[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 7, 1994]
[Pages 2031-2033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Flint, Michigan
November 7, 1994

    Thank you. I'm glad to be back in Flint, glad to be back in 
Michigan, glad to be here for Bob Carr.
    Ladies and gentlemen, Hillary and I are delighted to be here today 
with all of you. I want to begin by thanking the nominees who are here 
behind me, the wonderful members of the labor movement, the educators 
who are here, and others who are doing their best to see that Michigan 
makes a good decision for the future tomorrow. I also want to say a 
special word of thanks out of my own history to the Davison High School 
Band over here for playing for us. Thank you very much. You know, the 
chancellor at this distinguished institution, Dr. Charlie Nelms--we've 
got another band up there? What? Northern High School up here. Give them 
a hand. [Applause]
    Folks, the chancellor of this fine institution, Dr. Charlie Nelms, 
grew up in my home State. And he just got back from his college reunion. 
I won't tell you which one. [Laughter] He was one of 11 children. And I 
say this not to embarrass him but to tell you that right before we came 
out here he said, ``I want you to know something, Mr. President. If it 
hadn't been for people believing in me, giving me a chance, and 
providing programs like these college loans that get so many students 
into this institution, I wouldn't be here today. I want to stick with 
the people who believe in education, who believe in ordinary citizens, 
who believe in the future of this country.''
    I want to thank Mayor Woodrow Stanley for being my friend and my 
supporter and your great leader. They used to call me the Comeback Kid. 
You ought to call Flint the comeback city under Woodrow Stanley. And the 
thing I like about Woodrow Stanley--I want to say more about this in a 
minute, because it goes to your choice in this election--is that he is a 
builder, not a blamer. I want to thank your Senators, Senator Carl Levin 
and Senator Don Riegle--we wish you well in your retirement, and we 
thank you for representing Flint, Michigan, and the United States. I 
want to welcome the Democratic nominees for Governor and Lieutenant 
Governor, Howard Wolpe and Debbie Stabenow, and ask you to help them 
tomorrow and support them.
    I just have to say this: The unemployment figures came out last 
week, and we had a 4-year low in unemployment. And the Governor here 
always says, ``Well, the Michigan economy is getting better.'' That's 
true, but did you ever notice that it didn't get very much better when 
the Republicans had the White House and the economic policy? And even 
though I think an enormous amount of credit goes to the automobile 
industry for their incredible efforts at partnership, labor and 
management, bringing us back to number one in automobiles in the entire 
world, the rest of the States are doing pretty well, too. We're going up 
or down together; that is my message.
    I want you to help these people and especially I want you to help 
Bob Carr because if nothing else you know, if you look at this fine 
institution of higher education, if you look at this city, if you look 
at this State, if you think of our country, we are going up or down 
together. And you only have one choice who is clearly 100 percent on 
your side. Bob Carr is 100 percent on your side.
    I also want to echo what Hillary said about Congressman Dale Kildee. 
I want to say a special word of thanks to him for his leadership in the 
most productive congressional session for education in 30 years. We 
expanded Head Start. We changed the Federal law on aid to our public 
schools so that we will emphasize grassroots reform and get rid of this 
ridiculous assumption that just because kids are poor, from 
disadvantaged backgrounds, they can't learn--from now on, the same 
expectations, the same opportunity, the same achievement for children 
without re-


[[Page 2032]]

gard to their background. And you heard him talking about the School-to-
Work Opportunity Act I signed. That's a bill for young people who don't 
go on to college but don't want to be in dead-end jobs, who want good 
training and are willing to engage in a lifetime of learning. And I did 
sign that bill on a desk built by the students at the manufacturing 
technology project right here in Flint, Michigan, who will benefit from 
that sort of effort.
    I also want to thank Congressman Jim Barcia and our candidate, Bob 
Mitchell, for being here. Send them back to Washington so we'll have 
partners for progress.
    You know, folks, this has really turned out to be an amazing 
election in ways that are both wonderful and troubling. The American 
people know that there are still things that need fixing in Washington, 
and they know there are things that need fixing back here at home. They 
know that, in spite of the fact that we've got an enormous amount of job 
growth--over 5 million jobs in the last 21 months--in spite of the fact 
that we've got more high-wage jobs coming back into America this year 
than in the previous 5 years combined, in spite of the fact that the 
biggest problem in the auto industry is not no time, it's now overtime--
a high-class problem--they know that there are still a lot of people who 
are worried about losing their jobs; a lot of people who are afraid 
they'll never get a raise; a lot of people who are worried about losing 
their health insurance, as one million people in working families did 
last year; a lot of people who still want work in some of our cities and 
isolated rural areas who don't have jobs. This country has problems. 
They know that we've still got too much crime and violence and too much 
disintegration of our families and our communities that make people feel 
personally insecure or at least violate their sense of values. That's 
all true.
    Now the question is, what are we going to do about it? And what 
these guys say is, our opponents, they say, ``Be mad about it, be 
frustrated about it, be cynical about it, and put us in because we are 
going to play on your fears, your frustrations, and your cynicism.'' 
That's their argument; their argument is, ``Look, nothing good has 
happened, and if you find something good that happened, it did not 
happen because the President was there. It did not happen because he had 
partners in the Congress. It happened in spite of that. It was 
irrelevant to that.'' That's their argument; you listen to them.
    Well, you know what, folks? Where I come from, people say if you 
find a turtle on the fencepost, it did not get there by accident. And so 
I say to you, don't let a frustrated electorate wind up voting for what 
you're against and against what you're for. That's what they want.
    Look what they say they're for. They say they are for a new plan 
that will give a huge tax cut to the wealthy, that will bring back big 
increases in defense and revive Star Wars and will balance the budget. 
Does that sound familiar to you? They say, ``Ignore what happened in the 
last 21 months; it doesn't matter. Ignore the jobs, the growth, the help 
for ordinary working Americans, the fact that the world is growing more 
prosperous and more peaceful. Ignore all that; take our new set of 
promises.''
    Now, I want you to think about this. There are really only two 
possibilities with these Republican promises: they're either serious, or 
they're kidding. Now listen to me. If they're serious, they have made 
you a trillion dollars' worth of promises: ``We're going to cut taxes on 
the wealthy, bring back defense and Star Wars, and balance the budget.'' 
What does it cost? ``A trillion dollars.'' When you ask them, ``How will 
you pay for it?'' they say, ``We'll tell you after the election.''
    Do you know why? Because the only way to pay for it is to cut 
everything else in the budget 20 percent across the board: $2,000 a 
person in Social Security, cut Medicare 20 percent, cut the student 
loans 20 percent, cut the AIDS prevention 20 percent, cut the Head Start 
20 percent. That is their program. Then they say, ``Well, we didn't say 
we would cut Social Security.'' They didn't say they wouldn't. But if 
you take out Social Security, then our opponents in the Senate and the 
House have committed to a set of promises that mean 30 percent cuts 
across the board in all those things.
    Of course, there's always the chance that they didn't mean it, 
they're kidding. If they're kidding, what does it mean? ``We will give 
you the goodies without the price.'' And what does that mean? We're 
going to explode the deficit. We're going to ship our jobs overseas. 
We're going to put our economy back in the same mess that this same 
crowd, with these same policies, put it in in the trickle-down economics 
years of the 1980's.

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    Tell them no. We want Bob Carr. We want Dale Kildee. We want Jim 
Barcia. We want Bob Mitchell. Those are the people we want. Tell them 
no. Tell them no.
    You know, folks, one of the most amazing things to me is this effort 
that they are making to take a frustrated electorate and say, ``It does 
not matter what we say. It does not matter what we do. Anything the 
Government does is either irrelevant or makes it worse.'' Can you 
imagine, can you imagine entering into any other human endeavor with 
that attitude? Can you imagine going to school with that attitude? Can 
you imagine building a business with that attitude? Can you imagine 
going to work with that attitude? Can you imagine building a house with 
that attitude? Can you imagine building a family with that attitude? No! 
Well, why would we want to build a Congress with that attitude?
    You know, folks, I don't know about you, but when I showed up in 
Washington I wanted to rebuild the American dream; I wanted to bring 
this country together; I wanted to make America strong. I don't mean I 
wanted to talk strong; I wanted to be strong. And to be strong you need 
stronger families, better schools, safer streets, more jobs, a safer and 
more prosperous world.
    Well, I don't know about you, but I believe it made a difference 
when we gave 1\1/2\ million Michigan families the protection of the 
Family and Medical Leave Act so they could take a little time off from 
work and keep their jobs. And I believe it made a difference when almost 
400,000 Michigan families that work full-time with kids in the house and 
are hovering above the poverty line got an income tax cut under our 
administration, so you could succeed at work and at home, being a parent 
and a worker. I think it made a difference. I think it made a difference 
when we made almost 600,000 people in Michigan eligible for lower cost 
and better repayment college loans, so more people could go to college 
and no one need ever turn away. I think that makes a difference. And I 
think it made a difference when we lowered the deficit and increased our 
investment in our future and got this economy going again. And that's 
why the unemployment rate in America is at a 4 year low and it's dropped 
2 percent in Michigan in the last 21 months. I think that matters, and I 
think you think it matters.
    So I think it matters that for the first time since the dawn of the 
nuclear age, there are no Russian missiles pointing at these children 
here. I think it matters that North Korea has agreed not to become a 
nuclear power. I think it matters that the United States is expanding 
trade and opportunity for high-wage jobs. I think it matters that we are 
making peace and helping peace come about and standing up for freedom 
from the Persian Gulf to Northern Ireland, to Haiti, to the Middle East. 
I think that matters. I think that matters. And so I ask you, my fellow 
Americans, why would we want to go back?
    This election is, more than anything else, an election about the 
state of mind of our voters. If people are thinking about the issues and 
what's in their issues and who's on their side and what's best for our 
future, they will have to vote for Bob Carr over his opponent. Their 
great hope is that everybody wakes up tomorrow mad, the Democrats stay 
home, the extremists go vote--the people who want a bunch of easy 
promises, the people who want a lot of tough talk that will lead not to 
strength but to weakness for most of us--that that will prevail. My 
great belief is that tomorrow, whatever the weather, you're going to 
wake up with the Sun shining in your mind, seeing clearly, thinking 
about tomorrow, thinking about tomorrow.
    Folks, you just think about this. You think about what really counts 
when you go to work, when you build a business, when you get an 
education, when you rear a family. It is a positive, building, unifying, 
compassionate idea of what you are as a person and what you can become. 
That is what we represent. We've still got a lot of problems in this 
country, folks, but this country is in better shape than it was 21 
months ago. We are stronger than we were 21 months ago. We are moving 
forward.
    Don't turn back; go forward. Elect Bob Carr and Dale Kildee and Jim 
Barcia and Bob Mitchell and Howard Wolpe and Debbie Stabenow. Help these 
people. Lift Michigan; go forward. Come on, we can do it. Thank you, and 
God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:57 p.m. at the University of Michigan.