This story is around 12 years old, but it came to mind after seeing all the hype for “Wall Street 2.”  While walking in Washington near the White House, sometime around the fall of 1998, I noticed a small rally taking place in Lafayette Park, located directly across Pennsylvania Ave from the President’s residence.   Lafayette Park is continually the sight of rallies/protests, so I didn’t think much of it.  After walking a few steps closer, I noticed that this event was being led by none other than Michael Douglas.  It turned out that the point of his speech centered on the debt the United States owed the United Nations at that point in time.  Douglas spoke very passionately about this cause, claiming it was the US’s duty to square things with the UN.  Douglas’ speech took place only a couple years after his appearance in the “American President.”  Because of this, Douglas had somewhat of a Presidential aura going for him during the speech.     With President Clinton on one side of the street and Michael Douglas on the other, there was definitely a tremendous amount of star power around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. on that late 90’s day.