    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [November 4, 1994]
    [Pages 1998-2001]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Los Angeles, California
    November 4, 1994

        Thank you very much. Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, Kathleen
    Brown, distinguished Members of Congress and candidates on our State
    Democratic ticket, to all of you who are here, thank you for making me
    feel, as always, so very welcome in Los Angeles and California. I want
    to say a special word of thanks to the gospel group, Charity, that
    entertained us so well. They were great. Thank you. I want to thank
    Marlee Matlin for her fine comments before; thank you for being here
    with us. Again let me say, there are very few States who could boast a
    slate of candidates for State office and for the Congress as outstanding
    as those who have already been introduced here tonight. But I just want
    you to know, I am proud to be here with all these nominees of my party
    and your party that you will elect on Tuesday. I thank them, and I thank
    you.
        I want to talk tonight just for a minute about what's really at
    stake in this election. And I want you to think about why--I was looking
    at Dianne Feinstein tonight, and I was thinking, I have been following
    public life in America for a long time now. I never lived in Washington
    as an elected official until 21 months ago, but I've kind of kept up,
    like most of you. In my lifetime, there has never been, ever, not one
    time, a United States Senator who, in his or her first 2 years in
    office, sponsored three major legislative initiatives that will change
    the life of America for the better, the assault weapons ban, the zero
    tolerance for guns in schools, and the largest wilderness bill in the
    history of the United States, the California desert bill. Now, how could
    we not give her a 6-year renewal? We have to do it.
        What is the argument of her opponent? It is the argument they're all
    making, really. It is that Government is inherently bad, it's inherently
    irrelevant, it doesn't make any difference: ``Who cares what I say or
    do; it doesn't make any difference.'' You look at these children behind
    me and the children in this crowd; it does make a difference to their
    future, and Dianne Feinstein will make a difference. He said, ``What
    difference does it make if we pass any laws in Washington; they've been
    up there passing laws for 200 years.'' He's the first person ever to
    seek the United States Senate to run not only against Washington, he's
    now running against George Washington. [Laughter]
        Folks, I don't know about you, but I think what Abraham Lincoln did
    in the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments
    made a pretty big difference in the life of this country. I don't know
    about you, but I think when we had one in four Americans out of work and
    President Roosevelt came in and lifted us up out of the dumps and got us
    going forward, it made a difference in this country. It's not a partisan
    thing. When President Eisenhower signed the bill for the Interstate
    Highway System or President Nixon signed the bill for the Environmental
    Protection Agency, it made a difference in this country. This guy is the
    only person who thinks that none of this matters. You have to say no to
    people who say it doesn't matter, yes to Dianne Feinstein. It does
    matter. California matters. She matters. Reelect her on Tuesday.
        Look at--consider the candidacy of Kathleen Brown. I don't want to
    be presumptuous, but I know something about being a Governor; I

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    used to be one. And on the tough days in Washington, I think it's the
    best job I ever had. [Laughter] It is a joy. But it is only a joy if
    every day you get up and you try to build. The Governor's office is not
    a place for blamers; it's a place for builders. It's a place for people
    who take responsibility and bring out the best in us and bring us
    together and move forward.
        When I think of what you have been through in this State, with the
    recession, with the defense cutbacks--the unemployment rate in
    California when I took office was 9.4 percent. I have done everything I
    could do to bring it down to 7.7 percent, to get those 400,000 jobs, to
    get this State going again. But I need a partner here, someone who wants
    to work for California, not point the finger of blame.
        You know, I want to say two things about your slogan here. The one
    is, I want to talk about 187. But the first thing I want to do--I've got
    plenty to say about that, but the first thing I want to do is to ask you
    this: You're going to vote on 187, and I hope to goodness you're going
    to beat 187. But after the election somebody is going to be Governor
    with 4 years of hard work to do. Will you have a job? Will your schools
    get better? Will your streets get safer? Will your air get cleaner? Will
    your State move forward? That is the question.
        We don't know what the incumbent wants to do, but we know Kathleen
    Brown has a plan, a good plan, that will make California a better place,
    a building place. How did California become the symbol of America's
    future? By building, not by blaming; by bringing together, not by
    tearing apart. Why does California have a chance to lead our country
    into the 21st century? Because of our diversity, not in spite of it,
    because our diversity opens the world to us.
        Now let me say this to people who disagree with us on 187. Let me
    say this: It is true that the State of California has borne an unfair
    burden in the cost of illegal immigration. That is true. And it is true
    that in tough times, that burden is hard to bear. But what I want to
    tell you is, from the day I became President, because I had served with
    Governors in California, in Florida, in Texas and other States, I
    started to do something about it. I worked with Senator Feinstein; I
    worked with Senator Boxer; I worked with your congressional delegation.
    I tried to work with your Governor. I didn't think it was a partisan
    issue. We have almost doubled the border guards in San Diego. We have
    provided funds for the first time for the cost of incarceration. When I
    have been reducing the Government deficit, we have increased by one-
    third the amount of money coming to California to deal with the cost of
    illegal immigration. We haven't been laying down, folks, we've been
    answering the call to do something about it.
        Do we need to do more? Yes, we do. But this is not the answer. Look
    at 187; what does it say? It says that the adults of this country and
    the authorities are not able to keep illegal immigrants out of
    California, so we will punish their children. That's what it says. It
    says, close the health clinics to them, even if it creates a public
    health problem for everybody else. It says, turn the teachers into
    police officers and kick the kids out on the street. Let me ask the
    children here, don't you think we've got enough kids on the street
    already? We need more kids in school, making this State a better place.
        Folks, the whole immigration system was a mess when I took office 21
    months ago. I am trying to fix it. It is better than it was; it will get
    better still. Now, a lot of the people who are pointing the finger of
    blame at this election, who are trying to make you mad, you angry, you
    lash out, you vote for this, they helped to create the problem. When the
    Governor was a Senator, he voted for a bill to make it easier for
    illegal immigrants to be in California, because powerful interests
    wanted them to work for low wages. You know it as well as I do. And
    then, when he became the Governor, and a President of his party was in
    Washington, his friend, his ally, he never raised a peep about this to
    put any heat on him, and they did nothing. Then when Senator Feinstein
    and Senator Boxer and President Clinton showed up, we did not say this
    about the Governor. We said nothing bad. We opened our hands. We said,
    ``Let's roll up our sleeves; let's take responsibility; let's face this
    problem in a way that brings California together, not drives California
    apart.'' And that is what I have tried to do. Get me a partner in the
    Governor's office who will do the same thing.
        Let me say again--let me say again, folks. Why are they doing well?
    Because they say ``If we can just make the American people''--this is
    nationally and in California--``if we can make people mad enough, they
    will vote without thinking. If we can make them cynical enough, the
    Democrats will stay home. And if we can

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    make them believe that Government is bad, that it always makes things
    worse, then we win all the way around because when the economy gets
    better, we can say, well, that happened in spite of the President and
    the Congress. If things get better, we'll say Government had nothing to
    do with it. If it gets worse, we'll blame Government. And we can say any
    kind of outrageous thing we want to appeal to extremists and mean
    elements in our country, and we can still get elected.'' That is their
    strategy.
        Well, let me ask you something. I don't know about you, but I think
    it mattered when you had that earthquake and we produced $11.5 billion
    in record time. I think it mattered when we fixed I-5 and all the other
    roads in record time, something never before done in the United States
    of America. Do you know, today we reopened the last earthquake-damaged
    freeway, the Route 14 connector on I-5? I think that matters, and I
    think you think it matters.
        I think it matters that 4.9 million families in California are
    protected by the family leave bill, so they can take a little time off
    when a child is born or a parent sick without losing a job. I think it
    matters. I think it matters when 2.1 million families in this State get
    an income tax cut so they can raise their children and work and not be
    in poverty. I think that matters.
        After all you've been through with the cost of higher education
    going through the roof, I think it matters that our student loan reform
    makes 1.6 million Californians eligible for lower cost college loans.
    And when we put hundreds of millions of dollars into defense conversion
    and give a third of it to people out here struggling to get off of the
    terrible recession you've been through, that matters. When we invest in
    scientific research at your laboratories and create jobs, it matters.
    When we revitalize the shipbuilding industry in San Diego, it matters.
    When we do these things, it matters.
        When we do things that build the future, it counts. That's why today
    we had this wonderful news that unemployment is at a 4-year low, that
    over 5 million new jobs have now been created. That matters. That makes
    a difference.
        Folks, you have to decide what sort of future you want. I want a
    strong America. And what makes us strong? What makes us strong is
    strength abroad and strength at home. We cannot be strong abroad, even
    though we have the strongest military, unless we have strong families
    and strong education system and safe streets and good jobs. That is the
    strength we are bringing to America, and we need to keep right on doing
    it. We don't need to turn back now.
        And this whole thing comes down to the state of mind of the people
    of California on election day, because if people are cynical and angry,
    they either won't vote or they will vote against their own interests.
    You know, as a parent, one of the first things I tried to do, like most
    parents, as soon as my child was old enough to understand it, was to
    say, ``Never, never make an important decision when you are mad. When
    you are mad, count to 10 before you say something.'' And every time I
    only got to 2, I wound up in a lot of trouble. [Laughter]
        Now that is exactly what the Republicans are trying to get you to do
    in this election. You look at the Wilson ads; you look at the Huffington
    ads; you listen to them. What they want you to do is not to take time to
    count to 10, not to remember that this State is the hope of America, not
    to remember what we can do when we're at our best. They want you to lash
    out, or they want you to give up. They want you to stay home or come out
    and vote for not the future but the past. That is what is going on in
    this election. If you say, ``No thank you, we are going forward in jobs,
    forward in bringing our deficit down, forward in investing in our
    future, forward in education, forward in building strong families,'' we
    will win. We will win because you will win. You will win. We'll win.
        Now, I just want you to think about this. I know you think I'm
    beating a dead horse, but I've been all over this country and I know
    what I'm talking about. We will win if people think and feel their best
    and look at the record and look at the positions. And if that happens,
    Dianne Feinstein will be reelected. It is unbelievable that anybody with
    her record should even have a close race. You need to send her back
    there with an enormous, enormous ovation of support. And Kathleen Brown
    will be elected because she represents the future, not the past, for
    California.
        Folks, I have done everything I know to do to be a good partner to
    the people of California. I have done everything I know to do. I have
    tried to take this immigration issue on. I've tried to bring this
    economy back. I've tried to help you with defense conversion. I've tried
    to help you build your high-tech base. I've tried to help you sell your
    products all over the world. I have

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    tried to do things that no President has ever done. The farmers in the
    valley are selling California rice to Japan for the first time under
    this administration. And we did not do any of that by going to work in a
    cynical, negative frame of mind, saying that we're never going to make
    anything good happen.
        My fellow Americans, your Government is neither good nor bad,
    inherently. It is our tool. It is a reflection of us. Whether it is good
    or bad, what it does, how much it costs, how well we do it is a function
    of what we believe and where we are going. Let's go into the future.
    Let's don't go back. Let's don't go back. Let's don't go back.
        Every one of you, promise yourselves you're going to ask somebody to
    vote for Dianne Feinstein, vote for Kathleen Brown, vote no on 187. Go
    see your neighbors, and turn it around. Go forward! Yes to the future!
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:01 p.m. at City Hall. In his remarks, he
    referred to actress Marlee Matlin.