My Lunch With Bill

05:00 PM Apr 12, 2006

Today, I had the privilege of attending the Interaction luncheon with speaker Bill Clinton. The food was great, and, admittedly, so was the topic of conversation. Clinton started off giving big ups to the One Campaign, recognizing them as a perfect example of how the Internet is empowering individuals to act in ways that have historically been done by government. I believe he called it " the power of private citizens to do public good".

When speaking of Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono as being named Persons of the Year, he recognized them as representatives of the individual citizen that were able to take action to help in international causes largely because of the rise in popularity of online donations.

Lauding the Internet, and online donations specifically as the turning point in Tsunami relief, he urged the room full of international aid workers to acknowledge the importance of the small donor. More readily than ever, individuals can give their $50 to Tsunami relief, thereby personalizing the once-institutionalized international aid effort and demanding more accountability for relief spending. Words of wisdom for Tsunami relief as well as any local nonprofit with a donation page.

Overall, the tone was light and some jokes were made (Clinton referred to Tsunami relief as "less sexy" than the Presidency, but admitted he enjoyed the lack of public criticism that went along with it) and someone yelled out " we miss you!" from the crowd.

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