Clinton Anniversary Stirs Memories, Political Reunions

Events surrounding Bill Clinton’s 20th anniversary of his run for President stirred a lot of political activity in Little Rock during the weekend.

Clinton dedicated the long-promised pedestrian bridge that connects the Presidential park and new surrounding wetlands to a burgeoning and attractive walking-running-bike trail system in Pulaski County.

"Bridges bring things together,” Clinton said, not missing the opportunity to comment on the current state of politics. “The biggest problem we’ve got today in America is that conflict and driving people apart is both good politics and exciting media. … If you’re trying to get yourself a little market share, conflict is a lot more sexy on the news than pointing out how people plodded and argued and got through to common agreement.”

Clinton also held a celebration at the Old State House Museum to remember his speech that launched his long-shot Presidential bid in 1991. Andrew DeMillo with the Associated Press interviews folks in the crowd that day 20 years ago who recall their hesitation that the effort might actually succeed.

"I just remember standing under one of the big trees at the Old Statehouse and listening to his talk and basically the sentiment among the crowd I was with was ‘well, he’ll be back by March,’" Congressman Mike Ross (D), who was a state senator at the time, tells DeMillo.

We recommend the following links for more on the Clinton Reunion, including photos such as the one in this article taken by Arkansas Times photographer, Brian Chilson, who had the good fortune of beautiful fall weather to capture the day’s activities and KUAR’s link, which has the footage of Clinton’s 1991 Presidential announcement speech.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Arkansas Times
Arkansas News Bureau
KUAR-FM 89 News (includes video of Clinton 1991 announcement)
Fox 16 News (includes video of 2011 speech)