beyond blind faith and instead appreciate the diversity of viewpoints that makes our country great.

Clinton spoke to that side of me. His speech wasn’t blindly partisan, raining criticism on Republicans while holding Democrats on a holy pedestal.

Both parties are culprits of this. Treating people as if they can’t handle the truth or the agency to make their own decisions gives them too little credit.

The American people aren’t dumb. We don’t need politicians from both parties to continue spoon feeding us their agendas under the guise of the greater good.

Clinton gave us real meat in his speech, not the aforementioned drivel. He critiqued his own party, the opposing party and the government itself at both state and national levels.

Instead of pretending he had all of the answers, his speech asked even more questions, things that are important for us to think about as we vote: What are our true priorities? Can partisan leadership ever make real progress? Most importantly, are we keeping our leaders accountable?

Because we need to.

Clinton outlined views that were sometimes liberal but more often progressive.

That’s what I can sympathize with.

More than anything, our country needs progress. American politicians and pundits from both sides have mired themselves in a bog of petty issues that obscure the things American citizens truly care about, and we need to fight our way out.

After all, what does it say about us when an impeached president makes more sense than most of the people running our nation?

­— kelfritz@indiana.edu