Archives for June 21st, 2005

President Clinton in Ljubljana, June 1999. (Photo: Ralph Alswang)

Six
years ago, Clinton became the first American president to visit
Slovenia. I happened to be here at the time but decided not to stand in
the pouring rain on Congress Square to see him. I did, however, appear in a VeÄ?er
story about his visit, where I was quoted as saying something I can no
longer remember. Probably something stupid like: "Did you ever notice
that Bill Clinton is an anagram for Cob Nill Lint! Think about it!!!!"

There’s
been a tectonic shift in Slovenian public opinion to America since
then, with the Iraq War being the obvious turning point. Opposition to the war
is/was overwhelming here. It was 90% in one poll I saw, which is an
amazing number when you stop and consider how hard it is to get people
to agree on anything. Of course, none of that stopped Slovenia from
being mistakenly added to the "coalition of the willing." (When it was discovered that it was Slovakia
that was sending 105 crack troops to the country, the U.S. erased
Slovenia from the list and rescinded its 4.5-million-dollar consolation
prize. In some places, though, Slovenia is still listed as a supporter.)

From
personal exerience, I can say that things do feel different. Before the
war, people would ask me a lot more about the United States; general
stuff about how things worked, what it was like, how they’d like to
visit California one day. Now they never do. Either they’ve been
disillusioned, or they’re worried about what my reaction might be once
the subject of the war and Bush was raised. Many Slovenes assume that
Americans are 1) dumb and 2) quick-to-violence. In my case, of course,
they’re right on both counts.

But
I don’t want to delve into the war. There are plenty of bloggers out
there that argue incessantly with each other about Bush and the War,
and will do so forever without ever changing anyone’s mind. It’s almost
like Star Wars and Star Trek nerds battling it out
online, fighting over minutiae that even the people in charge couldn’t
care less about. I’m sure Shatner cares as little about photon
torpedoes as Bush does about his hardcore fans or enemies online.

Moving right along: Bill Clinton’s Toast to the People of Slovenia (thanks, crni!) was given exactly six years ago today. It’s a nice speech, and contains a reference to the fascinating tradition of the ducal coronation, an old process in the ur-Slovenian state of Karantania that stands as one of the earliest examples of the social contract. That ceremony would make its way (via Jean Bodin’s Les six livres de la Republique) around the world, including to the brain of Thomas Jefferson.

For more about how the ceremony may have affected the U.S.
(including a detailed description of the actual process) you can read this speech by U.S. Senator Frank Lausche from 1967.

The ceremony was conducted for the last time in 1414, when Ernest the Iron took a seat on the vojvodski stol. (duke’s chair)