CNN’s Alina Cho touted “The man many Democrats call the best president in modern times” in her gushing interview of former President Clinton that aired multiple times Wednesday. By the end of the interview, she sounded utterly enthralled by Clinton and his humanitarian work.
“150 countries, more than that,” Cho told Clinton of his travels, before taking a deep breath and tremulously asking “What keeps you going?” She praised the President’s efforts, gushing that Clinton is “Working tirelessly to make a difference. Traveling all over the world.” [Video of the segment below the break.]
She also touted that the Clinton Global Initiative was born from the President’s “urge to do something new.”
Cho has produced some bizarre reports in the past. Just last year, she visited North Korea and reported the country’s advances despite acknowledging that the state had a hand in where she could go. She re-aired her report -- what basically amounted to propaganda -- in reporting on the death of Kim Jong-il.
Cho also asked Lorena Bobbitt if she could look back on the infamous events of 1995 and laugh about it now – a question that seemed completely out of the blue.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on December 21 at 10:43 a.m. EST, is as follows:
(Video Clip)
ALINA CHO: (voice-over) No matter where he goes, President Bill Clinton is greeted like a rockstar. The man many Democrats call the best president in modern times is working to make the modern world a better place to live.
(on-camera) You had it in your mind that you didn’t want to spend the rest of your life wishing you were still President –
Former President BILL CLINTON: -- that I was still President. I enjoy talking about what happened when I was President, I enjoy telling those stories. But you just need to keep doing something new.
CHO: (voice-over) That urge to do something new inspired the former President to open an office in Harlem and create the William J. Clinton Foundation. Today the Clinton Foundation celebrates what it calls a decade of difference.
(on-camera) 400 million people impacted in 180 countries. When you hear that, do you think to yourself wow, that’s incredible, or oh boy, there’s a lot more to be done?
CLINTON: Both.
Driving down the price of AIDS medicine, driving down the price of Malaria medicine. Building healthcare systems that countries can afford to run. People ask me all the time are you doing more good now? I say, I’ll have to live a long time to do as much for as many people as when I’m in government. When I was in government.
CHO: But you can go places.
CLINTON: But I can go places and do things –
CHO: (voice-over) As the UN special envoy to Haiti, he’s visited the country 20 times since 2009. His foundation has raised $23 million toward the rebuilding effort, helped fund programs to fight childhood obesity in 13,000 U.S. schools, established a mentoring program for entrepreneurs, then there’s the Clinton Global Initiative.
CLINTON: We want it to be better –
CHO: Since 2005, the annual meeting has drawn a wide range of people. 150 heads of state. 20 Nobel laureates. Everyone from Bill Gates to actors like Matt Damon.
CLINTON: I try to bring people together who know things I don’t, who can do things I can’t.
CHO: 2100 commitments have come out of the Clinton Global Initiative. When fully-funded, they’ll be valued at $69.2 billion.
(Music playing)
Working tirelessly to make a difference. Traveling all over the world.
(on-camera) 150 countries, more than that. What keeps you going?
CLINTON: I love this work. Anybody that had the life I’ve had, anybody that was given the gift that I’ve been given by the American people, you’d be crazy not to do it.
(End Video Clip)
CHO: And T.J., President Clinton likes to joke that it actually gave him something to do after leaving the White House.
