    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [May 30, 1996]
    [Pages 845-847]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community in Baton Rouge
    May 30, 1996

        Thank you very much. I want to thank Senator Breaux, and I want to
    thank Keith, Frank, and the Soileau Zydeco Band. Let's give them a hand;
    they were great. [Applause]

    [[Page 846]]

        I've had a wonderful day in Louisiana. I started off in New Orleans
    and met with 20,000 people there at the Church of God in Christ women's
    conference. And then I had a big lunch, and I came up here. I enjoyed
    speaking to the legislature. I emerged unscathed; as you can see, I'm
    still standing here. And I think you heard the speech, didn't you? So
    you shouldn't have to go through another one.
        Let me just briefly make a couple of points. First of all, I want to
    thank all the young people in this audience today for coming out here.
    And I want you to know that, more than anything else, day-in and day-
    out, I try to imagine what this country will look like when you're my
    age. I try to think about what we can do to make this country what it
    ought to be when you raise your children and when you raise your
    grandchildren.
        I want this country to be a place where everybody can live out their
    dreams if they're willing to work for it. I want it to be a place where
    we come together and we cherish and we respect the differences among us,
    instead of looking for ways to keep being divided in the same old way.
    That's a paralyzing, frustrating, ultimately self-defeating way to live.
        I want your country to be the strongest force in the world for peace
    and freedom and prosperity. I want to be able to say when I leave this
    office that--not that we solved all the problems in the world but that
    America has a way to solve its problems at home by coming together and a
    way to lead the world to make the place safer for everybody.
        I want you to be able to look at your country and say, ``You know, I
    believe that we're going to do fine. I believe we're going to grow
    together. I believe we're going to go forward together. And I don't have
    any doubt that the 21st century will be the greatest years this country
    ever had.'' That's what I want you to believe. That is the test of what
    we will do.
        Now, I know we're going into an election season and, frankly, we're
    going into it a little sooner than I think we ought to. [Laughter] I'd
    like to see everybody in Washington just settle down and keep on passing
    bills that the people need. We need to raise the minimum wage and pass
    the health care reform. We need to pass the Kassebaum-Kennedy health
    care reform bill so you don't lose your health insurance if you change
    jobs and somebody in your family is sick. We need to pass the right kind
    of balanced budget amendment that protects Medicare and Medicaid and
    environmental programs and educational programs, including the
    AmeriCorps program that is represented here. That's what we need to do.
        So I wish we could put it off awhile. But the main thing I want you
    to know is that I'm going to try to give this year back to you. And when
    this year is over, I want you to feel that American democracy has
    flourished. But that means you have to do your part. Don't let your
    friends and neighbors say it doesn't make any difference. Don't let your
    friends and neighbors be cynical. It makes a huge difference.
        You have here a great debate going on in our country about how we're
    going to march into the 21st century, two very, very different visions
    of change, two honestly different visions of what we should be doing in
    Washington and what we should be doing at the grassroots. And they are
    honest and forthright. For all of the things that may not seem right,
    there are real differences between the way I believe we should reach the
    next century and the way the leaders of the other party believe we
    should reach the next century.
        Now, we can make a lot of agreements, and if we just do things that
    we agree on, we can get a lot done for America. But the election will be
    a discussion about where the disagreements are, and what I want to do is
    to give it back to you. I want you to feel that you are participating in
    it, that you're shaping the election, that your questions are being
    answered, that your hopes are being nourished, not that it's just some
    sort of couch potato mud fight. [Laughter]
        But to do it, you've got to do your part. I'm encouraged by seeing
    you out here today in large numbers. I'm encouraged by your good
    spirits. I'm encouraged by your enthusiasm. I'm encouraged by your
    energy. But you just remember: This country has been around for more
    than 200 years because more than half the time, more than half the
    people have understood enough to know what the right thing to do was to
    move our country into the future, to keep it growing and going and
    coming together instead of being divided and diverted and distracted.
        So I say to you, if we can create opportunity, if we can act
    responsibly in a way that comes together instead of letting our country
    be driven apart, the best days of this country lie ahead

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    of us. That is my dedication. That is your dedication. That's what we
    ought to together give to the United States in 1996.
        Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:26 p.m. at the Pentagon Barracks. A tape
    was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.