NAPA, Calif. – The nation's 42nd president made a special campaign appearance in support of North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson on Sunday.
A roar from the crowd of more than 800 people greeted President Bill Clinton when he stepped onto the stage with Thompson Sunday afternoon in the Uptown Theatre in Napa.
In the hours before the “Get-Out-the-Vote” rally, Thompson supporters as well as those supporting Loren Hanks, the Republican going up against him in this year's election, lined Third Street in front of the theater.
Some chanted slogs – “We like Mike,” “Mike take a hike” and “U.S.A.” – and carried signs and flags while braving the rain and cold weather.
Lake County residents also made the trip, including Randy Ridgel, chair of the county's Republican Party, who was there to support Hanks and also held a U.S. flag with “Don't tread on me” written on it.
A truck with Hanks banners drove past the theater, as did a large RV with “Tea Party Express” written on the front and “Tea Party Empress” on the back.
The hour-long rally was the 83rd campaign appearance this election season for Clinton, who met with Thompson supporters for a reception beforehand.
With the economy still lagging, concerns have mounted as the election has closed in that the Democrats might lose enough seats to give Republicans a majority in Congress once more.
In introducing Clinton, Thompson told the crowd, “This is the most critical election, I think, of my life,” urging everyone to get out and vote and encourage their family, friends and neighbors to do the same in order to prevent the rollback of legislation passed under the Democratic-dominated Congress.
When Clinton stepped up to the podium, he told the crowd, “It may be raining outside but the sun is shining in here.”
Over the next 50 minutes, Clinton gave a conversational talk that was part old-time revival, and part history and economics lesson, with some football thrown in.
Thompson, Clinton noted, was the first elected official he endorsed when he came onto the national scene, and it was a decision Clinton took pride in making. “I think he's been a fabulous congressman for you.”
Clinton said Republicans have threatened to launch investigations into the Obama administration if they win the majority in November. It's something he said Obama has refused to do to his predecessor, but a tactic which Republicans are willing to pursue to stop progress.
Thompson, he added, is good at working across the aisle, and understands that one way to get America back on its feet is to put it back in the lead in developing such industries as clean energy.
Plus, Clinton said, Thompson is running “against a guy who doesn't live here,” a dig at Hanks, who reportedly doesn't reside in the First Congressional District.
Clinton said the polls predicting Republicans will take over in November are predicated on the assumption that the electorate in 2010 is different from that of 2008. He acknowledged that young people don't realize that what they voted for two years ago can be turned back if control of Congress changes.
During this campaign season, Clinton said he wanted to make himself available to people like Thompson who had supported his wife, Hillary, in her run for the presidency two years. Thompson had been an early and staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton, telling this reporter in 2008 that he felt she would make a great president.
Now secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is precluded from making campaign appearances, so Bill Clinton said he was taking on the task in the midst of the work with his foundation – which has charitable efforts under way around the world – and his continuing study of the U.S. Economy.
During his talk Clinton had taken some humorous jabs at the Tea Party, but he said that while he could go on for a half hour with such stories, it actually wasn't irrelevant.
He was concerned that more attention would be paid in the reporting of his visit to such comments about the Tea Party rather than what he emphasized were the more important, crucial issues – where America is now and how to fix the country.
Rhetoric, he said, has obscured the real issues – including rampant spending that he said dug the country into a hole which the current administration has had little time to try to dig out of, and political forces that won't “man up” and be honest about who they are.
Clinton said the financial collapse started four months before Obama took office and while the country isn't out of the woods yet, it has stopped digging.
If the country had kept his budget, Clinton asserted, the country would have been totally out of debt by 2015.
Referring to football, Clinton said people watch the films and look at the facts, but when it comes to the future of the country and its people, the facts don't seem to matter as much.
The country's financial crisis bottomed out on July 1, 2009, said Clinton, noting that the country has recovered by about 70 percent, more than Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom have managed to do.
Still, jobs that are in that last 30 percent, and people are still plagued by mortgage problems and financial fears, he said.
He believes the stimulus, health care and Wall Street reform bills are working, but more needs to be done, and investing in small business, green technology and infrastructure can offer the fastest and most significant results. But, Clinton said, there is a threat to stop the stimulus before it is finished.
The stimulus is designed to bolster the economy and transition to green technologies that can mitigate the damaging effects of global warming, he said, describing the potential melting of the poles and other environmental conditions.
“Why not rescue the planet and save the economy at the same time?” he asked.
There are trillions in uncommitted bank loans, and stopping the stimulus, he suggested, would cause a new meltdown and lead to the need for a new bailout, which Clinton said would delay the country's financial recovery “Lord only knows” how long.
Clinton said there are three million jobs posted for hire in the country that have remained empty for more than three weeks, with training needed to prepare people to fill them. He suggested that technology can be used to provide information about where the jobs are and what is needed to get people employed, which could be aided by giving states and employers money for training.
Clinton devoted considerable time to concern about student loan reform being turned back. He said the U.S. Has fallen from being the country with the most four-year college degree holders to No. 9.
Costs of attending college caused many young people to drop out of school, but student aid reform has been passed that will save students and the country billions, Clinton said. Such reform, he argued, will change the future of America, but it hasn't gotten coverage because it's not as funny – in the context of this year's elections – as witchcraft or wrestling.
“This is revolutionary,” he said of the student loan changes under way.
Clinton said Republicans have vowed to repeal the legislation, an action which would add $60 billion to the national debt.
The two major parties, he said, have very different ideas about how America should work. “You need to tell that to everybody you can,” he said.
Clinton said in the 12 years before his presidency the country's debt went from $1 trillion to $4 trillion.
“We repealed trickle-down economics,” he said, adding that when people asked him what new idea he brought to Washington, DC, he replied, “Arithmetic.”
He said Republicans “talked tough but they acted soft,” getting rid of pay as you go requirements for legislation, borrowing huge amounts from China and in turn dropping enforcement of trade regulations with China by 80 percent.
“This is not rocket science,” he said. “Trickle-down economics does not work and they have promised to give it back to us on steroids.”
Based on what Republicans have stated they will do if they win back control of Congress in November, the country can look forward to the repeal of health care and student loan reform, while tax cuts will be implemented for the rich, defense spending will be increased and an attempt will be made to privatize Medicare. Those measures will add $3 trillion to the country's deficit over several years' time, Clinton said.
There will be 25 to 50 percent cuts for everything else, like air traffic control, Clean Air Act enforcement, occupational safety laws and the National Park Service, said Clinton. “Nobody's talking about the facts.”
He said it makes no sense to push Obama out after he's had so little time to try to set things straight, when the Republicans had years to push the country deeper into debt.
Recalling his humble upbringing, Clinton told the crowd, “I want every child in this country to have the same chance I did,” noting that no one in his family had a college education before him, and many of them worked hard and died on the land.
Clinton credited Thompson with adding a provision to the health care reform that requires that 85 cents of every dollar goes to health care costs, not profits. It's reforms like those, said Clinton, that are at stake.
He challenged the crowd to go out and help spread the word.
“You have to make the choice,” he said, explaining that if people understand the facts, things will be fine.
He emphasized that there is nothing wrong with the United States that can't be fixed by its inherent strengths.
Afterward, Thompson told reporters that he enjoyed working with Clinton again.
Asked about Clinton's concerns about rhetoric versus facts in the media, Thompson agreed, saying there is a propensity to reduce things to the simplest of terms.
He suggested there is an effort to create noise and drown out meaningful discussion on issues like health care and government reform.
On Sunday night Clinton made another campaign appearance, this time in San Jose for gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom, who is seeking the lieutenant governor's job this November.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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