Former President Bill Clinton addressed the Southern Governors’ Association’s annual meeting afternoon in downtown Little Rock Friday.
He spoke on the importance of internet access and educational technology in rural and underserved urban areas to achieve a more egalitarian south.
“Nobody in this room who has been alive at a time of fuller possibility than the the present moment,” he said to the group of lawmakers and industry representatives.
“Every place in America, every place in the world there are positive networks of cooperation, good things are happening. Everywhere in the world people spend all their time fighting and trying to get a bigger piece of a smaller pie, good things are not happening. This is not rocket science,” said Clinton.
The annual meeting is a networking event for lawmakers and regional business leaders. Conversations over the weekend will range in topic from healthcare to business to internet access.
Governor Mike Beebe told members of the media the state’s Medicaid expansion model could serve as example for other states and he emphasized the strategic importance of networking amongst governors.
“Governors, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, face the same problems and usually see eye to eye on most issues, obviously there are some where we don’t see eye to eye,” he said.
“But in our relationship with the federal government, in our relationship with the White House, the administration, and certainly with Congress, we can speak with one voice,” said Beebe.
The Southern Governors’ Association’s annual meeting will run through Sunday.
