Bill Clinton visits Edmonton

"Do you like Bill Clinton?"

"No, I do not," I said.

"Well then you probably don't want to go with me to the Bill Clinton speech on March 9th."

"Well, um ... I didn't say I wouldn't go here him speak."

So we went last Thursday and I really enjoyed it. I still disagree with his liberal views on many things, but this guy is very intelligent and yes, "larger than life".

He talked about his world view and what we need to do.

He did talk extensively about the Middle East, mostly about relations with former Israeli PM, Rabin, who Clinton admired the most (along with Nelson Mandela).

He talked about a meeting with Arafat and Rabin where they were agreeing on borders in the West Bank. Clinton said although the agreement already called for certain borders and was about to be signed, Arafat asked Rabin for more room, and Rabin said they had to sign this agreement but would honour Arafat's request. Arafat trusted Rabin. Clinton said Rabin had a mystical character about him.

Clinton then said to Arafat, "So are you going to shake his hand? There's millions of people watching. You should shake his hand."

Arafat said..."Well, you can't make me shake the hand of a friend." And he did.

He did not talk about Hamas, nor was it asked.

The former U.S. President also said something very profound:

[paraphrased]
"The difference between democratic nations and terrorist regimes is those who kill in the name of God believe they know the absolute truth and use this for their political program, whereas democracies recognize that we cannot know the absolute truth, that sometimes, we can be wrong, and even when someone thinks they do, there's a mechanism to hold them accountable."