Clinton thinks global, talks local

Helen Clark and Bill Clinton at the Global Business Forum. Picture / Martin Sykes

It is Auckland business' Big Day Out with Bill Clinton, but this crowd, who paid $1694 each to be here, is different from the usual business audience. Fewer suits and corporate tables, more designer jeans, high heels - even a baby.

It is also a different Bill Clinton, five years after he left the White House. At 59 and after a bout of sickness that sent him to bed in Sydney, Clinton was quieter than last time he was in town.

He arrived in Auckland at midnight on this last leg of his Global Business Forum roadshow with fellow speakers Michael Eisner (former CEO of Disney), Carly Fiorina (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard) and Jack Perkowski (China expert). After his speech, he'll be back on that private jet and heading for the US.

Clinton greets the MC and former Prime Minister Jim Bolger with a big, genuine hug and Helen Clark, who introduces him and poses questions from the crowd, with an equally warm hand clasp. As Clark says, "He's a great communicator."

Clinton's speech to 600 businesspeople, politicians and leaders starts almost shakily. But when he gets into his stride, the old Clinton magic returns. His voice, though clear, has a throaty intimacy. No matter how dire the problem he's explaining, the hint of a smile plays at the corners of his lips. Only when he plops into the beige armchair for questions does he let the tiredness show.

As Clark watches, head tilted in absorption, Clinton gets his audience on-side with his "marvelling at the beauty of this city and what this small country has given to its people and the rest of the world", then presents his global blueprint. The lofty idea is wheeled in on the back of examples (the election of Hamas in Palestine, Sunnis blowing up one of the holiest Shiite mosques in the world) to illustrate the complications of achieving global harmony. "These are real high-class problems here."

His messages are clear: Global warming is the world's biggest challenge. Second is transforming the world from being highly inter-dependent into an interlocking global community "where we all understand the rules and have systems which will give us good results".

"You cannot have a global economy without having some political understanding. You cannot say business deals are more important than people's security concerns."

And how do you create a global security?

* Fight terror and restrain the use of weapons of mass destruction.

* Make more partners, remembering that poverty and denial breed rage.

* Build institutions of cooperation.

* Keep your country better within its borders, with a sound justice system and so on, so it can knit together with the rest of the world.

"There's a new world struggling to be born," he says with a slightly evangelical smile. "Don't get caught up in the latest firestorm."

Later, when giving an example of an easy decision, he describes how he bailed out Mexico in the face of a poll saying 81 per cent of Americans were against the move: "A poll is just a picture taken in the middle of a horse race that's not finished yet. I took about 5 minutes to make that decision."

Afterwards, while Clark and Bolger wait, Clinton mingles. Clinton beckons to a shy young woman with a piece of paua at her throat for a few words. There is life, and plenty of it, in the old dog yet.

* There were double-takes in Parnell yesterday as afternoon shoppers caught a glimpse of Clinton and his entourage.

It was the second time he wowed the Auckland suburb - he went walkabout there on his last visit in 2002.

Starbucks staff were astounded when Clinton walked with his bodyguards. He ordered an iced English breakfast tea in the largest size.
He also made an unexpected visit to interior design store essenze and the Hoglund Art Glass Galleries.

Owner Clare Mora said it was the third time he had been to the store, after visits in 1999 and 2002. He bought a piece of glass for his wife.

Clinton also made one New Zealand woman incredibly happy. Peri Drysdale, chief executive of Christchurch-based wool brand Untouched World, said she had "engineered" for one of her shirts to be waiting on Mr Clinton's bed after his speech at the forum and was delighted to see him wearing it.


Hollywood likes the pitch, but does Bill know Oprah?

Enya Chadderton went to yesterday's Global Business Forum intent on asking former President Bill Clinton if he knew Oprah Winfrey, but wound up pitching a movie idea to a Hollywood bigwig.

Former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner was taking questions from the floor, when Ms Chadderton saw her chance to find someone to carry out a cinema adaptation of Desert Rose, the life story of her mother, Mary Weijun Collins.

The book - in 288 pages - tells of banishment to a Chinese labour camp, 10 years of hardship in the Gobi Desert, and a scandalous affair with a younger man. And it sounds like Eisner liked what he heard.

"I get asked those questions a lot, and 99.9 per cent of the time the ideas are terrible. But actually that sounds pretty good," he told her.

Ms Chadderton last night told the Herald Eisner had promised to read the book, then contact her from Los Angeles.

"I think he was really interested about the book. He said 'Okay, I will read the book ... as long as you don't ask for $20 million for the book rights'."

Ms Chadderton is confident Eisner will like the story. Even if he doesn't, she will continue to try to have a film made. "I really believe in this book," she said.

It was an interesting day for Ms Chadderton, but it did hold one disappointment: she still doesn't know if Bill Clinton knows Oprah.

- David Eames