pd10ap00 Statement on the Death of John Robert Starr...

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[[Page 696]]

provable advances in the quality of education for our children.
    There is hardly anybody who runs as a private citizen for the United 
States Senate in my lifetime--I can't think of anybody who ran as a 
private citizen for the Senate who had as much knowledge as she has or 
as much experience as she has on the things that will really count in 
the terms of the shape of America and the children who are--[inaudible].
    The third thing I want to say is, is this: The most important point 
Hillary made about me and us and our politics is that we believe that we 
should try to bring together, not drive them apart. They believe you 
have to drive people apart in order to win elections. And since they're 
wrong on the issues, they're right. In other words, people won't agree 
with them on the issues, so the only way they could win is to convince 
them that we're the first cousins of space aliens. [Laughter] Now, this 
is not a complicated deal. And so that's why Hillary's opponent can 
raise a double ton of money besides being mayor and having special 
relations with a lot of those people that--[inaudible]--New York. You've 
got this rightwing--[inaudible]--machine geared up against her again.
    You know, when he wanted to be mayor of New York, he said, ``I'm a 
moderate.'' When he wants to be Senator from New York, he wants all 
those rightwingers that helped Governor Bush in the nomination and are 
represented by the Bob Jones University flap you all heard about--he 
gets Richard Viguerie to write letters that raise the hair on the back 
of your head.
    Now, there's a reason they've got to do that: because they like 
political power and the majority of the people do not agree with them. 
They've got this figured out now; we're right, and they're wrong on 
these big issues. So the only way they can win is to convince people 
that we're space aliens. But that's not good for America. Far better for 
them to modernize their party and their ideas and then engage in a 
debate and let the people move back and forth, depending on who they 
think is right on the specific issues. That's the way America is 
supposed to work.
    But I want you to understand what's at stake in this election in New 
York and in America, because we've got a chance now, finally, to reject 
the politics of division. If you do this one more time, you've got a 
real chance to elevate the politics of America.
    And let me tell you why it's so important. I want to close with this 
point. In February we celebrated the longest economic expansion in the 
history of this country. And that's the good news. The bad news is it 
might put people to sleep and think they can afford to just go through--
[inaudible]--or indulgences or on a whim or not vote at all in this 
election, because they think things are going along real well.
    And let me tell you why what Hillary said--the most important point 
she made is about the politics of division. When we celebrated this 
economic expansion, I asked my economic advisers--I said, ``Well, when 
was the last longest expansion in American history?'' Do you know when 
it was? Nineteen sixty-one to 1969. Now, let me take you on a little 
walk down memory lane. [Laughter]
    In 1964 I was a senior in high school, a graduate. The country was 
heartbroken about President Kennedy's assassination but were heartened 
by President Johnson's leadership, strongly united behind him. We had 
low unemployment, low inflation, high growth. We had a civil rights 
crisis, but everybody thought it was going to be handled in the context 
of the courts, not in the streets. We had a few people in Vietnam, but 
nobody thought it was going to tear the country up. Everybody thought 
America would win the cold war just in the course of events, because 
freedom was clearly superior to communism. And we were happy as clams 
and totally relaxed about it.
    Now, 4 years later I graduated from college here in Washington--2 
days after Robert Kennedy was killed; 2 months after Martin Luther King 
was killed; 9 weeks after Lyndon Johnson said he couldn't run for 
President because the country was so divided over Vietnam.
    A few weeks later, Richard Nixon was elected President, based on a 
campaign that he represented the Silent Majority. Now, what were the 
necessary--[inaudible]--of that? Those of us who weren't for him were 
the loud minority. That was the first of these great ``us'' versus 
``them'' campaigns, divide

[[Page 697]]

not unite. And we've been ``us-ing'' and ``them-ing'' now for 30 years.
    And when I ran for President, I said I wanted to put people first 
and have opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and a community 
of all Americans. That was the united, not divisive campaign. When we 
ran for reelection, we said we wanted to build a bridge to the 21st 
century that everybody could walk across. That's the united, not a 
divisive campaign.
    And one of the reasons Hillary decided to enter this race is that 
she knew how important it was not only to be right on the specific 
issues but to keep trying to pull the country together as we grow more 
diverse, not tear it apart. And I like the way things are now, but they 
could be a whole lot better if we just focus and keep working and 
remember to be for business and labor, work and family, the environment 
and the economy, unite not divide. That's really what her race 
represents; that's what Al Gore's race represents; that's what the 
referendum on what kind of future we're going to have represents. And 
what I want to tell you is, I've been waiting since I was a boy of 17, 
for 35 years and more now, to see my country in the position we were in, 
in 1964, to build a future of our dreams for our children. And this 
election will determine whether we move to that level.
    It took me years just to try to turn this country around and get it 
going in the right direction and to stop people from trying to take 
things away from you. Now we've got a chance to do something good. 
That's what this Senate race is about. That's what this Presidential 
race is about. That's what this whole election is about.
    And you just keep in mind, people know, they know we're right on the 
issues, so they've got to beat us some other way. And you've got to 
stand up for unity and progress and the right kind of change.
    I am grateful to you for what you've done for me, but what you can 
do for Hillary, what you can do for the Vice President, and most 
important, what you can do for America and your children's future will 
matter even more.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:50 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency. In his 
remarks, he referred to Denis M. Hughes, president, New York State AFL-
CIO; Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York City; Gov. George W. Bush of 
Texas; and Richard A. Viguerie, chairman, chief executive officer, and 
president, ConservativeHQ.com. A tape was not available for verification 
of the content of these remarks.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 697]
 
Monday, April 10, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 14
Pages 691-770
 
Week Ending Friday, April 7, 2000
 
Statement on the Death of John Robert Starr

April 1, 2000

    Hillary and I are saddened to hear that John Robert Starr has passed 
away. He was a legendary figure in Little Rock and Arkansas history. As 
a former Arkansas bureau chief for the Associated Press, managing editor 
of the Arkansas Democrat and Democrat-Gazette, and a tough-as-nails 
columnist, John Robert always said and did what he thought was right.
    John Robert was as tenacious a friend as he was a foe. In good and 
bad times alike, I always knew him to speak his mind and say exactly 
what he felt. That kind of candor can be strong medicine, but I learned 
to respect him for it. His legion of readers might not always agree with 
his point of view, but they read what he had to say.
    Hillary and I offer our deepest condolences to his wife, Norma, 
their three children, and their many friends.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 697-700]
 
Monday, April 10, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 14
Pages 691-770
 
Week Ending Friday, April 7, 2000
 
Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Brunch in Las Vegas, Nevada

April 2, 2000

    The President. Let me, first of all, say I'm glad to be back. I 
never get tired of coming here. And most of you know that Brian and I 
went to college together--in spite of the fact that he now looks younger 
than me, we did. [Laughter] What can I say? I've had a harder life. 
[Laughter] And he and Myra have been wonderful to us. And Amy has been 
good enough to work for me at the White House, and for Mrs. Gore, and we 
feel that she's a part of our family.
    Arnold and Rachel have taken me in in Arizona, as well as always 
coming up here

[[Page 698]]

when I show up. And I'm just so grateful to all of you. And Jane always 
whispers in my ear and tells me what I should really be working on as 
President and how I should be doing it. [Laughter]
    Janie Greenspun Gale. Have I been wrong? [Laughter]
    The President. And the thing I really hate about it is that she's 
normally right. [Laughter] So I feel very much at home here. I'll be 
quite brief, but I want you to think about a few things.
    First, I am very, very grateful to the people of Nevada for 
supporting me and Hillary and Al and Tipper through two Presidential 
elections. It's highly unusual for a Democrat to carry this State. And 
we did it--not by much, but we did it twice. And a lot of you in this 
room helped.
    I am very grateful for the support that you have given all my 
policies. The nuclear waste issue is very important. I will say this to 
you--I was not wrong when I said last year--and Brian ran an article in 
the paper--that we needed Harry Reid back in the Senate, so we would 
have a veto-proof minority. And we also got--and that was really 
important. And Shelley Berkley also worked very hard on that, and we now 
have--my veto can be sustained. And that's very, very encouraging, and I 
want to thank all of you for that.
    But I'd also, in a larger sense, just like to thank you for 7 years 
and a couple of months of genuine support for a new direction for our 
country. I want to particularly thank Congressman Bilbray, who would 
still be in Congress if he hadn't supported me. But I want you to know 
that.
    We didn't have a vote to spare in August of 1993, when I asked the 
Congress to cut the deficit by at least $500 billion. And I knew if we 
didn't do it, we'd never get the economy turned around. And it passed by 
a single vote in the House and the Senate. And Al Gore cast the tie vote 
in the Senate, and as he said, whenever he votes, we win. [Laughter] 
That broke the tie, I mean. And every single Member of the House that 
voted for that bill can claim a large share of responsibility for the 
economic prosperity this country has enjoyed ever since. And many of 
them laid their jobs down to do it, and I will never forget it. And I 
want you to know that I never forgot, and I thank you.
    Now, here's what I want to say, and I say this to you partly as your 
President and partly as a citizen, because I'm not running for anything 
this year. I'm the only person I know, practically, who's not running 
for anything. [Laughter] And most days, I'm okay about it.
    We're in a position today that is highly unusual for any nation. You 
know, we're in the middle of the longest economic expansion in history. 
We have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, lowest minority 
unemployment rates ever recorded, lowest female unemployment rate in 40 
years, lowest welfare rolls in 30 years, lowest poverty rates in 20 
years, lowest crime rates in 25 years. And the question before the 
citizens of our country in this election is, now what? What are we going 
to do with what is truly an unprecedented moment?
    If you saw my State of the Union Address, you know what I think we 
ought to do. I think that we ought to say, this is not a time for 
relaxing; this is a time for bearing down--that this is a chance of a 
lifetime, and we ought to identify every major challenge and every major 
opportunity our country's got out there and go after it, because we will 
never have a better chance to do it. That's what I believe.
    I think that this is the time to build the 21st century education 
system. This is the time to help all these families, where both mothers 
and fathers work, balance work and family. This is the time to help deal 
with the aging of America, with families who provide long-term care to 
their parents, for disabled members of their families, to save Social 
Security and Medicare and add a prescription drug benefit.
    It's time to pay the country out of debt. We can get this country 
out of debt for the first time since 1835. And if we do, we'll give a 
whole--when Amy's my age, this country will be more prosperous than it 
otherwise would have been, if we do that.
    It's a time to deal with the big environmental challenges. It's a 
time to deal with the possibility we now have of making this the safest 
big country in the world. When I became President, most people didn't 
think

[[Page 699]]

the crime rate could go down. It's gone down now 7 years in a row. But 
no one believes America's as safe as it ought to be.
    It's a time to make a major commitment to 21st century science and 
technology. We were talking at the other table about energy technology 
and how, if we can just make one more discovery with biofuels, we'll be 
able to create 8 gallons of ethanol with 1 gallon of gasoline. And when 
you have cars getting 70 miles per gallon, which will be soon, it would 
be like getting over 500 miles to the gallon of gasoline. It will change 
the whole future of the world when this happens.
    In a few weeks, we'll have the honor of announcing that the 
consortium that the United States and Great Britain have been part of 
for some years, to unlock the mysteries of the human genome, will be 
completed. And 3 billion genes in 80,000 sequences will all be out 
there, thanks to computer technology. And when that happens, it won't be 
long until somebody figures out how to stop people like me when we get 
old from getting Alzheimer's. Two people in my family have had it.
    They'll be able to figure out how to block the gene that causes 
Parkinson's, that the Attorney General and many other well-known people, 
including Michael J. Fox, now are dealing with. They will be able to 
figure out--and Muhammad Ali. They'll be able to figure out how to 
identify all kinds of cancers when there are just a few cells collected, 
and it will dramatically increase the cure rate. All this stuff is right 
around the corner. Not to mention the fact that I think within a couple 
of years, you'll actually know what's in those black holes in the 
universe. This is going to be a very interesting time to be alive.
    We also see, in a more sort of tangible way, the role the United 
States still has for peace and freedom around the world, from the Middle 
East to Northern Ireland, fighting against terrorism and the spread of 
weapons of mass destruction, the work I tried to do when I was in India 
and Pakistan recently.
    And I guess what I would like to say to you is that beyond all of 
the specifics, the simple question of this election is, what are we 
going to do with this money? And the American people have big choices. 
And the reason that I support Vice President Gore, quite apart from my 
personal loyalty to him and affection to him, is that I've worked with 
him for 7 years, and I know that he understands the future and has the 
knowledge and experience and the strength to take us there. And that 
swamps every one of the specifics.
    The second reason is that I believe that the Republicans' advocacy 
of a tax cut even bigger than the one I vetoed last year--for it to 
become law would mean we could not get the country out of debt; we would 
not have the money to save Social Security and Medicare; we would not 
have the money to invest in 21st century schools. All of you would be 
better off, but only for a little bit. And I think, far better to have a 
more modest tax cut that helps people educate their children, provide 
decent child care, deal with this long-term care crisis, which is going 
to become bigger and bigger and bigger for all of our families, and get 
the country out of debt, keep interest rates down, and keep the economy 
going.
    That's what I believe. But these are huge choices. And underneath it 
all there is something that I have--basically has been the great passion 
of my life, and that is whether we're going to go forward as one America 
or we're going to go back to politics as usual, where we just divide up 
in camps and see which camp is bigger.

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