Bill Clinton Makes Alabama Happy

It is probably safe to say that never before in the state of Alabama have so many happy Democrats been in one place as were last night at The Cahaba Grand where Bill Clinton was the speaker at the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner. After the party's victories in 2006 in Alabama and across the nation, Democrats have a lot to smile about.


From Sue Bell Cobb who gave the call to order, to Rev. Steve Jones of Southside Baptist Church (whose remarks included the words "gay and straight,") who gave the invocation, to the 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton, who gave the keynote address, democrats re-affirmed their inclusiveness, their faith, their committment to the truth, their ability to solve problems and to find solutions and their ability to unite rather than divide.










Bessemer was well represented. Sunny Lippert was glad to be there,

as were the Brite Blue Dots, Jason and Glen. (Want some Blue Dot merchandise...go here http://britebluedot.com/).

Bobby and I enjoyed ourselves as well.














Artur Davis can't believe the crowd.

Remember when our senator Richard Shelby embarrassed us by switching from the democratic party to the republican party? Clinton said that in Kansas republicans are switching parties to get elected because they realize that if they want to get things done they have no choice but to join the democratic party. We haven't seen that in Alabama (yet) with elected officials, but voters sure seem to be leaning to the left.

Patricia Todd enjoys star status as a recently elected representative from Birmingham.











Clinton spoke of what America needs to do in the years to come to regain our status in the world. He referred to the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) which if met would solve most of the public health issues facing developing countries. By spending a small percentage of the money we are spending in Iraq, we could help literally billions of people and meet these goals.


He said that we need to address the inequities in our society by increasing wages and making college more affordable for everyone. We need to confront the issue of climate change and rather than ignore it or deny it, embrace it and use the challenge to develop new energy sources, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and in the process we will be creating jobs, jobs, jobs. Third, we need to address the rising costs of healthcare and the growing number of uninsured and underinsured in our country.

All in all it was a great night for democrats and a great night for Alabama. If this is any indication we can look forward to a great 2008 as well.