Clinton Thrills Columbia College Crowd

Bubba. The Big Dog. Number 42. Mr. President.

No matter the moniker, former President Bill Clinton remains a rock star, even 12 years removed from the Oval Office. 

"He's the greatest president of my lifetime," 49-year-old Julianna McNair gushed Saturday in Columbia, after Clinton delivered the commencement address to the 235 graduates of Columbia College. McNair's niece was one of those graduates receiving their degree at the closed ceremony held at The Township Auditorium downtown.

In a day of college commencements throughout the state, including across town at the University of South Carolina, the state's flagship school and its largest, no speaker loomed larger than Clinton, who accepted the opportunity to speak from college President Caroline Whitson, a Clinton friend and fellow Arkansas native who is retiring after 12 years at the school's helm.

Whitson remarked that it was fitting that Clinton spoke to her college on her departure. The outgoing president noted that Clinton had also delivered the commencement when she graduated and Clinton was the governor of Arkansas.

In his speech to graduates, Clinton told the crowd, "It's great to be back in South Carolina's capitol city," remarking that he recalled the first time he spoke in the state -- on Sept. 23, 1979, at the behest of then-S.C. Gov. Dick Riley, who would later become Clinton's first Secretary of Education.

Clinton's address stressed the need for graduates to appreciate their circumstances and use them to make a better world. The former president urged graduates to follow their passion, but also to think and act globally for the betterment of all.

"Since we're living in an interdependent world… that means we're stuck with each other," he said.

And with their degrees comes not only opportunities that most of the world does not enjoy, he said, they also confer real and serious responsibilities.

"We have a profound sense of responsibility," he said. Whether through their talents, or passions, or their pocketbooks, "individuals have more power to do more good as private citizens than ever before. … You can go around the corner to do it; you don't have to be rich to do it."

"Just take some time to think what you want the world to look like," he stressed. "You have to decide what you want the world to look like when your children are in your seats."

In his two successful presidential campaigns, Clinton never won South Carolina, losing the state in 1992 to President George H.W. Bush, then to Sen. Bob Dole in 1996. But from the rousing ovation before his speech, to the throngs who waited afterwards in hopes of seeing him up close before he was whisked away after meeting the graduates, it was clear Clinton still has some magic left -- even in the reddest of states.

"My parents are Republican, and I was too little or just not interested in politics or whatever when he was in office, but I could feel a real sincerity in what he was trying to tell us," one graduate said. "I can't tell you how thrilled I was that he came to our commencement, to our little college. It was awesome. It really was."

This was the first time a former president has given the commencement address at Columbia College. However, former first lady Barbara Bush spoke at the 2005 spring commencement, and then-candidate Hillary Clinton visited the college during her 2008 presidential campaign.

The significance of the visit at the school wasn't lost on many in attendance.

Walter Bethel, confined to a wheelchair, saw his great-granddaughter graduate Saturday. Bethel said he grew up black and poor in the Lowcountry, fought in Korea, and came back home and managed to make a good life for his family. While his greatest pride and joy was seeing his great granddaughter walk across the stage to receive her diploma Saturday, he noted that seeing Clinton was "icing on the cake. Man, that was really something."

"Yeah, I've seen a lot. Been through even more," Bethel laughed. "But seeing my little girl get her degree, and having the President speak to us, too? Well, that's pretty special."