    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [October 31, 1994]
    [Pages 1913-1915]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Interview With Don Lancer of KYW Radio, Philadelphia
    October 31, 1994

        Mr. Lancer. Good afternoon, Mr. Clinton.
        The President. Hello, Don.
        Mr. Lancer. Can you hear me?
        The President. I can hear you fine. Can you hear me?
        Mr. Lancer. Can you hear me, Mr. Clinton?
        The President. Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?

    Midterm Elections

        Mr. Lancer. Yes. Good afternoon. You're in the State ostensibly to
    help Harris Wofford win election to a full term. He replaced John Heinz
    in a special election a couple of years ago, and he went to Washington
    on the matter of national health care, which we all know did not make it
    through the Congress this year. Polls have shown overall that the
    Democrats are not going to do that well in the election, come one week
    from tomorrow on the 8th. What's the reason for that? Why is it voters
    look so poorly on your party and its candidates right now?
        The President. Well, first let me say I think the surveys all show
    that our prospects are looking up. But I think what happened was two
    things. There is a lag time between when you accomplish something in
    Washington and when people feel it in their own lives. There are still a
    lot of voters who have jobs, but they're worried about whether they'll
    lose them or they'll lose their health care or will they ever get a
    raise. It's a tough, fast-changing global economy,

    [[Page 1914]]

    and a lot of people feel personally insecure. There are also a lot of
    people who are worried about crime and social breakdown. The other big
    problem is, when Congress is meeting and the Republicans are trying to
    kill everything, delay everything, talk everything to death, all of the
    focus is on conflict, process, failure. The American people don't know
    what's happened.
        Now when the Congress has gone home for the last 2 or 3 weeks, you
    can sense a real movement out there. People sense that they've got a
    real fundamental choice here. If you look at Pennsylvania--you heard the
    quote there--we've had 86,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania. The economy is
    growing; the deficit is down. We've done things that the Congress had
    refused to address for years and years. We passed the family leave law
    to protect working people who have to take time off. We passed a law to
    expand Head Start, one to immunize children, one to give tax cuts for
    working families on modest incomes that have children in the home so
    they'll never be in poverty. We're making the Government work for
    ordinary people again. And we've expanded trade and promoted peace and
    security around the world. Russian missiles aren't pointing at Americans
    for the first time since the beginning of the nuclear age.
        So when you look at that record and then you look at this Republican
    contract which promises to take us back to the eighties and would
    promise everybody a tax cut, especially for wealthy people, spend more
    money on defense and Star Wars, balance the budget--they'll have to cut
    Social Security and Medicare and do it steeply to pay for it. I just
    don't think the American people want that, and I don't think the people
    of Pennsylvania do.
        Mr. Lancer. That is just my point, though. In recent polls--you keep
    talking about the recovery that's occurring, and I have no doubt that
    there is a recovery in certain parts of the country if they just bear
    that out. Here in the Northeast, however, there is no recovery; at least
    the perception is there is no recovery. There was a recent poll out by
    the Tarrence group that shows that only a third of Americans believe the
    claims of a recovery. My whole point to you, or my question to you is,
    why is it that this is the perception? It can't simply be because
    Republicans are trying to stonewall things in the Congress so there is
    gridlock?
        The President. No, I think--well, I do believe that people have not
    gotten a lot of the information; I think that is true. But I think--keep
    in mind what I said first. I think a lot of people may hear that there
    are more jobs, but they may feel that their personal situation is not
    more secure. That is, they may think, ``Well, I'm still not going to get
    a raise,'' or ``I might lose my job,'' or ``I might lose my health
    benefits.'' Another million Americans lost their health care last year.
    That's why Harris Wofford and I worked so hard to protect the health
    care benefits of working people and to try to change the law so that
    they wouldn't lose their health care.
        So there is a lot of personal insecurity out there. But the point
    I'm trying to make to the American people is that we're making them more
    secure--that's what the family leave law was all about, that's what
    these efforts to improve the health of our children are all about,
    that's what the crime bill is all about--that our economic policy is
    working. So the issue is, do you want to keep working for something that
    is plainly taking us in the right direction, or do you want to buy this
    Republican snake oil, you know, ``We're going to give everybody a tax
    cut and balance the budget and increase everybody's spending, and we'll
    tell you how we're going to pay for that after the election.''
        Mr. Lancer. Okay, let's assume we're headed in the right direction.
    What we in the Northeast would like to know is, how long is it going to
    take us to get there?
        The President. Well, your unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is above
    the national average, but it's a point lower than it was when I took
    office. You lost 8,300 jobs in the previous administration; you got
    86,800 more under our administration. They had 12 years; we've had 21
    months. You want to turn around and give the guys that put you in the
    hole in the first place 2 more years, 4 more years, 6 more years? You
    gave them 12 years. We've been given 21 months, and we've turned it
    around.
        Now, just because everybody hasn't felt it, that's not a good reason
    to stay home or vote Republican. They had 12 years, and we were in a big
    hole. We also had 20 years, through both parties, of stagnant wages and
    less secure jobs and losing benefits. And we have had 30 years of rising
    crime and family breakdown. We are at least addressing all these things
    for the first time. And it's pretty refreshing, I think, to have a
    Government that has taken on the tough problems instead of running away
    from them and that can at least show we're making

    [[Page 1915]]

    some progress. And the worst thing in the world you can do is to say,
    ``Okay, we gave you these problems--we had 12 years of the other party's
    politics and economics, we've got 20 years of economic problems and 30
    years of social problems--and we haven't felt anything in 21 months. So
    we're going to go back to the people that got us in the hole in the
    first place.'' That's not good thinking. If everybody will just relax
    and look at the record, they'll vote for Harris Wofford, they'll vote
    for Mark Singel, and they'll vote to keep this country moving in the
    right direction so that all of Pennsylvania can feel the results of
    these efforts.
        Mr. Lancer. All right, sir. But there have been changes in the way
    that those figures are tallied. Anyway----
        The President. That's right, there have been changes. If we were
    living under the same figures the Republicans had, the unemployment rate
    would have gone down over 1\1/2\ percent. That's right, you're
    absolutely right. The changes in the way the unemployment is tallied
    work against us, not for us.
        Mr. Lancer. All right. We appreciate your taking time out from a
    very busy schedule today, Mr. Clinton. And thank you for joining us here
    on KYW News Radio this afternoon.
        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The interview began at 4:35 p.m. The President spoke by telephone
    from the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.