[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 2, 1994]
[Pages 1952-1954]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With Diane Stern of WBZ Radio, Boston, Massachusetts
November 2, 1994

    Ms. Stern. The President joins me live on WBZ News Radio. And 
welcome, Mr. President. If we could get right to the questions, we'd 
appreciate it.
    The President. Great. It's nice to hear your voice.

White House Attack

    Ms. Stern. The man who allegedly shot at the White House was in 
court today, as you know. He may soon be indicted on charges that he 
tried to kill you. I'd like to know, how do you talk to your daughter 
about that?
    The President. Well, I think my daughter is well aware of the 
requirements of the office and that a lot of it involves the Secret 
Service. But I have to tell you, I think they do a good job. I was not 
in any danger, and I think this matter is being handled in the 
appropriate way.

Moral Guidance for Youth

    Ms. Stern. We're talking live to President Clinton on WBZ News Radio 
1030. Mr. President, as a parent, I'm concerned about what seems to be a 
moral decline in this country. Do you share those concerns?
    The President. Of course I do. I'm especially concerned that so many 
of our young children are being raised, in effect, in a vacuum where 
they're so vulnerable to gangs and guns and violence and drugs and where 
they don't have enough people to look up to and enough people to follow. 
And they're not being taught right from wrong on a daily basis. I think 
we have to work on all those things.
    One of the things that I've tried hard to do as President is to 
emphasize the importance of parents and churches and community groups 
taking responsibility for these children again. And one of the things 
that I liked about our crime bill was that we enabled church groups and 
others to apply for assistance to reach out to more of these young 
people. You know, every child is going to have somebody that he or she 
looks up to. It needs to be the right person; it needs to be somebody 
who has a sustained and caring relationship with the child over a long 
period of time. It ought to be the parents, but if it can't be, it has 
to be someone else. That's the only way to turn this around.

Midterm Elections

    Ms. Stern. Mr. President, if we could get on to the campaign trail, 
campaign '94, as you know, you're not welcomed by some Democrats 
campaigning for election this year. Personally, how does that make you 
feel?
    The President. Well, most elections are decided on the merits within 
each State. You know, when I was a Governor, I never had the President 
come and campaign for me, even when the President was a member of my own 
party and was popular, because I thought that the voters were 
discriminating about that. But I do think there are some national 
elements to this election. And particularly in a lot of these races for 
Congress and Senate, I'm pleased to go where I've been asked to go--I've 
been asked to go more places than I can--to try to say what the stakes 
are in this election. And they are national.
    You know, the fact is that in the last 21 months, while we haven't 
solved all the problems in the country and while a lot of ordinary 
Americans still have difficulties, the country is in better shape than 
it was. We've got more jobs. The deficit is coming down. We're doing 
more for families and children. And educational opportunities have been 
increased. The tax system is fair. The nuclear threat is less. There's 
more trade in the world. There's more peace, more democracy in the 
world. We're moving in the right direction at home and abroad. And the 
voters need to go forward, not back to the easy promises of the 
eighties.
    You know, I knew when I took this job, if I really tried to change 
things I'd have to shake some things up; I wouldn't always be popular.

[[Page 1953]]

I wouldn't always be popular everywhere in the country and certainly not 
when people didn't know what had been done. So my job is simply to go 
out in this last week and tell people what's been done, what the stakes 
are, what the challenges are ahead and let them make up their own minds.

    Ms. Stern. President Clinton--we're talking live with the President 
on WBZ News Radio--what is your take on last week's endorsement of Mario 
Cuomo by New York GOP Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and could you see yourself 
ever going out on a limb like that, backing a Republican?

    The President. Well, I think he did it as an act of statesmanship. I 
think that Mayor Giuliani saw himself as an American first, a 
representative of the people of New York, and then a Republican. And he 
thought that Governor Cuomo would be better for the people of New York 
City than the policies advocated by Mr. Pataki and his sponsor, Senator 
D'Amato. I really respect what he did. I think it had to do with what 
was best for ordinary New Yorkers. I think that's the reason that the 
mayor of Los Angeles endorsed a Democratic Senator, Senator Feinstein. I 
think you're seeing a lot of that around the country today as people get 
worried about the extreme nature of a lot of the Republican campaigns 
and how divorced they are from the real concerns of ordinary Americans. 
So obviously I liked it, but I also believe it was an act of 
statesmanship.

    Q. Could you envision yourself ever backing a Republican, especially 
considering the remarks today to Black Entertainment Television calling 
them far rightwingers, extreme?

    The President. I didn't say they all were. I didn't say they all 
were. I said their congressional leadership had advocated principles 
that were extreme rightwing, and they have. Oh sure, under the right 
circumstances, if I were President and we had the equivalent of Oliver 
North running in the Democratic Party against a responsible Republican 
alternative, I believe I would do just what President Reagan and Mrs. 
Reagan have done in Virginia. I certainly do believe that.

President's Priorities

    Ms. Stern. I know we're running short on time, but Newsweek 
magazine, you may have seen, gathered a focus group of voters who, 
rather than being angry with your administration, say they are 
disappointed. Now, how might you change your agenda the next 2 years, 
based on what you have and have not accomplished so far?

    The President. Well, I'm going to try to do what we haven't done 
yet. I'm going to try to get the Congress to pass welfare reform. I'm 
going to take another run at health care. We've got to find a way to 
protect the health insurance of people; a million more Americans lost it 
last year. I'm going to take another run at campaign finance reform and 
at lobbying reform and at some of the environmental measures that we 
need so badly.

    But the most important thing I've got to do is to figure out a way 
to communicate with the American people better. I mean, all the evidence 
is that the American people basically do not know, for example, that the 
last 2 years our administration was only the third one since World War 
II in which Congress approved more than 80 percent of the measures that 
I recommended, that it included family and medical leave for working 
families and tax credits for working families with children who are just 
above the poverty line and immunization of all children under 2 by 1996 
and an expansion of Head Start and a big expansion of more affordable 
college loans for middle class families; that if they did know these 
things they would have a totally different attitude. So, I really liked 
the Newsweek poll--focus group--because it showed what I think, which is 
that the American people, I think, if they knew what I had done and if 
they knew what we have achieved and if they knew where we were going, I 
think they'd feel better.

    I have to do a better job of finding a way to communicate directly 
with people in an atmosphere which is overwhelmingly dominated by 
controversy, conflict, failure, combative communication, and just talk 
straight to the folks. I've given a lot of thought to it; it's a great 
challenge. But in a democracy, even if you do something, if people don't 
know it, it doesn't quite register until they begin personally to 
benefit.

    Ms. Stern. Mr. President, the campaign trail is beckoning, I'm sure. 
And thank you for joining us on WBZ News Radio here in Boston.
    The President. Thank you. I enjoyed it.
    Ms. Stern. Let's do it again.

[[Page 1954]]

    The President. Goodbye.

Note: The interview began at 4:42 p.m. The President spoke by telephone 
from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI.