President’s Visit Thrills Valley Crowd

Going to see the President during one of the stops on his economic-plan traveling show is a lot like going on one of the big thrill rides at Magic Mountain.

The wait is long, the crowd is sweaty, and the payoff is brief but potent.

Hundreds of Valley residents were more than willing to take that ride Tuesday when Bill Clinton made a stop at Valley College in Van Nuys to make a short speech and answer questions from a pre-selected group of students.

The non-selected majority had questions they wanted answered too. Not surprisingly, a favorite topic was economic support for students.

“If I could ask him a question it would be about student loans,” said Vilma Mejia, 18, a first-year sociology student living in Burbank. Mejia had arrived at 7 a.m. to get a good viewing spot for the speech, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.

She clutched a small camera and an algebra textbook.

“Right now, the tuition is about $120 a semester for a full-time student,” she said. “They are talking about it going much higher. Maybe triple.

“I would not be able to afford that.”

A group of second-year nursing students, standing nearby in the blue and white uniforms they wear daily to classes, feared drastic cutbacks. “We were lucky that when we started they accepted 48 people into our class,” said Manfred Rantner, 32, who lives in Simi Valley. “Next year, they will only take 24.”

When Rantner and his colleagues graduate, they will be registered nurses entering a health care system that Clinton hopes to overhaul.

“He might have a national health program,” said Heidi Mousavi, 25, of Van Nuys. “But if students can’t go to school, who is he going to have to staff it?”

Despite the concerns, the vast majority of people in the crowd seemed to be solid Clinton supporters. They were less happy with the Secret Service, who ruined the plans of the early arrivals by suddenly moving the crowd into a narrow corridor out of sight of the courtyard.

Watching the area being swept by security dogs was of only limited entertainment value. The crowd grew restless. Some who had seemingly gotten a lot of practice at general admission concerts successfully jockeyed for improved positions.

Graphic designer Robert Birch had a large, rolled-up canvas banner over his shoulder that he planned to unfurl during the President’s speech. Birch, who lives in Northridge, had a snapshot to show that the banner said, “AIDS=AUSCHWITZ.”

He knew he probably wouldn’t get close enough for the President or the TV cameras to see the banner. “Maybe not, but if the students see it and think about AIDS and that enough is not being done about it, that’s enough,” he said.

Monty Patana, 48, a native of Thailand who lives in Glendale, would have liked to have talked to the President about foreign policy.

“I would say to him, ‘If a country is not democratic, do not help that country,’ ” said Patana, who is studying biology. “In my country, it is a soldier who is in power. There should be no military aid.”

In this country, the people in power get to bypass the crowd on their way to a good seat to see the President. Mayor Tom Bradley and mayoral candidate Michael Woo waved to the crowd as they passed.

Finally, about two hours after the crowd was pushed back, the Secret Service started to allow people to come forward, one by one, through a metal detector. But they were allowed no closer than about 100 feet from where the President would be standing.

Birch was not allowed to bring his huge AIDS banner. Some Richard Riordan supporters were forced to take the wood supports out of the signs that they had planned to hold up.

After several minutes, one Secret Service member hinted that if the crowd was on its best behavior, it would be allowed closer. But after a few dozen people were finally let through to join the VIPs, the gate was closed again.

All those left behind had to be content with a view of the back of the President, far away.

But Clinton knew they were there.

Like any performer who knows the value of working the cheap seats, he teased the crowd behind the gates by occasionally turning and flashing his smile. Each time he did, there was a genuine stirring of excitement.

As much as they cared about issues, those in the crowd could hear him talk any night of the week on the TV news. The idea Tuesday was to get a good, in-person look at the ultimate celebrity. And maybe even a picture.

But the crowd got more.

After several questions from the invited group, Clinton told them that he couldn’t answer any more because he had to go shake hands in the crowd. He headed over and the crowd went nuts.

Those in front braced themselves for the inevitable push from the back. Some in back passed cameras forward so that people they didn’t even know could get close-up pictures for them.

Surrounded by the Secret Service, Clinton reached out to the group, touching as many outstretched hands as possible. People who had only a few minutes before been hot and complaining now looked flush with excitement.

But only a few minutes after he was gone, the crowd came back to order and began to disperse.

One man tried to start a chant, shouting over and over with great urgency, “ ‘96! ‘96! ‘96! ‘96!” But no one joined in.

Finally as the man stopped to catch his breath, someone in the crowd said, “Let’s just get through ‘93, first.”