[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 25, 1992]
[Pages 1983-1991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session in Billings, Montana
October 25, 1992

    The President. Thank you. I feel like Phil Donahue, sitting here. 
Thank you for that great welcome to the Big Sky country. Thank you so 
much. Please be seated.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

[[Page 1984]]

    The President. Wall to wall people. Thank you so very much. This is 
a little bit of unique forum here today. But I want to start off by just 
saying a few words about those with us. You have had a great Governor. 
You've got a wonderful Governor, a great friend of ours. And he is 
leaving; he is leaving. And Marc Racicot, who is running, is in another 
part of the State, out working the trenches as he should. But I strongly 
urge his reelection.
    I needn't tell you what a hit Conrad, the Burnses, plural, have 
made, but Conrad has made in the United States Senate. You've got strong 
representation there by a good and decent man. I don't listen to all his 
jokes; I've got a certain standard I must adhere to as President of the 
United States. [Laughter] Well, some of them, some.
    But then there's another one that's been at my side in the political 
trenches as long as I've been--certainly before I was in the White House 
and even before I was Vice President. And I'm talking about Congressman 
Ron Marlenee. We've got to see him reelected. And I want to thank two 
other friends, Chuck Heringer and Tim Babcock, the former Governor of 
this State, all good people. And I'll tell you, it makes me wonder how 
you get along without friends.
    But let me start this way. This is an unusual format. We're going to 
take a few questions. But before I start, I want to tell you, this is 
the strangest political year I've ever seen. But I swing into the great 
State of Montana absolutely convinced that I'm going to be reelected for 
4 more years. People will say, why is that going to happen? And I'll 
develop that in the question-and-answer session. But I believe it's 
going to come about because we literally have changed the world. The 
kids here today go to bed at night--and I heard Conrad generously 
mention this--the kids go to bed at night without the same fear of 
nuclear war. And I am very proud that a lot of that occurred since I've 
been President of the United States. Communism is dead. Ancient enemies 
are talking to each other. Democracy is on the move in Russia and south 
of our border. There's been an enormous change. And now what we've got 
to do is take that same leadership that changed the world, even though 
we're now at an economic international global slowdown, use the 
leadership to lift these kids up and give them the opportunity that I 
know exists for them in the days ahead.
    And then the last, I think, the other reason I'll win, Barbara and I 
have tried very hard--I think we've got a great First Lady, and I wish 
she were here. But we have tried very hard to uphold the public trust. 
And one reason I'm confident is that in the final analysis, I believe 
voters are going to really think: Who would you want to look after your 
family, deal with a crisis that might occur? Who can best keep the 
public trust and serve with honor? We have tried very hard to do that, 
and I hope that's going to be one of the reasons that we're reelected 
when it comes Tuesday, a week from this coming Tuesday.
    Now, the program is to take a few questions, and I don't know how 
we're going to arrange all that. But if anybody--Conrad, are you kind of 
the Phil Donahue of this thing? [Laughter] Get in here. We're in real 
trouble if he is, I'll tell you. He can't even get his umbilical cord 
untied. Now, come on.
    Senator Conrad Burns. I used to be an old farm broadcaster, you 
know.
    The President. Never mind. No, we don't want any of that.
    Senator Burns. Mr. President, welcome to Montana. Okay, do we have a 
question here? Just pick one out. Got a hand right here from a young man 
right there, Mr. President.
    The President. Shoot. We'll get our act together in a minute here.

The Economy

    Q. I wasn't born when Carter was around, and I heard about the high 
taxes and the bad economy. Would that happen if Clinton was elected?
    The President. Good question. That's what we call a slow ball in the 
trade. You can see the seams on it going across the plate. [Laughter] 
The question was, he just has heard talk--he's a young guy, you couldn't 
see him--but he's heard talk of what it was like when Jimmy Carter was 
President, the last time a Democrat controlled the White House and those 
that Conrad and Ron fight

[[Page 1985]]

against every day controlled the Congress. And here's what it was like. 
I'm afraid that the Clinton-Gore spend-and-tax plan would take us back 
there. The interest rates, 21.5 percent they hit. Inflation was 15 
percent. The Democrats, to embarrass Republicans, invented something 
called the ``misery index,'' unemployment and inflation added together. 
Under me it's 10, and under them it was 20. We cannot go back to the 
days when they had both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. We had grain 
embargoes. And they talk about malaise. It was right there.
    So my view is, our agenda for America's renewal--it stimulates small 
business, cuts down on the Government spending through putting a cap on 
the mandatory spending--is the way to go. And hold the taxes down. I 
have a very big difference with the Clinton-Gore tax-and-spend program. 
Thanks for the question.

Gun Control

    Q. Mr. President, what is your position on gun control, please?
    The President. I oppose gun control. It's a good time to point it 
out in the first day of the big game hunting season out here. I'm 
surprised there's this many people in here. [Laughter] But I'm delighted 
to see you. I am a hunter, and I'm a fisherman, and I believe I've got a 
sound record on the environment. But when it comes to guns, the answer 
is to have tougher anticrime legislation. Go after the criminal and not 
after the gun owner. And I've always felt that way. I gave a speech on 
that today to the police chiefs, and I believe we have strong support in 
the law enforcement community. We need a little more sympathy for the 
victims of crime, a little less for the criminal.

Taxes

    Q. President Bush, throughout this election and elections I've 
listened to in the past, we've always talked about where the middle 
class is over-taxed, the wealthy aren't taxed enough. I think the people 
of America are willing to pay their fair share. Why is it we cannot have 
a uniform tax where it doesn't matter what your income, we all pay the 
same?
    The President. Well, that would be a flat tax, and it's pretty hard 
to get because I think a lot of people would think that's unfair. They 
think it's unfair that a rich guy would pay the same as the person 
that's really struggling to make ends meet.
    Here's my view on the tax situation: I believe this is where we have 
perhaps the major difference with the Clinton-Gore program, because I 
went along with the Democratic tax increase one time and I made a 
mistake. I said I did the wrong thing. Quite different than Governor 
Clinton that has to have it both ways on every issue. When you screw 
something up, you say it. You say, ``I was wrong.'' But now let's move 
forward and hold the line on the taxes. We don't need to raise taxes at 
all right now. We just don't need to do it. But what we need to do is 
control the growth of spending. Two-thirds of the budget, two-thirds of 
the Federal budget, never comes to the President of the United States. 
One-third does. We've got caps now, out of that budget agreement that I 
don't like, but out of it we did get one good thing. That was caps on 
the discretionary spending. On the mandatory programs, it's just free-
flowing. So we've got to control their growth, and then stimulate 
business.
    Here's what I want to do in the way of taxes: I want an investment 
tax allowance, I want a capital gains cut. It is not a tax for the rich. 
It will stimulate new business, small business. And I want a credit for 
the first-time homebuyer so that the guy, a family, young family trying 
to buy their first home, gets a $5,000 credit. And that will stimulate 
not only the housing industry but all the other businesses that go with 
it. The flat tax is a--I don't believe it's even possible to get done, 
so I think we've got to stay with what we've got, but hold the line on 
it.

Energy Policy

    Q. Mr. President, Montana's a great resource State, and we've been 
looking for an energy plan that would allow us to reasonably develop 
those resources and lead our country into a future without having an 
energy shortage. You just signed a new bill, but can you explain what 
your plans are for the future?
    The President. The new bill we signed yesterday, the day before 
yesterday--

[[Page 1986]]

maybe it was just yesterday--these things blend into each other. I'll 
tell you, like today we were in Detroit, South Dakota, and here. 
Yesterday, don't give me a quiz, but I believe I was in Louisiana. And 
if I was, I signed the energy bill.
    It's a brandnew national energy strategy. You've got some 
independents, independent oil and gas producers here. One of the things 
that's been like a wet blanket over the domestic search for oil and gas 
has been the alternative minimum tax. And that has been changed now--
see, there's two oilmen up there--that has been changed now. And that 
will free up a lot more domestic drilling. The IPAA estimates 45,000 new 
jobs in the domestic oil and gas business. Also, our energy strategy 
goes for alternative sources. We free up as best we can the use of corn 
for ethanol. I believe that you can safely use nuclear power. We're 
trying to cut down in some of the endless ways of holding that up. I 
believe in that.
    So it's a good new energy strategy that goes for alternate sources 
and freeing up domestic oil and gas so we will not be as dependent on 
foreign oil. We count our blessings that we have good relationships with 
Saudi Arabia and other countries today. But we must not become more 
dependent for our energy needs as a country on foreign sources. And 
that's what this bill helps do.

Foreign Affairs and Domestic Policy

    Q. Mr. President, even the Democrats recognize that you are A-plus 
in foreign affairs. Can you explain to the people how foreign relations 
means good domestic policies, such as lower gas prices, grain markets 
for us, and things like that?
    The President. Well, the answer is we're living in an interconnected 
world. In fact, our economy today--and this may come as a surprise to 
some, because don't listen to the evening network news if you want to 
get any good news. You're not going to get it. But it will surprise some 
to know that our economy is doing better than Japan, and we are doing 
better than Europe, and we're doing better than Canada. But we're not 
doing good enough. But we're in something that's--I'll take my share of 
the blame. But I don't think it's fair for Clinton and Gore to say it's 
all George Bush's fault when the whole world is caught up in a slowdown.
    What's going to save us is your question, is how we handle 
international affairs. We've made the world more peaceful. With me today 
is a guy who was a real leader in that--I don't know whether he's 
standing around modestly in the background--but our Secretary of State, 
now with me in the White House, Jim Baker. Where is he? He's out here 
someplace. Anyway, I say for him and Dick Cheney and Colin Powell and 
Brent Scowcroft in the White House, we have done something about 
establishing world leadership. And I took a lot of gas at the time we 
were trying to mobilize the world to stand up against aggression in the 
Middle East. But we did it.
    I might point out a difference: Governor Clinton said on the war, he 
said, ``Well, I agree with the minority but I guess, I guess I would 
have voted with the majority.'' What kind of leadership would that be 
for the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces? Now, we made a decision; 
we made a decision. The sons and daughters of this State and all the 
rest busted up the fourth largest army in the world, kicked him out, and 
in the process we established the United States as the only military 
superpower and the most credible leader for democracy and freedom.
    And that means that as we move into this internationally connected 
economy, that we are going to be the ones to lead on trade. The things 
that saved us in a slowdown, as I'm sure you know, are exports. And we 
are fighting to increase our exports by getting a satisfactory solution 
to this GATT round, the Uruguay round on trade. That is in the interest 
of American jobs. American agriculture will sell more abroad.
    I was annoyed to read a London Daily Telegraph article saying that 
the Clinton campaign intervened with the leaders of the European 
Community to say, don't make a deal before the election. What kind of 
statesmanship is that? We ought to make a deal this minute if it's a 
good one for American agriculture and a good one for the American 
interest.
    So world leadership is important. World

[[Page 1987]]

leadership is important. And let me say one last point on this question: 
Do not let them tell you that we are a nation in decline or are not 
respected. Governor Clinton, I believe, or someone around him used the 
word ``mockery,'' and they say we're something less than Germany and 
just above Sri Lanka. He ought to open his eyes, open that Little Rock 
narrow vision, and look at the world. We are the most respected country 
on the face of the Earth.

Barbara Bush

    Q. Where's Barbara?
    The President. All right. Well, she was last sighted waving goodbye 
to me at the White House today. But here's the situation. She's doing a 
great job, but I find that she can go out there on her own and really 
talk to the people about literacy, about how you help families.
    You know, the liberals don't like it when we talk about family 
values. We're not trying to say a family has to be any particular size, 
or if you have a one-parent family, that's not a good family. What we're 
talking about is values. And Barbara's good at it. Because when she 
holds an AIDS baby in her arms, why, she's teaching compassion. Or when 
she reads to those children in the Diplomatic Entrance of the White 
House, she's trying to say parents ought to read to the kids. We talk 
about family values, we're talking about choice in child care. Let the 
parents choose, not just the Government. We're talking about choice in 
education. Let the parents decide, public, private, or religious school, 
and then support them.
    So I believe all of these things add up: teaching discipline, 
teaching respect--I just met with some of your law enforcement people 
here--respect for the law. It's unfair that people in some of these 
heavily impacted drug areas are scared to death to go down to the corner 
market. Family values can help, because if your kids can be weaned away 
from the drugs or whatever it is, you strengthen the American family. 
And that's what Barbara, I think, exemplifies. She's out doing that 
every single day. I wish she were here. She'd be overwhelmed by this 
fantastic turnout.

College Costs

    Q. As the number of people who want to attend college has increased 
while the rise in costs of college have dramatically decreased their 
chance of going, if you're reelected, what would you do to help the 
financially burdened students and their parents?
    The President. The question is a very good question: How do you help 
financially burdened students and their parents, because college costs 
have risen?
    The step we have taken so far is to double the amount of money for 
Pell grants. That's the best way that students can participate. We have 
doubled it. Education spending is up. But I must tell you, we cannot do 
all the spending we want. As you know, the Federal Government 
participation in education is about 6 percent or 7 percent, and then the 
rest of the '93 is local and State and private and all of that. So the 
feds will continue to do our part. We will continue to, as this economy 
grows, to increase our commitment. But I am very proud that we have 
already raised Pell grants, which is the thing that helps children get 
to college, more than any previous administration and increased Head 
Start at the same time, for those who are starting to go to school.

The Character Issue

    Q. Mr. President, I have two sons in college. One is 18 and one is 
22. First of all, I'd like to say we appreciate your answers. No matter 
what part of the country you're in, you're consistent, unlike your 
opponent. My question is this: When we sit at the dinner table and we 
say grace, and then we have a man running for President who we've read 
his letters on how he tried to get out of the military. The ROTC is 
after them both; they are honor students. How do we tell them, if that 
other guy gets in, how they can be faithful to their country? When 
Kennedy was in, I was getting ready to be drafted, and I volunteered 
ahead of time. How do we talk to our kids on this important subject if 
that other guy gets in?
    The President. The gentleman raises a very serious question. I can 
understand people being opposed to the Vietnam war; I

[[Page 1988]]

can understand that. What I think the problem Governor Clinton has is, 
there's a pattern of not leveling with the American people. I am old-
fashioned. I served my country in combat. I believe that that has helped 
me be a little sensitive when the decisions come, and twice it's come to 
me, of having to send somebody else's son or daughter into combat. So I 
believe my own experience has helped me be a sensitive and decisive 
Commander in Chief. But I don't think everybody has to do that. We've 
got new generations who might not have served. But what you have to do 
is to level with the American people.
    I've spoken out, and frankly, we've got a difference in our own 
group about this. Some say it's not important; I find it 
incomprehensible that when Americans are being held prisoner in Hanoi or 
when kids are being drafted out of the ghetto, that an American would 
mobilize, or ``organize'' was the word he used, demonstrations against 
his own country in a foreign land. If you want to demonstrate, do what 
other people--come to the White House with your sign. But don't go to a 
foreign country and tear down your own country. So I've got a 
fundamental difference, I have a fundamental difference with Governor 
Clinton on this question.
    But the big question, the bigger question is, on April 17th he said 
he was going to level with the American people and tell the record about 
the ROTC and the draft, and he hasn't done that. But it's not just the 
military. He goes to Detroit and says one thing on fuel efficiency 
standards, and then he goes someplace and says something else. He goes 
one place and said he's for the North American free trade agreement, and 
then in the debate you heard him, ``Yes, but.'' You can't have a ``yes, 
but'' in the White House. You can't make it into the waffle house. You 
have to say, here's what I'm for, here's what I'm against. And that is 
character. And that is trust.

Gasoline Tax

    Q. Mr. President, Montana is a big State, and we have a lot of our 
citizens travel from 50 miles to 150 miles just to go shopping or do 
their business in their county seats. As I understand, Governor Clinton 
is highly in favor of putting a tax on gasoline to go to some of the 
expenses of Government. What are your thoughts on this?
    The President. Well, my thoughts on the subject: I'm not sure. I 
want to be fair. I'm not sure he's proposing a gasoline tax. If he is, I 
strongly oppose it. We've already got a lot of Federal tax. There's 
several reasons. I'm afraid Mr. Perot is proposing a 50-cent gasoline 
tax increase. I mean, for people that have to drive to work or drive 
cabs, whatever it is, I mean, that's pretty steep. I don't think we need 
to increase the tax on gasoline.
    There's two reasons. One is it's heavily taxed at the Federal level 
anyway. And secondly, we preempt a source for the Governors and for the 
States if they have to do that. So I would like to hold the line on this 
fuel tax, on the gasoline tax right now. We don't need to do that. And 
rather than raise the tax is control the growth of spending.
    And how do you do that? All right, I'll give you three reasons, 
three ways. Give us a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. 
That's one, and that will discipline whoever is President and the 
executive branch. Give me a check-off, give the people, rather, a check-
off on their tax return, a little tin box, and you can check off 10 
percent of your taxes to go to reducing the deficit. And the law would 
be that then Congress must make the reductions that go with that. And 
the third one is, 43 Governors can take a piece of legislation, and they 
can knock out the wasteful parts. So give me the line-item veto, and let 
the President try to get the deficit down.

Native Americans

    Q. Mr. President, the Democrats would have you believe that all 
Native Americans are Democrats. But I'd like you to know that a lot of 
Native Americans are Republicans also.
    The President. Glad to know that.
    Q. I am a member of Fort Belmount Tribal Council, and I'd like to 
express our appreciation for all the work you've done on behalf of 
Native Americans, especially in the area of education.
    The President. I want to ask how it's going. I know it's a one-way 
deal, I'm sup-

[[Page 1989]]

posed to answer. But is this approach to education helping?
    Q. Yes, it is. We're having more and more Native Americans complete 
their college education, and that really helps us a lot.
    The tribal councils are very active in the area of economic 
development. We'd like to ask your support and assistance in the area of 
providing more jobs for our people. Everyone on the reservation would 
like a job, and we need your assistance in that regard.
    The President. You know what would help in this regard is this whole 
broad concept of enterprise zones. And what it says is to give breaks to 
businesses to move to areas where you really are adversely impacted by 
unemployment. I think that concept makes sense.
    I'm glad that approach to letting the control of education be closer 
to the ground is making sense. We have a national program called America 
2000. Congress--I hope you don't sound, I'm down on the Democratic-
controlled Congress that I am--but I am. We need to change it. We need 
to clean House. And we need to, but we can get a lot done without it on 
this program called America 2000, because it bypasses a lot of the 
bureaucracy and goes right to the communities.
    Where are we for the next one?
    Q. Well, first of all, Montana's good Bush country because just 
look--[applause]
    The President. Amazing.

Defense Cuts

    Q. My question was concerning the military cuts. With the military 
cuts, what do you plan to do with all the military personnel that are 
going to lose their jobs?
    The President. I just signed a defense authorization bill, and in it 
we have a lot of money for retraining. And that is a very important part 
of it. But let me explain my view toward defense. Because we have been 
successful in the cold war and because we have lowered the threat of 
nuclear war--the deal I worked out with Yeltsin was to eliminate these 
SS-18's which are the major intercontinental ballistic missiles. It's a 
good thing. That hasn't been accomplished yet, but the deal is signed. 
Because we have made a lot of progress, we've been able to reduce 
defense spending. To reduce it to where we are, I took the 
recommendation of Colin Powell and the Chiefs and Dick Cheney, who I 
think have earned the confidence of the American people. I do not want 
to cut into the muscle of our defense.
    Governor Clinton, to pay for a lot of other domestic spending, is 
now wanting to cut $50 billion, or $70 billion--I can't remember. He and 
Perot both want to cut significantly more than I do. My view is there 
are still wolves out there. The Soviet bear may be dead, but there are a 
lot of wolves in the woods. You've got antiterrorism; you've got all 
kinds of people trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And who knows where 
the next challenge will come to the security of the United States? And 
so I don't want to cut into the muscle of defense.
    But for those that are being dropped out of the military, we must go 
for the retraining. The Montgomery bill on education is a very important 
part of all of this, but retraining is the answer. And the bill I've 
just signed adequately provides funding to really help on that.

Health Care

    Q. Mr. President, I'd like to know what could be done about our 
health insurance? You know, I'm older than my wife, and now I'm having 
an awful time buying insurance for her because we're about to lose our 
insurance with the business since I retired.
    The President. The gentleman asked about perhaps the most pressing 
social question that we're all facing today, and that is the question of 
health care. The health care plan that I proposed and, when reelected, 
will push as an early objective provides the following: Insurance for 
all. The poorest of the poor will get vouchers to get the insurance. The 
next range up the income ladder will get assistance, tax credits to 
provide, to be sure they can acquire coverage.
    We will pool the insurance. The small operators find it very 
difficult to get insurance as cheap as some of the large operators. And 
so we've got a whole new system of pooling where you can pool insurance, 
people, small operators getting in together to make a large pool, thus 
reducing costs.

[[Page 1990]]

    And there's another way we've got to get the costs down. Frankly, 
we've got too many of these suits where doctors are afraid to practice 
medicine, even deliver babies, because of lawsuits. And so to protect 
themselves and the hospitals protecting themselves against these 
reckless lawsuits, they increase the number of tests that are needed or 
require people to stay longer in the hospital than they might ought to, 
because they're afraid of getting sued if they get out early or 
something. So we've got to go after these malpractice suits and stop 
this crazy lawsuit business because, good heavens, people are afraid to 
coach Little League. They're afraid to stop along a highway and pick up 
somebody that's hurt, for fear that person will get a lawyer and come 
and sue them. We're suing each other too much and caring for each other 
too little. So we've got to put some caps on these reckless lawsuits. 
And that's number one priority. Governor Clinton will not do it, because 
the trial lawyers own him lock, stock, and barrel as far as these 
campaign contributions go.

Education

    Q. Mr. President, we want to thank you for your support of 
educational choice. And we just want to encourage you on that issue, 
that you will continue to give parents the opportunity to choose 
alternative forms of education.
    The President. I will continue that choice. It is right. We've got a 
pilot program called ``GI bill'' for kids. You know, people say, well, 
you've got to be careful that you don't undermine the public schools or 
that you merge this justifiable and proper separation of church and 
state. But the answer is, in the GI bill after the war, the same charge 
was made in some quarters. The GI bill went to the soldiers that got 
out, and then they could choose private, public, or religious colleges. 
And it did not diminish public education. Indeed, some felt that that 
was enhanced, that it enhanced public education. So my plan is for 
school choice, public, private, or religious, and try it. It's working 
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I believe it will work nationwide. It's 
going to be very expensive, but we've got to start with a pilot program. 
And we're going to stay right on it.
    Q. Mr. President, I'm a public school teacher. I have had to live 
under communism and under Nazi, and I'm proud to be an American. Every 
time we play the national anthem I have tears. But my question is to 
you, Mr. President. I'm sick and tired of being bashed. Every morning 
you and I are being bashed by a Democratic organization that I am forced 
to belong to. And I would like you to give me a one-liner that tomorrow 
morning I can go back and give to them.
    The President. What is the organization?
    Q. The teachers organization, NBEA, NEA, and MEA.
    The President. Well, the NEA, that's not my favorite so I have to 
watch--I have to clean it up for you because, I'll tell you, they oppose 
us at every turn. And part of our education program is to go around them 
and get the support for the teachers in the communities. We've tried 
this bureaucratic layering that they have insisted on, and it doesn't 
work. And too much of the money goes to overhead, and too little right 
in there to the classroom. So you can put me down as not their strongest 
supporter. They attack us all the time, no matter what I propose. It's 
time to stand up and fight against the power-hungry union like that that 
have more at interest in themselves in organization and less in the 
teacher in the classroom. I can't think of one line, though, to get them 
down.
    Patrick Goggins. Mr. President, they tell me it's time for you to 
move on.
    The President. The big sky.
    Mr. Goggins. We will take, I think, one more question, and then 
we're going to have to move. And you get to do the picking because I'm 
not going to make--I live here.
    The President. You guys are in charge. Go ahead.

Health Care

    Q. I have another health care question, Mr. President.
    The President. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. He says, he says, ``Give 
'em hell.'' You remember what Truman said? He said you just tell the 
truth, and they think it's hell.

[[Page 1991]]

[Laughter] Anyway, go ahead.
    Q. Some smaller communities in Montana have been forced to close 
their hospitals. I was wondering what some of your solutions to 
providing health care for rural Americans would be.
    The President. Well, I think I touched on that in our whole health 
care plan. It does cover that, but the main thing is to provide the 
insurance. I can't give you a firm answer on what we can do in rural 
areas with the limited funds we've got. We can assist rural areas. We 
can assist communities. But we cannot start a new program of building 
Federal hospitals. We simply have to say we don't have the funds to do 
that when we're operating at this enormous deficit.
    Our health care plan, I think, would help. And it would certainly 
help the individual get access. But it does not answer the problem of 
the need for more, like veterans hospitals, higher spending on veterans 
hospitals now under me. I don't want to mislead you to think that we can 
go ahead and spend a lot more money to build hospitals in the rural 
areas. We just don't have the funds to do that.
    Let me end on a more positive note. Who's got one? Yes, ma'am.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    Mr. Goggins. I'll interpret for you.
    The President. Go ahead.
    Q. [Inaudible]--I just want you to know, for any of these people 
that haven't made up their mind yet, that I don't want to see Clinton 
and Gore riding on your Bush tail, your shirt tails--[laughter]--and 
taking any credit for everything you have been working for. And what the 
hell am I going on--and you know, taking any of the credit, because 
these changes are slow to come. If they haven't made up their mind, one 
of your best campaigners is Rush Limbaugh. And you can listen to him.
    The President. Yes. Are you finished? Well, let me, that gives me 
a----
    Q. If you haven't made up your mind, you will make up your mind by 
the election if you listen to him, tell them on 91-AM from 10 to 1.
    [Inaudible]

Term Limits

    The President. She asked a question at the end. And the question is, 
what do I think of term limits. I support term limits. That's the way to 
put power back to the people.
    Well, we do have to run. But let me end this way, that this has been 
a very exhilarating experience for me. I just want to tell you, Barbara 
and I are very lucky. We're lucky with our family. It has not been a 
particularly pleasant year for people in politics or serving, trying to 
serve their country--understatement of the year. But we are very 
blessed. And it isn't that I just want to be President for being 
President. I'm President now, and we've had a lot of wonderful things 
happen. We've got a lot of problems that have not been solved. But I 
want to be President because I like to finish the job. The job means 
lifting up every kid here to understand that you've got a bright future 
ahead. I would hate to do what the Clinton crowd is doing, running 
around--the only way they can win is to tell everybody everything that's 
wrong with this country and that we're a country in decline. We are not. 
So my message is more hopeful and more optimistic.
    And yes, we've been through hell. And a lot of families don't know 
whether the job they got today, if they're going to have it tomorrow. 
But if we do the things that are outlined in our agenda for America's 
renewal, and if we continue the worldwide leadership, I am absolutely 
convinced that in the next 4 years the life is going to be an awful lot 
brighter for every young person in this country. And that's why I want 
to be reelected for 4 years. I ask for your support. I've tried to 
uphold your trust. And I would like to serve and finish the job. And 
don't let them tell you America's in decline.
    God bless this great and free and wonderful country. And thank you 
all.

                    Note: The President spoke at 3:55 p.m. at Pioneer 
                        Park. Patrick K. Goggins, publisher of Western 
                        Livestock Reporter, Inc., publications, served 
                        as moderator for the session. In his remarks, 
                        the President referred to Chuck Heringer, 
                        chairman, Montana Bush-Quayle '92.