Photo credit: George Skene/Orlando Sentinel
Former President Bill Clinton, speaking before an audience of close to one thousand at the University of Central Florida on Sunday afternoon, urged students to act, if the many problems of the state were going to be tackled.
Speaking directly to the 300 high school students who comprised the inaugural class of the Lawton Chiles leadership corps, Mr. Clinton said that, “You can change the future, but you can’t do it just by talking about it. Leadership today, is deciding how to solve these problems and then going out and doing what you can to do it.”
Clinton also reminded his audience that, the problems which Florida faces are not unlike the challenges being experienced in other countries, for example, Australia, Haiti and North Korea or on the continent of Africa.  These issues he said, relate to poverty and inequality, human insecurity, joblessness, low levels of educational attainment, among others.
The State of Florida ranks very poorly in relation to child health care and education programs.  It is 49th in the nation in the percentage of children without health insurance; 43rd in high school graduation rates and 48th in the nation in average composite scores in the ACT college entrance exam.
According to Clinton, a practical approach is needed to solving these problems, no matter where you are and notwithstanding wealth and education.
Clinton’s speech comes some five days after his very successful trip to North Korea where he secured the release of two American journalists, who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, for accidentally crossing over the border into that country.
