4a7wf6akq's Journal

George Tenet worked out a security plan with both...
George Tenet worked out a security plan with both sides, and I had to sell it to Barak and Arafat, as well as a statement to be read at the end of the summit

I told Arafat that I had intended to present a proposal to resolve the outstanding issues in the peace talks but couldnt do so until he agreed to the security planThere could be no peace without shutting down the violenceArafat agreed to the planWe then worked until early in the morning on a statement for me to issue on behalf of all the partiesIt contained three parts: a commitment to end the violence; the establishment of a fact-finding committee to look into what had caused the uprising and the conduct of both sides, appointed by the United States with the Israelis and Palestinians and in consultation with Kofi Annan; and a commitment to move forward with the peace talksIt sounds simple, but it wasntArafat wanted a UN committee and immediate resumption of the talkscommittee and enough delay to see whether the violence would subsideMubarak and I finally met alone with Arafat and persuaded him to accept the statementI couldnt have done it without HosniI had thought he was often too resistant to getting deeply involved in the peace process, but that night he was strong, clear, and effective

When I returned to the United States, Hillary, vintage rolex watch Chelsea, and I went to Norfolk, Virginia, for a memorial service for victims of the USS Cole bombing and private meetings with their grieving familiesLike the airmen at Khobar Towers, our sailors had been killed in a very different conflict from the kind they had been trained to fightIn this one, the enemy was elusive, everyone was a potential target, our enormous arsenal was not a deterrent, and the openness and information technology of the modern world were being used against usI knew that eventually we would prevail in the struggle against bin Laden, but I didnt know how many innocent people would lose their lives before we figured out how to do it

Two days later Hillary, Al and Tipper Gore, and I went to Jefferson City, Missouri, for a memorial service for Governor Mel Carnahan, his son, and a young aide who had been killed when their small plane crashedCarnahan and I had been close since he endorsed me early in the 1992 campaignHe had been a fine governor and a leader in welfare reform, and at the time of his death he was in a tight race with the incumbent, John Ashcroft, in the UIt was too late to put someone else on the ballotA few days later, Jean Carnahan said that if the people of Missouri voted for her husband, she would serveThey did, and Jean served with distinction

In the last days of chanel quilted replica October, as the presidential election came down to the wire, I signed a trade agreement with Jordans King Abdullah, continued to sign and veto bills, and campaigned in Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and New York, where I did several events for HillaryThe most fun was a birthday celebration in which Robert De Niro gave me instructions on how to talk like a real New Yorker

Ever since the convention Al Gore had framed the election as a contest of the people versus the powerfulThat it was; every conceivable conservative interest groupthe health insurance industry, the tobacco companies, the heavily polluting industries, the NRA, and many morewas for Governor BushThe problem with the slogan was that it didnt give Al the full benefit of our record of economic and social progress or put into sharp relief Bushs explicit commitment to undo that progressAlso, the populist edge sounded to some swing voters as if Al, too, might change the economic direction of the countryAlong toward the end of the month, Al started saying, Dont put the prosperity at riskBy the first of November, he was moving up in the polls, though still down by about four points

In the last week of the campaign, at Governor Gray Daviss request, I flew to California for two days of campaigning for the ticket and our congressional candidates, chanel jewelry necklace did a big event in Harlem for Hillary, then on Sunday went home to Arkansas to campaign for Mike Ross, who had served as my driver in the 1982 governors campaign and was running against Republican congressman Jay Dickey

I spent the day before the election and election day doing more than sixty radio interviews across the country urging people to vote for Al and Joe and our local DemocratsI had already recorded more than 170 radio ads and telephone messages to be dialed into homes of hard-core Democrats and minorities, asking them to vote for our candidates

On election day, Hillary, Chelsea, and I voted at Douglas Grafflin Elementary School, our local polling station in ChappaquaIt was a strange and wonderful experience: strange because the school was the only place Id ever voted outside Arkansas, and after twenty-six years in political life, my name wasnt on the ballot; wonderful because I got to vote for HillaryChelsea and I voted first, then hugged each other as we watched Hillary close the curtain and cast a ballot for herself

Election night was a roller coasterHillary won her election, 5543 percent, a much larger margin than she had in all the pre-election polls but oneI was so proud of herNew York had put her through the wringer, just as it had done to me in 1992She had been up, down, and omega usa up again, but she kept her bearings and pressed ahead

As we celebrated her victory at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, Bush and Gore were neck and neckFor weeks everyone had known the election would be close, with many commentators saying that Gore might lose the popular vote but still win the electoral collegeTwo days before the election, as I looked at the map and the latest polls, I told Steve Ricchetti that I was afraid the reverse could occurOur base voters had been activated and would turn out as eagerly as the Republicans who wanted the White House backAl was going to win big states by large margins, but Bush was going to win more small rural states, and they had an advantage in the electoral college because every state got one electoral vote for each House member plus two extra ones for its senatorsGoing into election day, I still thought Al would win because he had the momentum and he was right on the issues

Gore did win, by more than 500,000 votes, but the electoral college was in doubtThe race came down to Florida, after Gore won a narrow victory of 366 votes in New Mexico, one of several states that were closer than they would have been had Ralph Nader not been on the ballotI had asked Bill Richardson to spend the last week in his home state, and he may well have made the chanel cc logo earrings differenc