Former President Bill Clinton stumped for his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on campus to nearly 2,000 students Thursday, calling her a ?change-maker.?
In an hourlong speech, Clinton focused on the issues, complete with detailed policy plans and accounts of the senator?s past successes.
?She has always been in the solutions business,? Clinton said.
Paramount among the issues Clinton addressed was his wife?s health care plan.
?We have got to get these people in these big (insurance) pools and cut the paperwork down,? Clinton said, adding his wife would pay for it by allowing the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans to expire.
?We all have to pay our fair share,? Clinton said.
Clinton also discussed the nation?s economic troubles at length, contrasting his time in office with the Bush administration.
?Compare the last seven years to the eight before it,? Clinton said.
He said eight million people worked their way out of poverty during his administration, while five million have fallen into poverty during Bush?s. He also said middle-class incomes rose by $6,000 on average during his two terms, but the median income has fallen by $1,000 after inflation in the last seven years.
?Meanwhile, health care costs have doubled, college education costs have exploded and everything related to energy, including gasoline and food, has gone up,? Clinton said. ?People essentially have less money to buy things that cost more.?
Clinton?s also strongly criticized the Bush administration?s handling of the Iraq war.
?We can?t help them by staying there forever,? he said. ?We are breaking the American military, and we cannot do it.?
He said his wife would help to restore America?s position in the world ? that the United States would act with diplomacy first and use force only as a last resort.
?If you elect her, here is her message to the world: ?America is back,?? Clinton said.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk introduced the former president.
?This building ? you can smell it ? has a lot of history,? Falk said of the Stock Pavilion, used for livestock events, where presidents as far back as Taft have spoken.
?This is the place where science, not politics, rules,? Falk said. ?We are going to elect a president who believes in stem cell research and science.?
Students lined up outside to wait for the event starting a little after 11 a.m. University of Wisconsin freshman Kyle Emmer was part of the student-heavy crowd.
?I?ve never heard a political speaker talk before in person, but his speaking tactics were the top,? Emmer said. ?Seeing him in person just made it 10 times better.?
Emmer said the fact that Clinton addressed a young generation ?really got [him] going,? while UW freshman Kara Kunesh said the event felt like ?history in the making,? and she hoped Clinton would become the first female president.
UW senior Adam Korn said he came to the event to see President Clinton, not to support his wife.
?I grew up with the Clinton White House, and I?m a big fan of Bill,? Korn said. ?I personally am a Barack Obama supporter, but I wanted to hear what he has to say.?
