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Wilson visits UW supporting Hillary

A day after Sen. Barack Obama drew roughly 20,000 to the Kohl Center, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign put all hands on deck, bringing former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to speak in support of the former first lady.

Wilson is most famous for his sheltering of U.S. citizens threatened by the Iraqi government under the Saddam Hussein regime, his marriage to Valerie Plame and his controversial op-ed published in 2003 in The New York Times, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.”

The speech focused on Clinton’s foreign policy ideas and political experience. Wilson said Clinton would be the best candidate for the presidency because of her commitment to political and diplomatic solutions.

“Barack Obama is a wonderful speaker. He is a very gifted orator. He is a man I think has a good future as a leader of this country,” Wilson said. “But the politics of hope is necessary, but not sufficient. Everybody has hope.”

Wilson talked at length about Clinton’s travels to Northern Africa and the Middle East to meet with belligerent leaders.

Wilson worked with the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations and started his speech by reminding students that he was, in fact, a Republican political appointee.

After traveling to Niger on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate claims of Nigerian yellowcake uranium exports to Iraq, Wilson wrote in the Times that “some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.”

Clinton is different from other candidates because she is “tough and tested,” Wilson said, adding one of Clinton’s first actions as president would be to “reach out to other countries … to reassure leaders that the era of cavalry diplomacy is over.”

Wilson was introduced by University of Wisconsin political science professor Howard Schweber. Schweber, who is not publicly endorsing any political candidate, encouraged students from all political parties to attend the event.

“This is not a rally; you are not here because you are presumed to be Hillary Clinton supporters,” Schweber said. “On the contrary, I hope you will uphold the fine tradition of sifting and winnowing ideas that is the University of Wisconsin’s contribution to academic freedom.”

Schweber’s hopes were well-met by some attendees, as Wilson’s speech was received by a variety of responses.