The Anti-Extremists

The Clinton Global Initiative returns - and while some might cry 'the establishment strikes back,' I suggest the model for collaboration is the antidote to extremism

Day one of The Comeback is in the books, and the impact of the experience is far stronger than I’d expected. After a six-year absence, the Clinton Global Initiative rebooted its annual meeting in New York during U.N. General Assembly Week. More than 1,500 people packed the Hilton up on Sixth Avenue - do-gooders and collaborators all. Another 1,000 possible attendees were turned away. Every seat was filled, every session standing room only.

Big commitments were announced. Boldfaced names were prominent. The place was packed. But I’d hardly call it CGI business as usual - and here’s why.

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The original CGI booted up at a time when bipartisan cooperation seemed possible. The Bushes and McCains and Obamas all attended the early CGIs. Global compacts were struck, and the Clinton Foundation built on the incredible success of the HIV/AIDS initiative in sub-Saharan Africa, which unquestionably saved millions of lives. Major “centrist” political figure, corporate American, big philanthropy, and celebrities came together to make it all work.

Times change.

What seemed like the business of the possible - working in collaboration with whatever Administration (Republican or Democrat) was in office and the United Nations, multi-national companies, foreign governments, and nonprofits - came to a halt as the global right wing populist movement took hold. On the left, initiatives like CGI were derided as “neoliberal” and the establishment. But the extremist right was - and remains - far, far worse. The Clinton Foundation was the subject of nefarious disinformation campaigns, with false charges built on the piers of wildly false information. The mainstream media, from the New York Times to the cable networks, was completely hoodwinked - or worse, complicit. When Secretary Clinton ran for President, the Foundation closed down the annual meeting, though many CGI initiatives quietly continued.

We know what happened next.

Fast forward to the ballroom of the Hilton on a sticky September day in 2022. New commitments made. Global issues from climate change, to healthcare equity, to women’s rights all central to the agenda. There was a bit of CGI 1.0 in the DNA.

But the anger was different. It was noticeable. And it was welcome.

Oh, I don’t meant anger really - not like a Trump rally or virtually any Republican gathering these days. Piss a bunch of liberals off and they’ll schedule a roundtable discussion. (I’m kidding. Not really).

But let’s just say the sense of purpose was present. Underlying outrage. Empowering vitriol. Nobody put extremism on the agenda - yet it dominated the first day of #CGI2022. Former President Bill Clinton set the tone from the start. "We've had enough of the other stuff....Somebody needs to show up and make something good happen." The other stuff is fascism, dangerous extremism, attacks on democracy. "CGI has always been about what we can do, not what we can't do," he said - and then proceed to name checks the war in Ukraine, climate change, healthcare inequality exposed by the pandemic, the storm in Puerto Rico, and the rise of extremism.

As is usually the case when you watch Hillary Clinton close up - moderating a complex discussion, freelancing on the fly, making cogent points about policy in real time - the sense of loss is so pungent. Unquestionably, she would have been an incredible, game-changing American President. But those wounds have long since closed over. The sense of purpose - frankly, the willingness for combat - was in the air. The armor was on, swords were sharp. In the wake of the disastrous SCOTUS Dobbs decision, HRC is going to war.

"We have to get through this period of regression, cruelty and mean spiritedness toward women.” Collective action? Bring it on.

Day One of the new CGI was about anti-extremism. It was about institutions (the horror!) working in a democratic political system to help improve people’s lives. It was about cross-sectoral cooperation. It was the antithesis of cruel and xenophobic MAGA, of the “semi-fascism” that Joe Biden so accurately described, of the destructive “both sides” framework of so much of our broken media.

The Anti-Extremists gathered this week at CGI. And that’s a good thing.