[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 4, 1994]
[Pages 1990-1992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With John Watson of WILM Radio, Wilmington, Delaware
November 4, 1994

    Mr. Watson. Good morning, Mr. President, how are you?
    The President. I'm fine. How are you?
    Mr. Watson. Thanks for being with us. You've been very busy these 
days; not much time for the saxophone, I guess, which happens to be my 
favorite instrument, by the way.
    The President. Oh, thank you. I love it myself. I'm not playing too 
much. I did get a chance to play a couple of weeks ago with a group

[[Page 1991]]

that was in the White House, but I don't play enough. My lip is getting 
weak; I've got to practice.

Midterm Elections

    Mr. Watson. Well, your message seems to be getting pretty strong, 
seems to be playing pretty well with the American people. I see where 
your personal approval rating is up quite a bit, and Democrats in 
general seem to be a bit more secure for reelection.
    The President. Well, I hope so, not for partisan reasons but because 
I think it's good for the country. You know, I came in with a commitment 
to try to make this country stronger, with more jobs and stronger 
families and safer streets and to make us stronger abroad.
    And we've still got some problems in this country, but we're plainly 
moving in the right direction. If you just take Delaware, for example, 
there have been 5 times as many new jobs coming to Delaware in 20 months 
of our Presidency as during the previous 4 years. And we were able to 
pass the family and medical leave law, which protected 147,000 families 
in Delaware, if a worker needs to take a little time off when there's a 
baby born or a parent sick. We've reorganized the student loan program 
to provide more affordable college loans to more middle class students. 
It made almost 42,000 students and former students in Delaware eligible 
for lower costs on their loans. So we're making progress. We passed the 
crime bill, thanks to Joe Biden's unbelievable leadership. And I have to 
say, that was an example of bipartisanship. You had Congressman Castle 
there coming in at the end and trying to help us to get through the 
crime bill. It's going to make a difference. It's going to empower local 
communities to reduce crime and violence.
    So we're moving in the right direction. We're moving forward. And I 
don't want to see the country go backward in this election, even though 
there are a lot of people who are upset.
    Mr. Watson. [Inaudible]--I suppose you'll be here to campaign for 
Attorney General Charles Oberly, trying to unseat Republican Senator 
Bill Roth. But Oberly is seen as something of an independent Democrat. 
Is that going to be a problem?
    The President. No, I like Oberly. I think--he's an exciting 
character to me. You know, the Democrats are not like the Republicans; 
we don't mind a little independence in our party. I think it's good for 
people to exercise independent judgment.
    I've just come from Iowa where a retiring Congressman, Republican 
Congressman Fred Grandy, was complaining about how the Republicans 
didn't want any independence and that--he pointed out how they were 
ordered not to work with me on health care. So I think Oberly has the 
kind of characteristics and character and ability and energy that would 
be very good at this time.
    Mr. Watson. Sir, what is your game plan, just in case the 
Republicans are successful, as they think they'll be, and win control of 
the House? Could this work in your favor at all?
    The President. Well, I don't know. Some people think it could work 
politically for me personally, but I'm not interested in that. I'm 
interested in moving our country forward. And the thing that bothers me 
is that the Republicans have committed to a program which would take us 
right back to the 1980's and what got us in trouble in the first place. 
I mean, their contract says that if they win control of the House and 
the Senate, they're going to--they want to promise huge tax increases, 
almost all of it to wealthy individuals. They want to have an increase 
in defense again, and they want to bring back Star Wars. They promise to 
balance the budget. Now, one of two things--that costs a trillion 
dollars. So if the Republicans get a hold of the Congress, one of two 
things is going to happen. They're going to do what they say, which 
means they'll have to cut everything in the Federal Government besides 
defense and Star Wars by 20 percent, including Social Security----
    Mr. Watson. We're almost out of time----
    The President. All right, well, listen--but that's $2,000 a person. 
And on Social Security that's a lot. If they don't do that, they're 
going to explode the deficit, start shipping our jobs overseas again, 
like they did in the eighties, and we'll be in big trouble.
    So I hope the American people will take a look at people like 
Oberly. He's an aggressive, independent, progressive person, the kind of 
person I think that can bring new ideas, new energy, and keep this 
country going forward, which is what I think we need to do.
    Mr. Watson. One final question, Mr. President. You're just about out 
of time, but you mentioned Congressman Castle is helping you.

[[Page 1992]]

So how do you see the Republican Castle versus Democrat Carrie DeSantis?
    The President. Well, I mentioned that Castle helped on the crime 
bill because I think it's important for me not to be as partisan as they 
have been, and I want to give him credit for that.
    But the reason that I'm supporting the Democrats in these races is 
that even Mike Castle voted against our economic plan. And our economic 
program for America is working. Just look at Delaware. You've had 5 
times the job growth since our administration has been there as you did 
in the previous 4 years, that is, in 20 months, 5 times as many jobs in 
the previous 4 years. The economic approach we have taken, bring the 
deficit down, invest in education and training, expand trade, invest in 
new technologies, these things will grow the American economy. And the 
figures that came out today show that we have now had 5 times as many 
high-wage jobs coming into this economy in this year than in the 
previous 5 years.
    Mr. Watson. There are many more things that we could talk about, Mr. 
President, but you're out of time. And I appreciate very much you 
calling in. Thank you very much.
    The President. Thank you very much.

Note: The interview began at 10:51 a.m. The President spoke by telephone 
from the Holiday Inn in Duluth, MN.