Dear Fellow Dems Abroad,

I wanted to share with you, what was a life changing experience. At least it was for me!

I had the absolute honor of attending an event with President Bill Clinton this past Thursday. Before I go forward with the rest of this blog, I would like to thank the Secret Service for their unending kindness and going above and beyond to make sure I was able to meet the President.

I was greeted by an extremely kind Secret Service agent named Mike who informed me that I would be able to not only take a picture with the President, but would have a chance to speak with him as well. Those of you who are familiar with Bill Clinton, know that things did not start on time. So I was nervous that once again, as with President Obama, I would get bumped!

About an hour after arriving we were led to a downstairs room where we waited. About 20 minutes into the wait, without any great fanfare, President Clinton walks into the room! Wow!

After waiting for the others to take their pictures, and after numerous reminders from one of the organizers NOT TO TALK with the President, it was my turn. I stepped up just as Mike, the Secret Service agent whispers something into the Presidents ear. President Clinton turns to me, I extend my hand to shake his as others before me have done, and then he just draws me into a hug!! Ok, at this point I am having issues as to what I want to say to him and where the hell is the camera!

He asks me who I am, and my reply was thus: I am, at this moment an extremely proud American and the PR person for Democrats Abroad German Region, Switzerland. At this point there was no stopping the President from TALKING TO ME!

What follows is a message to all of you from President Clinton:

"Democrats Abroad? Well tell everyone from me, how profoundly grateful the party is for all the work you do for us all around the world. We could not do what we do without your extraordinary efforts. You people get too little credit for all you do"

I had to pull myself and my jaw off the floor at this point. I turned to leave, as the organizer is turning an unhealthy shade of red and purple. He is snapping his fingers as if the house is burning down and tells me to get a move on. At this point President Clinton signals to him and says, "wait a minute I am talking to her, I want to talk to her". Ha! He then asks me how long I have lived abroad and then finally says to me "thank you so much for coming to see me today".

I was able to tape about 20 minutes of his approx 1 hr speech, which will be posted ASAP.

How inspiring it was to hear words of encouragement not only for OUR organization, but to hear him make a call to all within the sound of his voice that the most important thing you can ever do is to help and give support to those around you in need.

I will be posting my "official" picture with him as soon as I receive it and will be sending off the video to Maya on Friday or Saturday.

Thank you so much for listening to me babble on. As you can see, I am still under that "ole Clinton black magic charm spell"!

Be Blessed All, Huggles,

Renèe Rousseau-Osterwalder