    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [March 23, 1996]
    [Pages 502-507]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Dinner in Columbus, Ohio
    March 23, 1996

        Thank you very much. I'll tell you, I've been around John Glenn a
    lot; that's the best darn speech I ever heard him give. [Laughter] Let
    me see if I can remember that, ``You don't make America stronger by
    taking Big Bird away from 5-year-olds, school lunches away from 10-year-
    olds, summer jobs away from 15-year-olds, or student loans away from 20-
    year-olds.'' That's a pretty good line. That's a good line.
        I want to thank our national chairman, Don Fowler, for his tireless
    work and for being here, and your remarkable State party chair, David
    Leland, for this incredible event. I thank you, sir, and all who worked
    on it. I thank all the distinguished officials that are up here on the
    dais with me, and especially my colleagues Congressman Sherrod Brown,
    Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, and Congressman Tom Sawyer. Thank you for
    your fine work.
        I have, I understand, two friends out in the audience, former
    colleagues, your former Attorney General Lee Fisher and your former
    Governor Dick Celeste; hello to you wherever you are, and thank you for
    being here. Ladies and gentlemen--Ted Strickland, is he here? Where are
    you, Ted? Thank you.
        I want to thank the remarkable Central State University Marching
    Band, thank you very much

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    for playing. I'd like to thank the others who performed before I came
    out here, America's Pride and Darla's Dancers and Madeline Reberra,
    thank you all.
        I have a very great deal to be thankful to Ohio for, as it has been
    pointed out. The votes of Ohio on June 2, 1992, made me the nominee of
    the Democratic Party. The votes of the Ohio delegation in New York City
    in June of 1992--or July of 1992 officially made me the nominee of the
    Democratic Party. On election night in 1992 in November, Ohio put the
    Clinton-Gore ticket over the top, and we thank you for that.
        More recently, I want to thank especially the people of Dayton for
    hosting the Bosnian peace talks and giving the United States a chance to
    play a role in settling the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War
    II, promoting peace, saving lives, and thereby avoiding a war which our
    young people might be drawn into. I thank you for hosting those peace
    talks.
        Let me say, having been traveling around the country now for the
    last couple of weeks, if anybody in this room had anything to do with
    settling the GM strike, there's 150,000 people that want to thank you,
    too, all across America for the chance to go back to work.
        Ladies and gentlemen, most of what needs to be said to the Democrats
    of Ohio has already been said here tonight. I have a lot of gratitude in
    my heart. I want to thank all of the people from Ohio who now serve or
    who have served in our administration and all of you who have helped us
    to move this country forward.
        But I want you to understand clearly, without any reservation, that
    this election represents a turning point in American history. In 1992,
    the real question was whether we would just sort of continue to drift
    along or whether we would change the course of America. In 1996, the
    decision will be between two very different paths of change. There is no
    status quo option.
        And when I ran for President in 1992, I told you that my vision for
    America was a country in which every person, without regard to their
    region, their income, their race could have a chance to live up to the
    fullest of their God-given abilities, to share in the American dream if
    they were willing to work for it; an America that led the world for
    peace and freedom and prosperity and security; and an America where we
    valued and respected each other so that we came together around our
    basic values of work and family and community, instead of being divided
    by the cheap, short-term, divisive tactics that many have used in the
    other party to divide the American people at every election season.
    That's the America I want, an America coming together and moving forward
    and meeting the challenges of the future.
        And my message to you is that the record that Senator Glenn talked
    about is not a record to sit on, it's a record to build on, because what
    has happened is--for all the progress we have made, you know America
    still has many challenges. And I think every American understands at
    some level, maybe just instinctively, that this is not a normal time,
    that we are going through a period of very profound economic and social
    change. I believe and I said all over America that our Nation today is
    changing economically more than it has at any time in a century, since
    people moved in Ohio from the farm to small towns and cities, since they
    moved from making a living primarily in agriculture to making a living
    primarily out of manufacturing.
        Today the American people and people all over the world are moving
    from an economy that is based on their national markets to one based on
    world markets. They're moving, whether they work in the factory, on the
    farm, or in offices, from an economy where mind is more and more
    important and muscle is less and less important. They're moving into
    economy where work forces are being radically restructured because the
    little digital chip means that you can communicate more information more
    quickly with fewer people than anyone would have imagined even 10 years
    ago.
        It has been at least 100 years since we have dealt with changes of
    this scope. And as with every period of great change, there are vast new
    opportunities created for people, but there is also uprooting and
    uncertainty. And our great challenge today is to take the positive
    things that have happened, that Senator Glenn talked about, and build on
    them to achieve our mission to provide security to every working family
    in this country that is willing to work for it, so that everyone will be
    rewarded for what they do, and to help our people in the great struggles
    of daily life, to strengthen our families and give all of our kids a
    childhood, to make all of our streets safe and our environment clean.
    That is our struggle. And to do it we have to be willing to change the
    way the Government works, to earn the trust and the confidence of

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    the American people and to make it work again for all. That is what I
    have been working on.
        And for all those who would argue against your political preferences
    and these people in Congress, let me just remind you, think back to
    where we were 4 or 5 years ago when the deficit was more than twice as
    high as it is; when your unemployment rate was 2 points higher; when it
    seemed like the only new jobs that were coming into the economy were
    low-wage jobs. No, I don't pretend that we solved all the problems, but
    we do have over 8 million new jobs, just like I said; we have cut the
    deficit, just like I said; and wages are going up again in America for
    the first time in a decade. And that's something to run on.
        The first argument, obviously, is the argument Senator Glenn made.
    The other side, they said if our economic plan passed it would bring a
    disaster to America. They were wrong. We don't need to go back to their
    strategies. They gave us the disaster for America the last time they had
    the economy. On the other hand, we don't need to stand pat, either, as
    they tried to do in 1992. This is a record to build on, not to stand on.
        We have to meet the challenges of all those Americans out there who
    do not feel strong and certain about the future. They are basically
    three groups of Americans: They're the people that live in those inner-
    city neighborhoods and those isolated rural areas where nobody has
    invested money yet. We need to give people incentives, tax incentives to
    put their money there to create private sector jobs to grow the economy
    there. We need to put in banks to loan money to people there. If we can
    provide incentives to invest in foreign countries, we ought to provide
    incentives to invest in the heartland of America's neighborhood.
        The second group of Americans are the Americans who are working
    harder and harder and harder at hourly wages and never seem to get a
    raise. And there are a lot of them. And what do we have to do with them?
    For one thing, we should do no harm; we should reject the other side's
    budget proposal that would actually reduce the family tax credit that is
    now providing tax relief to families with incomes under $28,000.
        The second thing we ought to do is raise the minimum wage. You know,
    both political parties in America and most politicians talk about family
    values. Well, that's a good thing to talk about; it's a good thing to be
    for. There's nothing more important. But there are millions of people
    out there, my fellow Americans, who are trying to raise children on
    $4.25 an hour. You can't do that; that's not a family value. We ought to
    raise it instead of letting it go to a 40-year low.
        We ought to give these people the certainty that we are fighting for
    a growing economy and we're trying to open new markets. You know, we
    have concluded 200 trade agreements since I have been President, 20 with
    Japan. And in the areas where we've made new trade agreements, our
    exports have gone up by 80 percent with Japan. We've got to give these
    people a fair break and not let them be worked over in the global
    economy.
        We ought to give these families a real tax break. And one of the
    things we ought to give them is a tax deduction for the cost of all
    education after high school--a college--[inaudible]--tax break.
        We ought to say--and then there's a third group of people. You've
    been reading a lot about them lately. They're the people that work for
    these big corporations that are downsizing. What about them? Some of
    them are average income working people, some of them look like me--
    they're 50-year-old, white, gray-headed men who worked for these big
    companies for 25 or 30 years, and all of a sudden--says, ``We don't need
    you anymore. I know you've got two kids about ready to go to college, I
    know you've got problems, but we're sorry, you have to go.'' What about
    them?
        Well, you know what? There are several things that we can do. For
    one thing, we ought to say there are a lot of companies that don't do
    that to their employees; let's look at them and find out how they do it
    and give other companies incentives to treat their folks in a good,
    positive way.
        Then we ought to say if a person loses their job in America, they
    ought to immediately get a voucher from the Federal Government worth
    about $2,500 a year that they can take to the nearest community college
    to immediately go back and learn a new skill and start a new life. And
    if you lose your job or if someone in your family gets sick, we ought to
    change the law--we ought to do it now--so that you don't lose your
    health insurance anymore and you can keep it when you lose your job. And
    if you go to work for a small company, you

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    still ought to be able to take out a pension plan that you don't lose
    even if you lose your job; people ought to be able to carry those
    pensions with them and keep them for a lifetime and protect themselves
    in their retirement.
        My fellow Americans, we have to face the challenges of the future
    because everybody has to know that they can benefit from the new global
    economy. I am grateful for the 8.4 million jobs. I am grateful that we
    have set a new record in business formation every year I've been
    President. I'm glad we're number one in selling automobiles and
    semiconductors again. I'm glad that the World Economic Forum in Europe
    says that we've gone from fifth place, before I became President, to
    having the most productive economy in the world for the last 3 years;
    I'm glad about that. But I won't be satisfied until working together we
    have created the opportunity for every American who will work for it to
    make the most of his or her own life and to give all the kids in this
    country a better future, and you shouldn't be, either.
        Let me say that a big part of that is also getting back to our basic
    values, to having our communities and our families stronger. We have to
    help people raise their kids. That's why I was for the family tax
    credit. This year, 17 million families with incomes of under $28,000 a
    year will have lower taxes because of that '93 economic plan. That's why
    I was for the V-chip in the telecommunications bill so that parents
    would have more control over what their children see on television. I
    think that's important.
        That's why our administration was the first in history to say we
    have to do something about the biggest health problem our young people
    face today, which is that 3,000 of them illegally start smoking every
    day and 1,000 of them will die sooner because of it, and we ought to
    stop it if we can. We've got to do something about it.
        And we have to do something to make our streets safer. I'm glad that
    the crime rate is down and the welfare rolls are down and the food stamp
    rolls are down and the poverty rolls are down and the teen pregnancy
    rate is down. I'm glad about that, but they're all too high, and you
    know it. And we cannot be satisfied until you turn on the evening news
    at night and if you see on the evening news that a terrible crime has
    been committed, you are surprised instead of numb to it. That's when we
    know we will have whipped the crime problem.
        And so I say to you, we need a combination of things. First, let's
    do what we know works. The FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police, which has
    one of the biggest chapters in the country here in Ohio, and all of the
    other law enforcement officers in this country helped us write that
    crime bill that Congress tried to undo a couple of days ago. And we got
    with them and with people that work on crime in the community and they
    said, ``What works? Community policing works; put more police on the
    streets, put them in the neighborhoods, put them in the schoolyards, let
    people know their neighbors. They can lower the crime rate.'' And folks,
    all over America, in city after city where people had given up on crime,
    the murder rate is down and violence is down. We can do better. We have
    to do more of that.
        We also said that we ought to have tougher laws for punishment for
    people who commit serious crimes. We ought to have a ``three strikes and
    you're out'' law. But for kids that get in trouble the first time, we
    need to try to give them a chance to recover their lives by giving them
    something to say yes to.
        And let me tell you, again, it is a sign of the times: The crime
    rate is down, but the rate of violence among children under 18 is up.
    There are too many kids out there raising themselves, and we need to
    support each other in giving them their childhood back. We have to do
    it.
        There's been a lot of talk in Ohio about welfare reform. The welfare
    rolls are down since this administration came in. And even though
    Congress has not yet passed a welfare reform bill that I can sign that
    is tough on work but good to children, we have on our own given 37
    States permission to get rid of Federal rules and find ways to move
    people from welfare to work. Three out of four people on welfare today
    are under welfare reform experiments approved by this administration.
    That is more than the last two administrations of the other party put
    together. We are moving people from welfare to work.
        We are also doing something we should do more of. This
    administration has taken the lead in giving America record amounts of
    child support collections. We can move people off welfare if parents pay
    what they owe to raise their own kids, and we should insist upon it.

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        If we want America to be what it ought to be, we also have to give
    our children clean air, clean water, safe food, and a decent environment
    for the future. For years there was a serious debate about that. There
    is no longer a serious debate; we now know we can grow the economy by
    protecting the environment, and that is what I mean to do.
        And let me say to you, it is not necessary, to balance the budget,
    to shut down the cleanup of toxic waste sites. There are millions of
    children that live within 3 or 4 miles of toxic waste dumps. We don't
    need to shut down our efforts to clean them up. It is not necessary, to
    balance the budget, to weaken the laws on safe food and clean air and
    clean water. It is not necessary to undermine the enforcement of the
    environmental standards of America to balance the budget, and I will not
    do it. I will not tolerate it; it is wrong. It is wrong.
        Now, my fellow Americans, we also have to realize that, much as we'd
    like to, just because the cold war is over we can't walk away from the
    rest of the world. I know a lot of people even in this room have
    disagreed with some of the decisions I have made in foreign policy. But
    let me tell you, we are the world's only superpower now. I try not to
    meddle. There are some things we can't do. I don't want to be the
    world's policeman, but we can't walk away. We have to try to be the
    world's peacemaker. And every time we make peace, every time we make
    peace for people in other parts of the world, we ensure that we will be
    a little safer.
        Let me tell you, you know, if you just take terrorism, no great
    nation can hide from terrorism. We saw it at the World Trade Center in
    New York here. We saw it in Oklahoma City. And when you see bombs blow
    up innocent civilians in Israel or in London, just remember this: In the
    world we're living in, with computer technology, with open borders, one
    of our biggest challenges is seeing the people who are terrorists, the
    people who are drug runners, the people who are organized criminals, and
    the people who smuggle weapons of mass destruction, including chemical
    and biological weapons, coming together and working together. I am
    determined that that will not happen, and I intend to keep us involved
    with every freedom-loving country in the world that will stand up to the
    terrorists and the thugs that would rob innocent people of their future.
        Now, it is in that context that you must see this choice. I don't
    want to sit on this record. I want to build on it. I want more change,
    not less. I want a Government that is smaller and less bureaucratic. We
    have given you the smallest Government, not the other party that always
    cursed the Federal Government. The Democrats have given you the smallest
    National Government in 30 years and the biggest reduction in
    regulations.
        But I do believe--we need a doctor? Is there a doctor here? We have
    somebody who passed out in the heat here. Can we get a doctor? Okay?
    She's okay, just wanted more jokes. [Laughter] Let me say--we got
    another one over here. We need a doctor over there.
        Now, let me say, you have to see this election in these terms. They
    can say, ``Oh, old `Veto' Bill''--you bet, and I'm proud of it. And I'd
    do it again. You look--I want you to look at where the budget
    negotiations were when they left them to go finish their campaign. They
    had acknowledged that we didn't need those big Medicare cuts, those big
    Medicaid cuts; that we didn't have to gut education or environmental
    protection; that we didn't have to raise taxes on working people, we
    don't have to raid pension funds, we don't have to do those things.
        Now, remember this, there is no longer a choice between the status
    quo and change. There are two real different views of change here. They
    say the Government is the problem, just get out of the way and let
    things take their course. I say, you remember what happened 100 years
    ago? The progressive movement that culminated in Franklin Roosevelt,
    Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, that progressive movement
    started under a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt. They abandoned him and his
    tradition, and we shouldn't make the same mistake. We have to stand up
    for that.
        I believe that the Government of the United States has to, first of
    all, make us secure; secondly, give us the conditions of a growing
    economy; and third, work in partnership with the American people so that
    individuals and families and communities can make the most of their own
    lives and meet the challenges of this uncertain world. That is the
    difference between our campaign and theirs. It is clear, unambiguous,
    and true.
        So I want you to think about it. Yes, I vetoed that budget, and I'd
    do it again. But I don't like it. I'd rather sign the right kind of
    balanced

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    budget that will lower interest rates, balance the budget, grow the
    economy, and give your kids a future. That's what I did. And that's the
    way I feel about welfare reform and health care reform and all these
    other things.
        I want to work with the Congress. But the main thing I want is to
    give you the kind of future you need and deserve. So if you are willing
    to stand up and fight one more time, we can have an American dream for
    all Americans in the 21st century. That's what we can have. We can have
    family values. We can have a free and safe America. We can have a better
    future.
        Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:23 p.m. in the Lausche Building at the
    Ohio State Fairgrounds. In his remarks, he referred to former
    Representative Ted Strickland.