    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [November 6, 1994]
    [Pages 2016-2018]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

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    Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Seattle, Washington
    November 6, 1994

        Thank you. You know, it is great to be back in Seattle, and it is
    great to be here at this spot where we had this many people in 1992. And
    I hope we have the same results. Governor Lowry, Senator Murray,
    distinguished Members of Congress and candidates for Congress, and Mayor
    Rice, Gary Locke, ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here, honored
    to be here on behalf of our candidates, the forces of change, and
    especially on behalf of Ron Sims for the United States Senate.
        You know, a couple of years ago when you sent me to Washington, I
    went there to promote change in this country, to lift up the hopes of
    the American people. I went there to be a builder, not a blamer; to be a
    uniter, not a divider. I didn't much like the gridlock I had seen, and I
    wanted to break it.
        We knew that the obstacles to change were great, that we had
    profound social problems that had been developing over 30 years,
    resulting in too many of our children living in an atmosphere of crime
    and violence, without the strong family and community support they
    needed. We knew we had difficult economic problems that had developed
    over 20 years, where too many people worked hard and were never sure
    they could keep their job or would ever get a raise, or were always
    afraid that they might lose their health insurance or their retirement.
    We knew that for 12 years the other party had controlled the Presidency,
    and for 20 of the last 24 years, and they had built an enormous
    apparatus for their trickle-down economics and their politics of
    division. And we knew that for 4 years we'd had the slowest job growth
    since the Great Depression.
        Well, folks, America's still got some problems. There are still
    people who need work who don't have it. There are still people who
    deserve a raise who haven't gotten it. A million Americans, working
    families--working families--lost their health insurance last year. There
    are still some problems. But I can tell you one thing, this country is
    in better shape than it was 21 months ago when we began. We're in better
    shape because jobs are up. The deficit is down. We've got a smaller
    Government doing more for ordinary citizens. And this world is more
    secure, more peaceful, and more democratic for the American people to
    live and flourish in.
        I asked you to help me become President because I wanted to see our
    country strong again. I had heard enough tough talk accompanied by weak
    action. I wanted to see real strength. What is the real strength of our
    country? Strong families, strong schools, good jobs, safe streets,
    national security meaning peace and prosperity growing around the world.
    On all those fronts, we are stronger today because we did not just talk
    tough, we did the right things to make this country move forward.
        When our economic program was before the Congress and every single
    Republican voted against it, striving as hard as they could for
    gridlock, they all said, ``If this passes, we'll have recession; if this
    passes, the deficit will go up; if this happens, big Government will
    swallow us up and crush our economy.'' Well, what are they going to say
    today? The Government is smaller; the deficit is way down; the economy
    is up. They were wrong. Vote for Ron Sims to help keep making it right.
        If people in politics were judged the way people at work are judged
    and the way students in school are judged, every single Democrat in this
    congressional delegation would be elected again resoundingly on Tuesday
    because the people of Washington are in better shape. The unemployment
    rate is down, the economy is growing because of the courage of the
    people here on this platform and their colleagues throughout the State
    of Washington. You ought to elect them and send Harriet Spanel to join
    them.
        You know, this is sort of an interesting election, my fellow
    Americans. They wanted so badly, our adversaries, to say we had failed.
    And then when we didn't fail, when the economy began to grow, when the
    policies began to work, when the airplane contracts and the sales of
    Washington apples began to be announced, they didn't know what to do.
    They wanted to say all these things that they didn't get to say. So what
    did they then do? They said, ``Well, Government is still the problem.
    And if anything good happened, it was in spite of that Bill Clinton in
    Washington and the Democrats. They didn't have anything to do with it.''
    You know,

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    folks, where I come from we say if you're walking down a road and you
    find a turtle on a fencepost, chances are it didn't get there by
    accident. [Laughter]
        They want you to just keep on being cynical. They want you to keep
    on being negative. They want you to keep on supporting gridlock, even
    though you don't. They have tried all over this country to bury us in a
    mountain of negativism, hoping that Americans will not see the Sun
    shining through.
        They talk tough on crime and vote against the crime bill. They talk
    against the deficit, and they vote against reducing it. They talk for
    education, and they vote against more affordable college loans. They say
    they're pro-family, and then they vote against policies designed to help
    families, like immunizing children and lowering the taxes of low-income
    working people so they can raise their kids out of poverty. In short,
    they talk tough, but they do things that make America weaker. We make
    America stronger. Let's vote for strength on Tuesday.
        You know, they say--I don't know how you figure it--they want you to
    vote for them on the promise that they will return us to the policies
    that got us in the fix we were in when you voted for me in the first
    place. They have two lines of attack. They say, ``The Democrats are the
    party of Government, and it's bad. So if anything good happens, they
    didn't have anything to do with it. But put us in, and we will implement
    our commitments. We will cut taxes, increase defense, bring back Star
    Wars, and balance the budget.''
        And we say, well--you think about this; it's an issue in every one
    of these House races and this Senate race--they say, ``Give us power,
    and we will give you goodies.'' And we say to them, as you might say to
    your child, we say, ``Well, how are you going to pay for this?'' And
    they say, ``We'll tell you after the election.'' [Laughter] I say it's
    Sunday afternoon, and it's pretty, we're all dressed up; tell us right
    now. We want to know. Tell us right now.
        You know, how much do their promises cost? One trillion dollars.
    Look at this vast sea of people. I could take every last one of you out
    here tonight, and we could have a good time on a trillion dollars. The
    problem is, it's a trillion dollars. So I'll tell you what the facts
    are, folks, about their promises. There are only two options: Either
    they're serious, or they're kidding. [Laughter]
        Now, if they're serious, here's what happens. To pay for a trillion
    dollars' worth of promises, you have to cut everything else in the
    Government 20 percent: $2,000 a Social Security recipient a year, 20
    percent off the Medicare of the older people in this audience, 20
    percent off the student loans of the kids we want to go to college, 20
    percent off the Head Start when we're trying to fully fund Head Start.
        Now, they say, ``Oh, oh, but we didn't say we'd cut Social
    Security.'' They didn't say they wouldn't. [Laughter] So we say, well,
    okay, let's take Social Security off. Then you have to cut everything
    else 30 percent. You can just destroy Medicare and the college loan
    program and the Head Start program.
        Now, there's the other possibility, which is that they could be just
    like they were the last time they were in control: They could be
    kidding, they could be kidding. [Laughter] But if they're kidding, you
    know what happens? We explode the deficit; we start shipping jobs
    instead of Washington products overseas; we put this economy back in the
    same ditch it was in the last time they gave us trickle-down economics.
    So let us say, ``No thank you. We want a strong America. We want strong
    families, strong education systems, good jobs, safe streets, and a
    strong country. We're going to vote for Ron Sims and these agents of
    change here.''
        Folks, when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer endorsed Ron Sims--listen
    to this--they praised, and I quote, ``his practical idealism, his
    political wisdom, his humanitarian instincts.'' That's another way of
    saying he's a real person. Believe me, we could use a few more of them
    in the Congress.
        One of the reasons that your Senator is so successful is she comes
    across as a real person in the Congress. Patty Murray comes across as
    somebody who's raised a family, understands the problems of ordinary
    Americans, and is determined to work with people to get things done. We
    have too much gridlock there, too much partisan politics there. We need
    a person with a head and a heart who has lived the very message he
    preaches. We don't need any more people who talk tough and make us weak.
    We need people who are strong inside, who will make us strong and take
    us into the future. That's why we need Ron Sims. We need to say no to
    the negativism in Washington and yes to Ron Sims.

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        You know, I want to ask you to think about the atmosphere that they
    have tried to create in this election and measure it against our
    greatest national leaders of both parties. Franklin Roosevelt said, when
    one in four Americans was out of work, ``The only thing we have to fear
    is fear itself.'' This crowd says, ``Please vote your fears and give us
    power.'' Right? Teddy Roosevelt, a great Republican President, said the
    credit belongs to the person in the arena who is trying. These people
    say, ``Punish the people who try; Government's bad.'' Abraham Lincoln
    said, ``With malice toward none; with charity for all.'' He said, ``Let
    us listen to the better angels of our nature.'' Sounds like he'd be a
    Democrat if he were around today, doesn't it? [Applause]
        Folks, you've got a big chance on Tuesday to do something for
    yourselves, your children, and your future. You can say no to gridlock,
    no to cynicism, no to talking tough and acting weak. You can say yes to
    hope, yes to cooperation, yes to a builder, not a blamer. You can say
    yes to being strong. You can say, ``We in Washington State are sending a
    message to Washington, DC: America is going forward, not turning back.''
    Ron Sims, the Democratic Congressmen, help us to keep changing this
    country and moving forward.
        God bless you all, and thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:30 p.m. at the Pike Place Market. in his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Norman Rice of Seattle and Gary Locke,
    county executive, King County.