Bill Clinton Wipes Away the Gloom at Davos

I just couldn't resist this story from Davos, Switzerland, the scene of the World Economic Forum. According to all reports it is a gloomy gathering as the world's financial and political leaders address the global financial meltdown.

And who showed up to bolster the mood of this very somber gathering? Bill Clinton, who else?

Mr. Clinton encouraged delegates to "pick yourself up, brush yourself off, start all over again!"

Actually what he said is reported by CNN, "Clinton admitted that the deepening impact of the financial crisis, which is dominating the agenda at this year's meeting in Davos, had left many people frightened — but said the global scale of the crisis proved that the world's nations could no longer afford to turn their backs on one another."

Then Bill Clinton looked at the delegates that still had their heads attached and said, "It's a good time to be alive."

You just have to love the guy. If he had had his horn with him he would have probably broke into a rendition of Jerome Kern's tune "Pick Yourself Up." Here's a few bars:

Pick yourself up

Take a deep breath

Dust yourself off

and start all over again.

Nothing's impossible, I have found

For when my chin is on the ground

I pick myself up, dust myself off

And start all over again.

Don't loose your confidence

If you slip be grateful for a pleasant trip

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off

And start all over again.

Work like a soul inspired

Until the battle of the day is won

You may be sick and tired

But you'll be a man, my son.

Will you remember the famous men

Who had to fall to rise again?

They picked themselves up, dust themselves off

And start'd all over again.

Pretty appropriate advice for today, I'd say. And Bill Clinton is right, "It is a good time to be alive." Come to think of it, anytime is a pretty darn good time to be alive.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from Swing Time (1936) singing and dancing to "Pick Yourself Up."


Hat tip: The Huffington Post