    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [November 4, 1996]
    [Pages 2055-2058]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Manchester, New Hampshire
    November 4, 1996

        The President. Thank you.
        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
        The President. Thank you.
        Audience member. Nice tie! [Laughter]
        The President. Thank you. I sort of like this tie myself. Thank you.
    It was given to me just this morning. [Laughter]
        A couple of weeks ago we were trying to plan how we would end this
    campaign--I hope I can say this without cracking up. [Laughter] And I
    said I would like to begin the last day of my last campaign in New
    Hampshire.
        Five years and one month ago today I came to New Hampshire saying
    that the world was changing, America was changing, and that we couldn't
    stay with the old politics, that our country was being paralyzed by all
    this name-calling and rhetoric out of Washington, dividing us when we
    needed to be pulling together, and thinking about all the incredible
    opportunities as well as the stiff challenges we faced. And I believed
    that if we changed the nature of politics in our Nation's Capital we
    could change America and we could come together and move forward, that
    we could create more opportunity and have more responsibility and we
    could come together in an American community. That's what I believed.
        Four years ago, all over this State, all kinds of people took me on
    faith. You heard what Dick Swett said, we are better off than we were 4
    years ago. We are moving in the right direction because of what he did.
    And a different kind of tone has overtaken the politics of New
    Hampshire. I was so happy and proud when I stood here on this stage this
    morning and I listened to Arnie and Joe and Dick and Jeanne Shaheen talk
    about what they wanted to do and why they were running and what they
    represented.
        And I heard, I guess it was Joe who said Warren Rudman said that the
    Democrats had become the moderate party. I think the Democrats have
    become the modern party as well, the party of the future. America has
    always

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    needed--at times of great changes in how we work and live and relate to
    each other and the rest of the world--a modern, moderate party, a
    commonsense but vital, vigorous, centrist party moving this country
    forward. That's what you see on this stage.
        And I was so proud--I heard Arnie speaking and she reminded me this
    morning that I first met her in an elevator here before the Democratic
    Convention in the '92 campaign and she didn't know me, but then no one
    else did either. [Laughter] And I was thinking how far Joe Keefe has
    come, how greatly he's matured, what a terrific speech he made. And
    they're going to be terrific Members of the Congress if you'll stick
    with them tomorrow and help them.
        I was thinking that the first time I ever met Jeanne Shaheen I
    thought she was a diamond waiting to be discovered, that if the people
    ever really got a good look at her, they would want her to serve in
    higher office. You have given her that chance, and tomorrow you're going
    to make her your Governor. And it will be a good time for New Hampshire.
        First time I met Dick Swett and Katrina and their children--you have
    to come to New Hampshire every 9 months if you want to meet all their
    children. [Laughter] I thought--somebody asked me today, ``You know,
    you're the first President in history ever to come to New Hampshire
    eight times in your term of office.'' I said, ``Well, I've got to keep
    up with Dick's family.'' [Laughter] I thought to myself, this man is the
    walking embodiment of family values.
        You remember back in '92 we had a toast and roast to raise money for
    the party, and you all virtually extorted all this money out of those of
    us who were running for President; you knew we'd show up and say nice
    things about Dick Swett. He knew that he could do very well in his
    campaign, raising money with all the candidates, showing up at the toast
    and roast. I stood up and said that I didn't come here to heap praise on
    him like all these panderers did who were running against me for
    President. I came up here to wipe his windshield on his car. [Laughter]
        I want to say to you that Dick Swett stood for reducing the deficit,
    reducing the crime rate, for making Congress live under the same laws it
    imposes on the American people before it was the popular thing to do--
    before it was the popular thing to do. He would be a positive, uniting
    force in Congress, not a divisive, rancorous force. He would be a force
    for generosity, for the better part of the spirit of the people of New
    Hampshire, for the better part of your future, not a force telling you
    how bad this person or the other one or the other one is, but a person
    who would be bringing us together. I'm telling you, that's what we need
    more than anything in America today. We need to stop the insults and get
    on the issues and building our future and going forward, and that's what
    Dick Swett would be.
        Now, you know that compared to 4 years ago, in terms of the economy,
    the lowest crime rate in 10 years, declining welfare rolls, rising child
    support collection, in almost every way of indicating the character of
    American life, we are moving forward into the 21st century.
        You don't have to take me on faith anymore; you don't have to say,
    well, that sounds like a good approach. We tried our approach, and they
    have fought it every step of the way. And you know which one works. And
    New Hampshire is now a living example of what happens when we work
    together to help each other make the most of our own lives. And make no
    mistake about it, that is what is at issue here. With all these big, big
    issues we fought about--when you hear us talking about the budget or
    education or the environment, the fundamental core issue is whether
    there are some things on the edge of this great new century and new
    millennium we must do together. If we want every American to have a
    chance to live up to his or her God-given ability, if we want America to
    be the strongest force for peace and freedom and prosperity in the
    world, if we want America to be a community that's growing together and
    going forward together, there are some things we must do together.
        One thing we have, I hope, dispelled in New Hampshire and throughout
    America is that this has nothing to do with liberal and conservative. It
    is our administration that has reduced the deficit 4 years in a row for
    the first time in the 20th century. The Government is the smallest it's
    been since John Kennedy came to New Hampshire as the President of the
    United States. We have reduced more programs and regulations and
    privatized more Government services than our Republican predecessors.
    But we believe there are some things we must do together. They say,
    ``You're on your own.'' We say, ``Let's build a bridge to the 21st
    century

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    together that we can all walk across together.'' All of these issues are
    in that one choice.
        And let me say this goes beyond party, too. At every point of great
    change in the history of this Nation someone has to step up and say
    we're going to meet this challenge and we're going to go forward
    together. And when we do we will be living closer to our ideals. It
    hasn't always been the Democratic Party; Abraham Lincoln gave his life
    to save the Union and end slavery. Theodore Roosevelt devoted his
    Presidency to making America change in a way that would help to preserve
    and enhance our values in the face of the industrial revolution. It was
    Roosevelt who said it's wrong for these children to be working 70 hours
    a week in factories when they ought to be in school; that it's wrong to
    tear up all of our natural resources; it's wrong to let monopolies
    destroy every small-business person in the country and end the free
    enterprise system. It hasn't always been the Democratic Party.
        But you remember what they did on the other side when they had the
    majority in Congress. They passed a budget that was divisive,
    destructive, and would have taken us back to the past. It is now our
    responsibility to keep on this path that I charted with you in New
    Hampshire in 1992 because we are the only people who are out there
    advocating that. That's why we need Arnie Arnesen; that's why we need
    Joe Keefe; that's why we need Dick Swett; and Jeanne Shaheen in the
    Governor's office. That's why we need them.
        Your vote is going to decide whether you return to the Congress the
    majority of people who were prepared to shut the Government down unless
    we agreed to dismantle the Medicaid program, to revoke the national
    standards--even the standards on the quality of nursing home care--
    revoke the commitment we've had for 30 years to provide health care to
    families with members with severe disabilities so they could continue to
    live middle class lifestyles as they worked hard. Your vote will decide
    that.
        They voted for a budget that cut education--student loans to Head
    Start--for the first time in modern history, that for the first time in
    25 years abandoned our national bipartisan commitment to preserving the
    environment and instead put shackles on our ability to preserve clean
    air and clean water. And when we wouldn't accept it, they shut the
    Government down twice. Now, that was their approach. They said my
    approach was wrong, but you see what the results are.
        You know now what our approach is. You know now what their approach
    is. The choice is there for you. Are we going to finish the job of
    balancing the budget while investing in our children and protecting
    Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, or blow a hole in
    the deficit? Your vote will decide. Your vote will decide whether we
    will let the family leave law wither on the vine because they oppose it,
    or expand it and say, you know, you ought to be able to take a little
    time off from work without losing their jobs to go see your children's
    teacher twice a year and take your family members to the doctor.
        Your vote will decide whether we continue our work of putting
    100,000 police on the street. Remember when I was here in Manchester not
    very long ago, visiting the neighborhood where the crime rate had been
    lowered because there were more police on the street? They opposed us in
    putting 100,000 police on the street. Then they said it would never
    happen. Well, we've now funded about half of them. They voted against
    it. Then they eliminated it in their budget. Then they tried to shrink
    it again. They do not believe that we should work together. I can't
    think of anything more important than to make our children and our
    families safe on their streets, in their schools, in their homes, in
    their neighborhoods, reclaiming our streets for law-abiding citizens.
        Your vote will decide. Your vote will decide whether we continue to
    support the safe and drug-free schools program. The only indicator in
    this country right now, social indicator that's not going in the right
    direction, with welfare down and crime down and out-of-wedlock pregnancy
    down for the first time in 20 years and child support collections up and
    drug use overall down and cocaine use down 30 percent--the only
    indicator that's not going in the right direction is drug use by young
    people under 18. I have done my best to dramatically increase the
    programs at the grassroots level helping people to tell our kids drugs
    are illegal, drugs are wrong, drugs will kill you. The safe and drug-
    free schools program is putting people in uniforms before young children
    at early ages to give them a chance to stay out of trouble in the first
    place. But they cut the program dramatically. I will expand it. I
    believe we have a common interest in helping schools all over

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    America to reach our children at an early age, to support the values we
    should all be communicating and keeping our kids out of trouble. Your
    vote will decide. Your vote will decide.
        Your vote will decide whether we or they are right when I supported
    and initiated and they opposed the first effort ever by our National
    Government to tell the big tobacco companies they had to stop
    advertising, marketing, and distributing cigarettes illegally to
    children because 3,000 a day start smoking and 1,000 will die soon
    because of it. Your vote will decide.

    [At this point, an audience member required medical attention.]

        The President. Yes, we need a doctor here. My medical team's here.
    We'll be right there.
        You will have to decide that. And folks--yes, here they are. You
    will have to decide that. And I want you, when you walk out of here
    today, to remember everything that's happened in this country since I
    first came here in 1992. Remember that and think about it tomorrow when
    you get up. And think about these four fine people behind me and think
    about what your responsibilities are. You have a chance to seize the
    most brilliant future in American history. The best days of this country
    are still to be lived. But we have to make the right decisions. And you
    have to make the right decisions.
        In what I suppose has become the most famous of my political
    speeches, I said in Dover, New Hampshire, in 1992 that if you would give
    me a chance to be President, I would be with you until the last dog
    dies. Now, folks, there's a lot of life in this old dog. And I want you
    to seize this day for our children, for our future, for the right sort
    of policies especially in education. We're going to open the doors of
    college education to all. We're going to hook up all these classrooms to
    the Internet. We're going to teach all of our young children to read.
    We're going to continue to reform health care so that more and more and
    more Americans can afford it and don't lose it when they're in difficult
    circumstances. We're going to continue to grow this economy while we
    balance the budget and protect the environment.
        These are the things we can do together. We're going to continue to
    make our streets safe and our children's future brighter if you will
    seize the day and help us build that bridge to the 21st century.
        God bless you, New Hampshire. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow.
    Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:55 a.m. outside the Merrimack Restaurant.
    In his remarks, he referred to Dick Swett, New Hampshire senatorial
    candidate; Deborah (Arnie) Arnesen and Joseph F. Keefe, candidates for
    New Hampshire's Second and First Congressional Districts, respectively;
    Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate; and former
    Senator Warren Rudman.