[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 2, 1994]
[Pages 1957-1958]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With Janet Peckinpaugh of WFSB Television, Hartford, 
Connecticut
November 2, 1994

    Ms. Peckinpaugh. Mr. President, good evening. Thanks for joining us 
tonight.
    The President. Good evening, Janet.

White House Attack

    Ms. Peckinpaugh. The first thing I want to ask you is, how can you 
feel so secure about your security right now? Does this have you shaken 
up at all?
    The President. No, not at all. In fact, when the incident occurred, 
within a matter of seconds a Secret Service agent was upstairs at the 
White House there with me. They have worked very hard to increase their 
ability to protect the President every year. And they get better at it 
every year. I have a high level of confidence in them.
    This incident could have happened at any time, I suppose. I regret 
it, but I don't think the American people should worry about it. We live 
in a democracy. People can move around freely. The one thing I do hope 
people will draw from this incident is that the congressional Members 
who were brave enough to vote for the crime bill, to stand up to the 
brutal pressure the NRA put on them and the threats they leveled against 
them, to try to get these assault weapons off the street were right. 
That man had a modified assault weapon with a magazine with at least 20 
bullets. And I think it's a good thing that we're trying to move against 
that.
    But in a free society where people have free movement and where 
there are lots of guns, this kind of thing can occur. I can't stop being 
President. This is a democracy. We have to get out here and--all of us--
and be with one another and talk to one another. So I'm just going about 
my job and doing it with a very high level of confidence in the people 
whose job it is to protect the President.

[[Page 1958]]

    Ms. Peckinpaugh. President Clinton, hearing that from you makes us 
feel a lot better. Thanks for telling us that.
    The President. Thank you.

Midterm Elections

    Ms. Peckinpaugh. We asked our viewers to call into us, to write into 
us, to E-mail us with their questions for you tonight, so I'd like to 
take some time and talk about some of their questions. Linda Parker from 
Hartford wants to know how you feel about colleagues who have distanced 
themselves from you lately. We have an example right here in 
Connecticut: Congressman Sam Gejdenson and Jim Maloney, who is running 
for Gary Franks' seat, did not show up when you appeared here a couple 
of weeks ago. How do you feel when your colleagues do this?
    The President. Well, first of all, I can say for Sam Gejdenson 
that's just not an accurate characterization. I went to his district at 
his invitation and campaigned for him at a time when nationally I wasn't 
in nearly as good a shape in the polls as I am now, so I just think 
that's a bum rap. And Mr. Maloney, my wife has been to Connecticut 
campaigning for him. I took no offense at that.
    I think that it was a very successful trip to Connecticut. 
Afterward, surveys show that the support rose for Mr. Curry, our 
candidate for Governor up there. And I feel very good about the State of 
Connecticut and the relationship I've had with the Democrats.
    I also think, however, that every Member of Congress and every 
Senator should seek to run, to some extent, a campaign that is tied not 
to the President but to their constituents. What I like to hear a Member 
say is, ``When I voted with the President, I didn't do it for him, I did 
it for you.'' That's the proper message.

Social Security

    Ms. Peckinpaugh. Okay. Quickly, Mr. President, what about this very 
controversial Social Security issue? John Francis from Stratford wants 
to know your thinking on that.
    The President. Well, here's what happened, and I think it's very 
important for the voters to listen to this. The Republicans put out this 
contract, and they said, ``If you'll give us control of the Congress, we 
will take you back to what we did in the 1980's, trickle-down 
Reaganomics. We'll give massive tax cuts, mostly to upper income 
people.'' That must be appealing in Connecticut; you have a lot of upper 
income people. ``We'll give massive tax cuts. We'll increase defense; 
we'll increase Star Wars. And we'll balance the budget in 5 years.''
    That costs a trillion dollars. The only way to do that is to cut 
everything, including Social Security, across the board 20 percent. 
That's $2,000 a Social Security recipient. You say, we don't want to do 
that. Then you have to cut everything else in the Government across the 
board 30 percent. That bankrupts Medicare. If you don't do that, you're 
right back to where they were before, massive deficits, shipping jobs 
overseas. Connecticut lost 150,000 jobs in the last 4 years because of 
that kind of economic policy.
    We need to invest and grow with discipline. We don't need a lot of 
easy promises. We need to embrace the challenges of the global economy, 
invest, and grow. That's my approach.
    This Social Security threat is very real. If they carry through on 
their promises, they cannot keep their promise to cut the taxes and 
increase the spending and balance the budget without going after it.
    Ms. Peckinpaugh. President Clinton, thanks for answering our viewer 
questions.
    The President. Thank you.
    Ms. Peckinpaugh. And thanks so much for taking the time to be with 
us.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 5:13 p.m. The President spoke by satellite 
from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI.