On a beautiful October day two weeks before the most decisive day of his political career, Jon Corzine held a rally for Rutgers students at the College Avenue Gym. In order to gain momentum among student voters, Corzine had former President William Jefferson Clinton join him. Many of us Rutgers students remember Bill Clinton as the president of our childhood, so we were excited to see him appear in person at our fine school, whether or not we supported his policies.
The line began to form outside the gym hours before the event was to begin. The doors were supposed to open at 7:30pm, but ended up opening about an hour earlier to accommodate the huge turnout for the event. With their personal bubble’s shrinking as more and more people filed in, the people in the front desperately tried to catch a glimpse of Clinton as everyone gathered backstage. After a series of speakers (the crowd growing more and more impatient to see Clinton with each) President Clinton finally took the stage with Governor Corzine and his running mate, Loretta Weinberg.
Corzine introduced Clinton by reminding us that America was “respected around the world and we were at peace” when Clinton was president. Corzine promised not to talk long, knowing the crowd was desperate to hear Clinton speak, so he focused on encouraging students to vote. He emphasized how much elections matter, referencing the debacle that was 2000. He told the crowd to talk to their friends and family and make sure that everyone votes, no matter for whom. As a chant of “four more years” resounded throughout the gym, Corzine promised to fight for healthcare for everyone, more money for dorms, and to ensure that women have the right to make their own choices.
President Clinton took to the podium to a huge ovation and camera flashes worthy of Derek Jeter in the post-season. He began by praising Loretta Weinberg, calling her a progressive “Jewish grandmother”. He praised the audience, saying it was great to have such a diverse crowd, which would not have been the case in the past. While it was a great time to be alive, Clinton said our country faced three problems: it was unequal, unstable, and unsustainable. We need to create more winners and fewer losers, he said.
Clinton asked the crowd an important question: “Why is this a close race?” He continued by listing the statistics of Corzine’s previous four years in office. For instance, under Corzine, New Jersey was the first state in the Union to have an economic recovery plan, which was actually used as a model for the national plan. He also pointed out among other things that New Jersey is first in the nation for the number of high school graduates and second in solar, wind, and other clean energy use. Clinton also boasted that Jon Corzine had gotten over 3% of the federal stimulus money, which is a bigger percentage than New Jersey’s population is of the national population.
Like Corzine, Clinton emphasized the importance of getting out and voting in the upcoming election. We need to make our “good intentions into changes in other people’s lives.” Fewer people are better at this than Jon Corzine, he said. This should not be a close race, and as both Jon Corzine and President Clinton reminded us, the future is in our hands.
