CLG's Michael Rectenwald chatted with Bill Clinton in Durham, North Carolina, on Tuesday.

Dr. Rec Meets the Last Elected President of the US

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON came to the North Carolina School of Math and Science in Durham, at 1209 Broad Street. I had the unique opportunity to discuss intimate campaign notes with Bill. After hearing me say that he was the best orator of our time, giving speeches that were his own and without a teleprompter, he took special notice of me. I also was shouting to the crowd, "here's the last elected president of the United States!" He smiled when he heard these comments.

When he finally reached me the first time, I thanked him for all he had done for the country, praised him as the greatest president of our times, and told him that Hillary was brilliant. I also mentioned that I had heard Chelsea speak, and that CHELSEA was better versed in policy, political history, congressional history and international affairs than Barack Obama himself. Bill Clinton particularly enjoyed these remarks. So much so that after he had gone through the crowd, and from about thirty feet away, he turned, pointed at me, and came over to talk some more.

Clinton said, "did you see how that lady jumped me over there?" I said, "no, what did she say?" Bill replied, "She said, 'this is Obama country.' I told her, well, that's nice to know. But if this is Obama country, why wouldn't Obama debate here on his own turf?" Clinton continued, "I told her I would debate him myself and point out for all the world that he is the one that went negative in this campaign, calling Hillary a pathological liar." He had his arm on my shoulder all through this conversation, looking me in the eye. I felt like I was chatting with a life-long friend. It felt like a dream and also like a moment that I knew would one day come.

I proceeded to tell President Clinton that I was a professor at Duke and North Carolina Central University, where I teach argument. I said that I was very disappointed in my fellow academics, too many of whom support Obama. I teach my students that a good argument is a claim with reasons. Obama, I said, makes a lot of claims without any evidence to support them. He agreed and said he couldn't believe that he'd gotten away with it to this point. At this, he took his arm from my shoulder and thanked me for my support.

Dr. Rec, The Rec Report

Michael D. Rectenwald, Ph.D.

Bill Clinton shakes hands, leaves for Indiana 06 May 2008 Closing a wild week in which he visited about 20 towns and cities in North Carolina, former President Bill Clinton shook hands with voters at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham on Thursday afternoon before heading to Indiana... Michael Rectenwald, an English professor at North Carolina Central University, was one of the loudest Hillary Clinton supporters. After Bill Clinton went through the handshake line once, he came back to Rectenwald and talked for a minute. Rectenwald said he told the former president that his daughter, Chelsea Clinton, had a better grip on foreign policy than Obama. And the two agreed that they would have liked to see an Obama-Hillary Clinton debate in North Carolina. “I definitely wanted to get a handshake with him,” Rectenwald said. “I didn’t know it would become that intimate, where he’s looking right in my eyes and talking directly with me for what, two or three minutes.”

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