I Met Bill Clinton. Sorry, I forgot to tell you.

In the rush of everything I had to do to get ready to go to New York, I forgot to mention that I met Bill Clinton. It was a complete, out of the blue, random, surprise occurrence. One of those peculiar things that happens only to me.

So the story is kind of a strange one. I’d been trying to meet Hillary Clinton. Or really, I’d been trying to hear her speak for quite some time. I haven’t committed to a candidate yet, but Hillary gets such a bad rap in the media for being cold and unfriendly that I wanted to see her in person to see if she came off more friendly and personable up close.

It all started with an invitation to come hear her speak at Brett Ratner’s house in Hollywood. I RSVP’d and had all intentions of going, but the night came and I got home from work and was completely exhausted. My boyfriend came over to my house, and I was so comfortable snuggling with him that I couldn’t bring myself to get up and go meet Hillary. So I skipped the event.

Several weeks later I get another invitation to hear Hillary speak again. This time I decided I was going to be a trooper and go no matter what. So I RSVP’d for both my boyfriend and I. Well we both got dressed and rushed out the door only to realize we were half an hour late, and because we were late, and the event was on a one-way street, we were unable to proceed to the house because her motorcade was on standby to leave the house and it could only go “down,” we could not go “up.” We were told we could wait for her motorcade to leave, which might be up to an hour, but then we’d miss Hillary altogether, and what did we care about hanging out with the “Hollywood-ites” anyway? So we decided to have dinner instead as it was our “4 week” anniversary.

Cut to 5 weeks later. No more boyfriend. But, I got an invitation to hear Bill Clinton speak about Hillary. The event was being hosted by David O’Connor and Lona Williams… I must mention that when I was 19 years old I worked as a personal assistant for Doc and Lona… so I immediately RSVP’d because if I wasn’t going to see Hillary, I was bound and determined to see Bill. Especially at Doc and Lona’s house.

The night came and I was ready ON TIME, got out the door ON TIME and to the event ON TIME only to find the neighborhood in the midst of a power outage. So I watched Bill Clinton give a speech by candlelight in the middle of Doc’s rose garden. No, I mean literally. Since I couldn’t see anything, I inadvertently stumbled into their rose garden and got stuck between rows of thorns. My heels had fallen so deep into the mulch that I couldn’t free myself, but the thorns were snagging my dress. There was nothing to be done other than clutch a large lavender vine to stabilize myself and peek through the crowd of people around me to listen to the barely audible speech. No power = no microphone = Tia couldn’t hear.

At one point I did hear him talking about Hillary’s Health Plan and I shouted out “What if the insurance companies won’t cover you?” And he responded, “They have to…” and moved on without giving it too much thought.

After the speech I somehow disengaged myself from the rosegarden and said my hello’s to Doc and Lona who were beyond shocked to see me. It was as if they’d seen the ghost of Christmas past. I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I got a hug regardless, which is when I got shoved into the President Clinton receiving line. Doc being a host had to say goodbye to Clinton so he waltzed to the atrium. But having just stood next to Doc people assumed that this was the start of the receiving line and had started lining up next to me, so I became a major focal point of the event.

I tried to get out, but the Secret Service kept me in my place. The line was for people who wanted pictures and autographs - and I didn’t want any of that. I could care less. I just wanted out. But then suddenly he was there before me. Lights were flashing around me, signatures were being signed across me. I was a tiny little nothing in the midst of a big commotion where people were screaming, “Do you remember Rob from Arkansaw?” while Clinton wrote on a napkin “To Rob, Bill Clinton.” Who knows if it was on the right napkin… And as all of this was going on around me I decided that I was mad that he didn’t answer my question. So I piped up.”Under Hillary’s healthcare program, what happens if an insurance company won’t insure you?” He looked around for a second and I said it again, “What happens if they won’t insure you?” Finally he realized that he had to look down because I was short. Then he started talking to me. He told me that the insurance companies would have to insure me or they wouldn’t be allowed to practice. I didn’t understand. So he started to explain Hillary’s Health Care Program to mean.

He likened it to the Federal Health Care Program. Health Insurance Companies join other Health Insurance Companies to create pools. With these pools, they are able to offer lower rates. And within these pools there are certain federally mandated guidelines - like you cannot deny someone insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Now these pools make it possible for everyone to be able to afford insurance because as large organizations they can negotiate lower rates. But there will still be fringe companies that exist that offer extra coverage if you choose to carry such policies.

Eventually this plan will trickle down to help corporations as well because once we don’t have people using the emergency room for general health care, the system won’t be so overloaded with costs that insurance companies will be able to lower premiums across the board.

What is amazing is not that now I can speak knowledgeably about Hillary’s Health Care Program, but that Bill Clinton took ten minutes to sit and explain this to me while he was supposed to be shaking hands and taking pictures and signing autographs.

Do I think Hillary has the best Health Care Plan out there? Well Obama hasn’t sat down and talked to me about his program yet. I need to learn more as I’m still not sure that I’m a 100% sure I’ve got Hillary’s down pat. But I admire Bill Clinton that much more for the time he spent with me.Clinton By Candlelight