    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [January 11, 1996]
    [Pages 43-44]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Teleconference Remarks to Ohio Democratic Caucuses
    January 11, 1996

        I want to say hello to all of you in Ohio, and especially--
    [applause]--can you hear me? [Applause] That's great.
        I want to thank your party chair, David Leland, and Senator John
    Glenn and your former party chair, Jim Ruvolo, for all of your hard work
    in organizing tonight's caucuses. And I want to thank all of you for
    signing on to help us tonight.
        We've got people there, I know, from all across Ohio: in Cleveland
    and Greenville; in Columbus and New Philadelphia, Cincinnati and
    Waverly; in Dayton, where the Bosnian peace agreement was made; in
    Marion, Toledo, and Milan; in Youngstown and Springfield; in Canton and
    Mentor and Akron and Lorain. To all of you, thank you very much.
        You all know that Ohio is very special to me. The Ohio primaries put
    me over the top

    [[Page 44]]

    on the road to the Democratic nomination. And Ohio's delegates put me
    over the top for the nomination at the convention in New York City in
    1992. And of course, on November 4th, 1992, it was the electoral votes
    of the State of Ohio that put me over the top in the electoral college.
    So I know how much I owe to the State of Ohio and to all of you in
    particular. And I thank you for everything you have done and for your
    commitment to help us in the months ahead.
        Every American knows that we are living in a time of great change.
    We're moving toward a new century. We're moving from the industrial to
    the information and technology age. We're moving from the cold war to
    the global village. This is a time of immense possibility and great
    challenge for our country.
        I think all of you know that when I ran for President it was to
    address these challenges and to take advantage of these possibilities;
    to restore the American dream; to make the American people a stronger
    community; and to preserve our leadership as a great force for peace and
    freedom around the world. And we've done that with a simple strategy:
    grow the economy; give the American people a smaller, better Government;
    and restore mainstream values in our national life.
        If you look at the Ohio economy, if you look at the national
    economy, we've cut the deficit in half. We've expanded trade to record
    levels. We've invested in the education of the American people and their
    technological future. And look what we've got: almost 8 million jobs, a
    15-year high in homeownership, a 27-year low in the combined rates of
    unemployment and inflation. Unemployment is down in Ohio from 7 percent
    to under 5 percent. In Ohio, you've got almost 300,000 new private
    sector jobs. And the debt has been cut over $15,000 for every family of
    four in Ohio.
        We changed the way this Government works. Do you know there are more
    than 200,000 fewer people working for the Federal Government than there
    were when I became President, thanks to the work the Democrats did to
    make Government more effective and fairer?
        And most important of all, we're being more true to our values. We
    passed a tough crime bill, and that helped people all across America to
    bring the crime rate down. We've given States all over America the
    freedom to move people from welfare to work. And the welfare rolls are
    down. The food stamp rolls are down. The poverty rolls are down. The
    teen pregnancy rolls are down. These are things the American people did,
    but our policies, the crime bill, the welfare reform, they have helped.
        You know we have challenges ahead, but the only way we can meet them
    is to keep moving in the direction that we're going--and I know that
    everyone in Ohio must be so proud that Ohio was the place, with the eyes
    of the world watching, where the peace in Bosnia was made--to go with
    the progress that our country has made in the Middle East, in Northern
    Ireland, and reducing the nuclear threat. That's a record we can all be
    proud of, a record we can all be proud to run on and run with, and
    embrace and bring people to the Democratic Party with.
        Now, if you look at this budget fight we're having in Congress
    today, it's another example of what I've been working for since 1993
    when I became your President. I want to balance the budget. If it
    weren't for the debt run up in the 12 years before I became President,
    the interest payments on that, we'd have a balanced budget today. I have
    worked hard in good faith to reach an agreement with the Congress. But
    you know, this is not about numbers. We have already identified more
    than enough cuts to balance the budget and give a modest tax cut. This
    is about whether we're going to protect Medicare, Medicaid, our
    investments in education, our environment, whether we're going to
    protect working families from having their taxes increased while others
    get a tax cut. That's what I'm fighting for, for an America in the
    future that you can be proud of, that will be worthy of the support that
    I received from the people of Ohio.
        I want every child in the State of Ohio and in the United States to
    be able to look forward to a brighter future. That's what I'm working
    for. I think you can go out in the State and say, ``Look at where we
    were in 1992; look at where we are today; look at where we have to go.''
    If you'll do that, we'll work together, we'll win a victory, but more
    importantly, the people of our country will win a victory.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:52 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White
    House.