International love fest

Just got back a couple hours ago from the IMF, where the Fulbright Association honored President Clinton with its J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding. Senator Fulbright, of course, was the man who established the program that’s sent thousands of Americans abroad for education and research, and hosted thousands of foreigners in return.  It was a pretty nice ceremony, starting off with a video introduction from Kofi Annan, who said something like, “I am sorry I am not able to be there in person, but I know, President Clinton, that you will understand. Because after all, you are winning an award for international understanding.” Cute. Then Madeline Albright gave a few remarks, followed by former Arkansas Senator David Pryor, who told some funny anecdotes about Clinton as a 20-year-old intern working for Senator Fulbright in the 1960’s. Then Clinton spoke. For the most part, he managed to keep partisanship in check, although he did make a few pointed remarks about how cooperation was preferable to unilateralism. He talked about the importance of soft power, while poking a little fun at the terminology. Most interestingly, he pointed out that in the 1950’s, the University of Arkansas had more Iranian students than any other university in the U.S. Wonder what it is now…