In every sense of the word, there was a reunion in Little Rock last weekend as people from Arkansas and elsewhere gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Clinton presidency.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were the headliners, of course, but this was a reunion of all the people who had been part of their rise to prominence.
When former Gov. Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, just the election of a native Arkansan to the highest office in the land was huge for this state.
It still matters two and a half decades later in a state that hosts his presidential library and the Clinton School of Public Service.
His presidency also carried many Arkansans, some of whom had worked in the governor's office and others who had been involved in his Arkansas campaigns, to Washington with him. Some of them, too, rose to national prominence.
But many more helped raise money and worked to get him elected and re-elected first as attorney general, then as governor and president. And they helped re-elect him president in 1996.
Their lives changed along with his, through the Clinton administration's successes and through its challenges.
Many of those people were in Little Rock for the celebration, as were supporters and Clinton administration people from all over the country.
Among them were hundreds of Arkansans from different walks of life who collected under the banner of the "Arkansas Travelers" to campaign for Clinton in New Hampshire and other states.
Again Clinton thanked the Arkansans for the pivotal role they played when his young presidential campaign was plummeting in New Hampshire.
The campaign rallied when the Travelers went to his aid; Clinton placed second but declared himself "the comeback kid,"
New Hampshire was "one of greatest experiences, I think, in our lives," Clinton said as he remembered how different that campaign was from present-day politics.
"People talked to you about real problems, real dreams," he said. "And they wanted real answers. They weren't interested in how bad you could bad mouth your opponent."
Over the weekend, many of those in attendance were reliving their involvement in that campaign and the administration to follow. But they also huddled in smaller groups to discuss today's politics and their collective concerns about Donald Trump's presidency.
Just as so many Arkansans had joined Bill Clinton's campaigns, still more Arkansans got engaged in Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for president and in the former secretary of state's 2016 bid for president.
Although both of her attempts failed, her supporters were every bit as present this weekend as his. In fact, during their joint appearance on Saturday, before a crowd estimated at 3,200 people, comments by or about Hillary Clinton drew the most sustained applause and reaction.
Moderator James Carville referenced her last election as "the elephant in the room," inviting her to explain what happened.
"For me, it was getting back up and taking stock of where I was and where the country was," Clinton said of her loss. She did that through a book that she said is "about resilience." Life is too short, she said, to give in to loss.
She also promised to keep speaking out and said she is working through a new organization to help win some elections.
"Resilience is the key," she said, telling the crowd to take every election -- not just presidential elections -- seriously, "to keep fighting and be successful."
Bill Clinton did much the same as he closed out the conversation on Saturday. He told Democrats to "stop griping" about redistricting and the loss of voting strength and to show up for elections.
The Clintons both talked of economic success during his eight years as president as well as strides in foreign policy, the environment and other areas.
"We grew the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down," Bill Clinton said. "That's the only thing that works. Put the people first. They'll take everybody along."
Both also offered fleeting criticisms of the current administration, mostly without mentioning President Donald Trump by name.
And both lamented disinformation in today's political climate.
"A democracy depends on an informed citizenry that has access to accurate information," Hillary Clinton said. "I will tell you that there is no such thing as an alternative fact. It does not exist in politics or in nature."
Before the session ended, Carville, calling the former president a "peddler of optimism," asked not if, but why Clinton still believes America's best days are ahead.
The nation "should be optimistic," Clinton said, because it is "the best positioned country in the world for the future."
He specifically cited the advantages of a young, diverse population.
"I'm optimistic because of our diversity," he said, criticizing those who obsess over such differences.
The country has "more than enough juice to get back in the front of the pack," Clinton said.
"The only thing getting in the way is our stupid politics, our insistence on putting special interests ahead of the general."
Commentary on 11/22/2017