{"id":23906,"date":"2026-11-06T11:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/?p=23906"},"modified":"2026-11-06T11:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:46:22","slug":"bill-clinton-saw-abdul-el-sayeds-potential-20-years-ago-now-a-rare-video-is-resurfacing-23899-6-lbcor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/?p=23906","title":{"rendered":"Bill Clinton saw Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s potential 20 years ago \u2013 now a rare video is resurfacing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"show-inline-featured-image wp-caption alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-msnfeed-thumbnail size-msnfeed-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/05080511\/clintonabdu.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/05080511\/clintonabdu.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/05080511\/clintonabdu-768x432.jpg 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Abdul El-Sayed made history as the first Muslim senator after winning the Michigan Senate race on Tuesday. However, while former President Barack Obama endorsed him, another former president saw his potential long before that. Now, an almost two-decade-old video of Bill Clinton praising Abdul at the University of Michigan\u2019s commencement ceremony is making headlines.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, November 3, 42-year-old El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan\u2019s Senate race, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate. He received 52.5% of the votes counted, compared with Rogers\u2019 45.4%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates, so thank you, this is all yours.. You welcomed me into your homes, your churches, your synagogues,\u201d El-Sayed said in his victory speech on Tuesday, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Btos5P_O2EY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">C-SPAN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El-Sayed continued, \u201c[The] opposition decided to try to divide us. At first, they pointed to my name and my faith as if to say, you know, he\u2019s a little different \u2026 They want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Senate race in Michigan was perhaps one of the states that received most attention before the election. President Barack Obama endorsed El-Sayed beforehand, and the former president even appeared at one of his rallies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, while Obama might have liked the Michigan native, former U.S. President Bill Clinton had already noticed something special about him long before Abdul El-Sayed made history in Michigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly two decades ago, in 2007, Abdul El-Sayed held a speech as class valedictorian during the University of Michigan\u2019s commencement ceremony. A resurfaced video is now bringing that moment back into the spotlight following El-Sayed\u2019s historic election victory.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-bill-clinton-praised-abdul-el-sayed-in-2007-as-rare-video-resurfaces\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bill Clinton praised Abdul El-Sayed in 2007 as rare video resurfaces<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While students might have enjoyed the speech, Bill Clinton certainly did, too. In a resurfaced video following El-Sayed\u2019s Senate victory, Clinton appeared to recognize the youngster\u2019s potential long before his political career began.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Bill Clinton also gave a speech, and he took a moment to praise the young speaker publicly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to embarrass your senior speaker,\u201d Clinton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/-RfinNQyVSQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cBut I wish every person in the world who believes that we are fated to have a clash of civilizations, and cannot reach across the religious divides, could have heard you speak today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former president added, \u201cI just wish every person in the world could have heard you speak today.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rll-youtube-player\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-RfinNQyVSQ\" data-id=\"-RfinNQyVSQ\" data-query=\"feature=oembed\" data-alt=\"Video resurfaces of Bill Clinton praising Abdul El-Sayed during 2007 commencement speech\">\n<div data-id=\"-RfinNQyVSQ\" data-query=\"feature=oembed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-RfinNQyVSQ\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entered lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-RfinNQyVSQ\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Video resurfaces of Bill Clinton praising Abdul El-Sayed during 2007 commencement speech\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-RfinNQyVSQ\/hqdefault.jpg\" data-ll-status=\"loaded\" \/><button class=\"play\" aria-label=\"Play Youtube video\" data-rocket-lazy-bg-6839d011-57de-4e07-a3f6-ead18a78140b=\"loaded\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, El-Sayed was still a student with plans to pursue a career in medicine. But Clinton apparently saw another possible future for him. Years later, in mid-October this year, Abdul El-Sayed recalled the encounter during an appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fmodf-lNGEE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jon Stewart\u2019s show<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-abdul-el-sayed-recalled-the-meeting-with-bill-clinton\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Abdul El-Sayed recalled the meeting with Bill Clinton<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He explained that Clinton approached him after the speech and asked a question he wasn\u2019t expecting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter the speech, President Clinton comes up to me. He\u2019s like, \u2018Son, why are you going to medical school?&#8217;\u201d El-Sayed recalled on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fmodf-lNGEE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Weekly Show<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdul continued, \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Uh, I\u2019m brown and Muslim, it\u2019s what we do,&#8217;\u201d to which Bill Clinton shared another idea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd he said, \u2018That\u2019s great, but you got a gift for communicating and maybe someday you\u2019ll run for office,&#8217;\u201d El-Sayed recalled on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fmodf-lNGEE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Weekly Show<\/a><\/em>. \u201cI was like, \u2018Really nice of you to say. I\u2019ve got an 11-letter first name [with] sounds that come out of parts of people\u2019s throats most people don\u2019t know they have. People like me don\u2019t get to run for office.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe thought about it for a second,\u201d El-Sayed explained. \u201cAnd then he chuckled and walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-205093 entered lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-scaled.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-2048x1370.jpg 2048w\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1712\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-2048x1370.jpg 2048w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/11\/04131538\/GettyImages-2303430965-scaled.jpg\" data-ll-status=\"loaded\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Salwan Georges\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking back, El-Sayed joked that the encounter was far from the usual experience of someone preparing to attend medical school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy whole life, all of my mentors have told me I\u2019m going to run for office,\u201d he told Stewart. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, that\u2019s some crazy bulls\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-made-history-as-first-ever-muslim-u-s-senator-with-michigan-senate-victory\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Made history as first-ever Muslim U.S. Senator with Michigan Senate victory<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Abudl El-Sayed might not have known that he would become a politician at that point, he went on to build an impressive academic career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The now 42-year-old became a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in public health, before completing his medical degree at Columbia University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He later entered public service, serving as executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017. Between 2023 and 2025, he also served as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human &amp; Veterans Services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His first major attempt at elected office came in 2018, when he ran for Michigan governor in the Democratic primary. Then, he lost to Gretchen Whitmer. This time, however, he secured a historic victory in the Senate race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Whether he will get the opportunity to meet Bill Clinton in the future, time will tell. But what we can most likely determine is that one former president is very pleased with his prediction.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Getty Images Abdul El-Sayed made history as the first Muslim senator after winning the Michigan Senate race on Tuesday. However, while&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsamazingday.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}