    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [November 8, 1994]
    [Pages 2038-2040]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Interview With John Gambling of WOR Radio, New York City
    November 8, 1994

    Midterm Elections

        Mr. Gambling. Mr. President, good morning.
        The President. Good morning. Good morning, John.
        Mr. Gambling. Important day for you, the Democrats, Republicans, and
    independents. It's election day, and you know, they give frequent flyer
    miles on Air Force One, you're going to get a free trip to anywhere. You
    have been busy.
        The President. Well, it's been a busy week. But you know, I had to
    take that very important trip to the Middle East, and when I came back,
    a lot of our candidates asked me to get out there and campaign,
    including Governor Cuomo, so I tried to do all I could to make the best
    argument for why we're moving our country in the right direction and we
    don't want to go back to the policies that failed us before in the
    eighties. So this morning I'm just taking a last opportunity to
    encourage the American people to go out and vote, to make their voices
    heard today. The stakes in this election are quite high, as they always
    are in any midterm election, but especially in this one. So I hope the
    people within the sound of my voice will exercise their citizenship
    today and get out there and vote.
        Mr. Gambling. Interesting contrast for you; maybe you can talk about
    it for just a second, between the events of the Middle East and our
    political system and the fact that the peace treaty signing--coming so
    close to our election.
        The President. Well, of course, we've been working on that very hard
    for a couple of years. It's just a coincidence that it came as close as
    it did to our election. But I would hope that it would remind the
    American people of the great potential of this country and the greatness
    of this country. And I hope it would keep our people in a positive frame
    of mind. One of the unfortunate aspects of so much of modern campaigning
    is that the negative tends to outweigh the positive, and the negative
    television ads, the whole business about the tone and tenor of our
    elections. This is actually quite a great country with a great past and
    an even greater future if the people who are going to be affected by it
    will invest in it and vote for it and vote for people who will build the
    country, not just place blame, vote for people who will keep moving us
    into the future.
        That's really the lesson of the Middle East, that people want the
    United States involved in the peacemaking and the problem solving of the
    world, whether in the Middle East or in

    [[Page 2039]]

    Haiti or Northern Ireland, just to name three, because they think we
    have a good system and that we are a good people. And sometimes I think
    we forget it, and we need to remember it. This is election day. We can
    go out, be heard, and make a difference.
        Mr. Gambling. As a man that has spent his entire life in politics,
    how do you define politics? Is it program or is it more the essence and
    the basics of hope, security, fulfillment?
        The President. Well, I think the programs matter, but I also think
    the principles matter. I think giving voice to people's hopes to getting
    people together, giving energy to other people is very important. So
    much of what we do down here in Washington basically is an effort to
    empower people to take responsibility for their own lives. There aren't
    so many things that the Government does directly. I mean, we pay for
    medical care for the elderly through Medicare. We finance the Social
    Security system. We run a wonderful National Park System. We do a number
    of other things directly, but a lot of what we do is to empower people:
    the student loan program, the Head Start program, the crime bill which
    enables the city of New York to hire more police officers and have
    programs for kids to keep them out of trouble.
        All these things basically give people in their individual, family,
    or community lives the ability to take responsibility for themselves. So
    part of it's programs, but a lot of it is setting the right tone and the
    right direction, looking to the future all the time. This country is
    always at its best when it's coming together and moving to the future.
        Mr. Gambling. I hear a frustration in your voice about the mood of
    the country, the cynicism, the negative advertising that's taking place
    on all sides in the past weeks.
        The President. Well, I don't know that I'm frustrated. I think it
    has too much sway over our national life, but I think our communications
    in general with one another are too negative these days. We ought to be
    having more honest conversations with one another and doing less verbal
    bomb-throwing. I think the American people are frustrated by it, and
    that's why I hope that there will be a good turnout today for candidates
    like Mario Cuomo who have essentially been a positive force throughout
    their public careers. Because it's just so easy to give in to the kind
    of pounding-attack communications that tend to dominate not just the
    elections but often the daily communication of our public life. And it's
    not a very good way to run a railroad or a country, and we're better
    than that. And whatever happens today in these elections, I'm going to
    be determined over the next few years to try to lift our country out of
    that.
        Mr. Gambling. President Bill Clinton on the ``Rambling With
    Gambling'' phone this morning. Along those lines, if, as predicted by
    some, the Republicans gain control of the Senate, will your agenda for
    the next couple of years have to change?
        The President. No, but I will have to have more responsible
    bipartisan efforts on all parts. I will make my effort, and we'll see
    others make theirs, I hope.
        On the other hand, if the American people turn out in equal numbers,
    if the Democrats turn out as well as the Republicans do at the polls
    today, I don't think that'll happen. It's really, in so much measure, a
    question of who cares enough to go and vote and whether the spirits of a
    lot of normally Democratic voters are dampened by the negative
    atmosphere of the moment.
        You know, the country's economy is coming back, we're tackling our
    problems like crime, we're facing things long ignored, and this is a
    time to keep going forward.
        Mr. Gambling. Where do you vote today? Do you vote in Arkansas by--
    --
        The President. Yes. I voted absentee in Arkansas. I voted for my
    Governor, and I called him last night and told him I did. [Laughter]

    President's Security

        Mr. Gambling. Well, that's good. The security question, the events
    of the last couple of weeks--I understand--and I'm not looking for
    specifics here but just generalities--I understand your routine has
    changed a little bit.
        The President. Well, we've asked the Secret Service to take a look
    at all the procedures and everything, as they periodically do. Every
    year, I think for quite a long while now, Secret Service has increased
    its ability to protect the President, and I think they are continuing to
    do it. I have a lot of confidence in them, and the trick is to permit
    them to do that without having the President completely cut off from the
    public at large, because this is a great, free society, and one of the
    problems the President always has is trying to avoid losing touch.

    [[Page 2040]]

        Mr. Gambling. Exactly. Probably the most difficult thing, you've got
    to keep in touch with the folks. I want to thank you very much, Mr.
    President, for choosing us this morning to talk about politics on
    election day, 1994. Thank you very much.
        The President. Thanks again. I want to urge all your listeners to go
    on and vote today. Thank you.

    Note: The interview began at 7:12 a.m. The President spoke by telephone
    from the Oval Office at the White House.