    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [November 2, 1996]
    [Pages 2023-2027]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in San Antonio, Texas
    November 2, 1996

        The President. Thank you. Good morning, San Antonio!
        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
        The President. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to see you
    here in large numbers. I'm glad to see you here in high spirits. I'm
    glad to see so many young people here, for this election is about you.
    My heart is full of gratitude today.
        Thank you, Congressman Henry Gonzalez, for what you said and for so
    many years of exemplary leadership. Thank you, Congressman Kika de la
    Garza, Congressman Frank Tejeda. Thank you, Governor Dolph Briscoe, for
    being here and for all the help that you have given to us. Thank you,
    Texas Democratic Chair Bill White. To Senator Carlos Truan and the other
    members of the legislature here; my longtime friend Wilhelmina Delco. To
    our congressional candidate, Charlie Jones and--[applause]--a little
    there. And thank you, Victor Morales, for your long, courageous
    struggle.
        Thank you, Linda Chavez-Thompson, for coming home, the first woman
    ever elected to national office at the AFL-CIO. Thank you, Secretary
    Federico Pena, for your great job at the Department of Transportation,
    for coming here to be with us. Thank you, Ann Richards. And I want to
    thank whoever organized the program so I didn't have to speak right
    behind her. [Laughter] Thank you, my old friend Garry Mauro, for being
    there for me for over 20 years now. And I want to thank some of the
    other folks who have come here to be with us today, and I'd like to ask
    them to stand: Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Johnny Canales, Jeff Valdez,
    Liz Torres, and Tommy Lee Jones. Thank you all for being here. Thank
    you.
        I thank the Texas Victory Democrats for the work you have done and
    the work you will do between now and Tuesday. And again let me say, as
    Hillary has already said, a profound word of thanks to Henry Cisneros
    for the work he has done for America these last 4 years. I'm delighted
    to see his parents here, and I'm glad Mary Alice came. And I want the
    people of San Antonio to know you would have been so proud every day of
    them for the last 4 years. I go places all over America, far from San
    Antonio; mayors, people who build housing, people who work in law
    enforcement come up to me and spontaneously say, Henry Cisneros is the
    finest Secretary of HUD we have ever had in the history of the United
    States. Everywhere they say it.
        I was in Miami the other day, and a man said to me, ``There are
    hundreds of people who are no longer homeless. You could walk down
    streets at night that used to be littered with people spending the
    night. They aren't there anymore because we had a dream and an idea and
    Secretary Cisneros supported us and we took the homeless people off the
    street.''
        I was in the another part of the country the other day, and people
    said, ``We were absolutely overwhelmed with substandard public housing
    infested with gangs and guns and drugs. And Secretary Cisneros helped us
    to tear it down, get rid of it, and build new housing for people to live
    in dignity and raise their children in an environment in which anyone
    could be proud of.''
        Ladies and gentlemen, I did want to come and stand in front of the
    Alamo on the last weekend of the last campaign of my entire life. I
    wanted to come here because I have such vivid memories of this place.
    Twenty-four years ago, I remember, in October, Congressman Gonzalez and
    I, when I was a very young man, on a Saturday morning like this, after
    we'd had a dinner at the Menger Hotel, got Congressman Hale Boggs up in
    the morning, and he got on a plane and flew to Alaska, to his death.
    There was something in your local paper about it.
        I have vivid memories of all the times I have ever been here. I
    remember in 1992 when I came here, and then along toward the end of

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    the campaign, some of my friends from Texas put about $200 worth of that
    mango ice cream on my plane, and we all ate it until we couldn't walk. I
    got a little to take with me today, too. [Laughter]
        I remember so many things. But this place, the Alamo, has always
    symbolized to me the transformation of Texas, the transformation of
    America, and the best hope for our future. The Alamo is not just a place
    of great personal courage, it is a place of great standoff in the
    beginning between two nations and two peoples. And the story of the
    Alamo over the last 160 years and the story of San Antonio is the story
    of the reconciliation and friendships between two great nations and two
    great peoples here in Texas and throughout the United States. It is a
    great, great story.
        We represent people who believe that by working together and helping
    each other we can all do better. Franklin Roosevelt, as Henry reminded
    me this morning, built your wonderful Riverwalk during the Great
    Depression. Lyndon Johnson did teach in Cotulla, not very far from here,
    where he learned what it was like to be poor and Mexican-American.
        We have always come out of a tradition that believed that if we
    worked together to give each other the tools--not a guarantee but a
    chance--to make the most of our own lives, this country could move
    closer to its ideals and we would all be better off than if we just
    said, ``You're on your own.'' When we come together and search for
    common ground we are always, always stronger as a nation. There is
    nothing we can't do.
        Now, in 3 days before this election, I really believe more than
    anything else what is left is not about the evidence, it's about the
    attitude. It's not so much about the mind as it is about the heart. You
    know, 4 years ago, Al Gore and I asked you to take a chance on us when
    we said, ``We're going to change the direction of this country. We're
    sick of the politics of division in Washington. We want to create more
    opportunity for everybody, demand more responsibility from everybody,
    and create an American community of everybody, where everybody's got a
    role to play and a place at the table.'' You just took a chance; you
    didn't know. But now we have a record.
        Four years ago, we had high unemployment, widespread frustration,
    rising crime, increasing family breakdown, rising welfare rolls, fears,
    hatred, and people had given up on being able to do anything about any
    of our problems. I was determined to start a new direction for this
    country, to stop pointing fingers and say, ``Here's my hand. I don't
    care whether you're a Democrat or Republican or what you are. If you
    will work with me to make this country a better place, I'll work with
    you, but we've got to take along everybody. We've got to give every
    single person a chance.''
        Now, you didn't know; you just took a chance. But look at the
    evidence. We have 10.7 million new jobs in America; 5.2 percent
    unemployment; rising incomes for the first time in a decade. The deficit
    has gone down in all 4 years for the first time in the 20th century,
    down 63 percent. Homeownership is at a 15-year high. We have nearly 2
    million fewer people on welfare. Child support collections are up 50
    percent across the country. The crime rate has gone down for 4 years in
    a row; it's at a 10-year low all across America. We raised the minimum
    wage for 10 million people. We've protected people from losing their
    health insurance if they've been sick or somebody in their family has
    been sick or they changed jobs. We said hospitals can't kick mothers and
    newborn babies out of the hospital after only 24 hours anymore. Twelve
    million people took advantage of the family and medical leave law and
    got to take a little time off from work when a baby was born or a family
    member was sick without losing their jobs. This country is in better
    shape than it was 4 years ago. We are moving in the right direction.
        Let me ask you something--this is an affair of the mind and the
    heart. When it was published yesterday that we had 210,000 new jobs in
    America, my opponent said we've got the worst economy in 20 years.
    [Laughter] I tell you what, I'll take that bet. I ask every person in
    Texas who believes it is the worst economy in 20 years to vote for
    Senator Dole, and every person who knows better to vote for me. I'll
    gladly take the results of the election in Texas.
        Now, just 2 weeks ago, my opponent said that we had the worst
    economy in 100 years. [Laughter] So I think he's campaigning for me now.
    I mean, after all, who else could make up 80 years in 2 weeks? I think
    we're doing pretty well.
        All this is not a matter of the evidence. What do you think the
    Republicans would be saying if they had a President who had presided
    over

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    an administration that had cut the deficit by 63 percent, that had the
    highest job growth rate of any Republican administration in 70 years,
    that had the lowest average unemployment in 20 years, the lowest average
    inflation in 30 years, the biggest decline in income inequality among
    working people in 27 years, the lowest combined rates of unemployment
    and inflation since Lyndon Johnson was President 28 years ago? If they
    had a record like that, what do you think they'd be saying? They'd be
    saying, ``It is morning in America.'' [Laughter] They'd be saying that
    the President can virtually levitate. [Laughter]
        Why? Why are they doing what they're doing? Why is the election in
    doubt? Why aren't we ahead in Texas in the polls? It is an affair of the
    heart. It is because we have practiced the politics of division for so
    long, we have tried to turn our opponents into aliens. We have been
    told, ``Oh, those Democrats, they don't really believe in work and being
    tough on crime and all that.'' This is an affair of the heart.
        And I tell you, this country does well when we find common ground,
    when we build bridges together, when we acknowledge it takes a village.
    And when we say we're on our own and our opponents are our enemies and
    they're no good and we need to be divided from one another, we always
    pay the price. Look at the history of the Alamo in the last 160 years.
    Does anyone doubt it is better now that we are joined together with our
    friends in Mexico and together with each other than it was 160 years
    ago?
        And so I ask you to get people to think differently and feel
    differently about this. Look at the budget choices. You bet I did veto
    their budget; it was bad for America. It would have divided us. And when
    they shut the Government down, I thought about the Alamo. They said,
    ``Oh, the President will cave; he won't be able to stand having the
    Government close.'' We had this economy rocking along. We were number
    one in automobile production for the first time since the seventies. And
    they were threatening to default on our debt and wreck the economy. They
    said, ``Oh, he'll blink.'' And I said, ``You know, I'd a lot rather see
    the American people hurt for 2 or 3 weeks or 2 or 3 months than 20 or 30
    years; shut her down. I'm not going to buy your budget; I'm not going to
    let you do it; it is wrong.''
        But you have to understand. What they believe the old politics of
    division is, ``We've got to have a tax cut, and so it's unfortunate but
    we'll just cut education and paralyze environmental protection and take
    away Medicaid's guarantee of health care to people with disabilities and
    poor children and wreck the Medicare program, because we've got to have
    this other thing; it's either/or.''
        I believe we can find common ground, we can balance the budget, have
    a targeted tax cut for people who really need it for education, for
    childrearing, for homebuying, for health care, and still protect
    education, the environment, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's common
    ground.
        Now, the old politics of division used welfare as a whipping boy,
    you know, ``Everybody on welfare is lazy; nobody wants to work.'' And
    then people on the other side said, ``Oh, no, no, they're good people;
    we've got to take care of their children.'' I said, ``Why do we have to
    choose between beating up on a system that doesn't work and protecting
    children? Why can't we do both?'' We have moved almost 2 million people
    from welfare to work. I signed a bill that protects health care and food
    and gives more for child care and then says we've got to create jobs for
    people who are able-bodied to change the welfare check to a paycheck.
    And I've got a plan to put another million jobs into the cities to
    create those jobs and then require people to take them. That's the new
    politics of common ground.
        The old politics of division on law and order was all, you know,
    ``Talk tough. Don't do anything, but talk tough. Get tough on
    criminals.'' And then the opponents would say, ``All they care about is
    being nice to people and trying to keep people out of trouble in the
    first place.'' I said, ``Well, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of.
    Why shouldn't we try to keep our kids out of the trouble in the first
    place and still do things that will be tough on serious criminals?''
        So we passed the crime bill to put 100,000 police on the street, to
    take assault weapons off the street, to tell fugitives and felons and
    stalkers they couldn't buy handguns and protect the rights of people who
    were hunters and sportsmen to have them, and to give our children
    something to say yes to in prevention programs and to support safe and
    drug-free schools. Why was it punishment or prevention? Why was it
    division? Why, if you wanted to help kids stay out of trouble, were you
    soft on crime? We proved you could do both. You know what?

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    We got 4 years of declining crime, the only Democratic ticket in history
    to be endorsed by every major law enforcement organization in the
    country because common ground is better than division and it works. It
    works.
        The biggest problem I see with this, as we go into the future, is
    that nearly every family I know, even people with very good incomes, has
    faced some conflict between their responsibilities as parents and their
    responsibility at work. Everywhere I go in this country people talk to
    me about it. I believe we have to create an America where you can
    succeed at home and work.
        This is a good example. When I was trying to pass the family leave
    law and Senator Dole and Congressman Gingrich were leading the fight
    against it, they said I was interfering in the economy; I would hurt the
    economy; I would burden the economy; we would undermine our recovery.
    We've got a higher rate of job growth than any Republican administration
    in 70 years, record numbers of new small businesses, and we've protected
    12 million families. I think we ought to help people succeed at home and
    at work. That's the new politics of common ground.
        I think we've done the right thing to help families with this new
    requirement of more educational television and a television rating
    system. I think we've done the right thing to try to fight against
    Republican cuts in the safe and drug-free schools program. We need more
    people out there telling kids that drugs are wrong, illegal, and can
    kill you, not fewer people. We don't need fewer people. And we did the
    right thing to be the first administration in history to stand up to the
    tobacco lobby and say, ``You can't advertise and sell cigarettes
    illegally to children anymore. You're killing them.'' It was the right
    thing to do.
        I believe we are doing the right thing whenever we work together.
    You know, they honestly believe on the other side that you can't grow
    the economy while protecting the environment. That's what they really
    believe. I'm not telling you they're bad people; they believe that. I
    know; I've talked to enough of them. They honestly believe it.
        But look at the record. We've taken tons--millions of tons of
    chemicals out of the air in the last 4 years. We have improved our
    drinking water. We have raised standards for our food. We've cleaned up
    lots of toxic waste dumps. We've protected more natural heritage. And
    the economy is growing faster because we can grow faster if we have
    sensible, proper environmental protection and public health. That's the
    right way to do that.
        I want you to just look around today. I'm telling you, that's what
    this is all about. If I were a Republican President--after all the
    rhetoric they've used--with a declining deficit, a growing economy, a
    declining crime rate, declining welfare rolls, no Russian missiles
    pointed at our kids, by the way, and a stronger America with a stronger
    military, they'd be saying it's morning in America. But they love to
    practice the politics of division.
        Look at the Alamo, folks. Think of Bosnia. Think of Northern
    Ireland. Think of the Middle East. Think of all those tribal wars now
    going on in Africa. Think of your own history. The great thing about
    this country is that in our best moments, we say, ``Our differences
    don't matter as much as our shared values. And everybody who believes in
    the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of
    Independence is part of our America. If you show up for work, if you
    show up for school, you do what you're supposed to do, we don't need to
    know anything else about you. You are part of our America.'' That is
    what I believe.
        So I want you to go out between now and Tuesday and say, ``Listen,
    this country is moving in the right direction. The President has good
    plans for the future, but most important, we have got to build a bridge
    to the future that is wide enough and strong enough for all of us to
    walk across, and we've got to do it together. That is the question. We
    must be together. Build common ground, reject division, and build that
    bridge with us.''
        Thank you, San Antonio. God bless you. And be there Tuesday.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:12 a.m. at the Alamo. In his remarks, he
    referred to Dolph Briscoe and Ann Richards, former Texas Governors;
    Carlos Truan, Texas State senator; Wilhelmina Delco, former Texas State
    representative; Charles Jones, candidate for Texas' 23d Congressional
    District; Victor Morales, Texas senatorial candidate; Garry Mauro, Texas
    land commissioner; Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-

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    ment Henry Cisneros' wife, Mary Alice; and entertainers Jimmy Smits,
    Esai Morales, Johnny Canales, Jeff Valdez, Liz Torres, and Tommy Lee
    Jones.