When Bush 41 and Bill Clinton came to town

Ernest Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, La.

Dear Family and Friends,

I know a dishwasher who spent a week outside exhibit hall A way back when.

Yesterday, inside hall A. President H.W. Bush, 84 told jokes with irreverence and President Clinton followed recalling memories of his first car to 20,000 American automobile dealers.

Two Presidents, who are paid big money to give stump speeches, spoke with genuine interest about the future of the auto industry and the recovery of New Orleans. The auto dealers said all week how bad the last two years have been. The chairman of the National Auto Dealers Association says that 1,200 dealerships closed last year.

The Presidents spent most of the hour on the auto industry and recalling regrets and successes during their respective administrations. But both highlighted the role of the ordinary American, who before Katrina, may never have thought about New Orleans. Ordinary Americans, who helped donate 160 million dollars to the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund.