    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [September 12, 1996]
    [Pages 1561-1563]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic Dinner in Beverly Hills, California
    September 12, 1996

        Thank you very much. Thank you, Hillary. I'm glad you had a good
    day. [Laughter]
        I want to thank all of you for being here, but let me say a special
    word of thanks to Ron and to Jan Burkle for opening their home to us.
    We've made a lot of jokes about it tonight, but this place is a national
    treasure, and it's a great honor for us to be here. And I'm grateful for
    their friendship. Thank you, Ron, so much for everything.
        Thank you, David Geffen, for telling us the story of your mother,
    for living the dreams of your parents, and for being not only a great
    citizen but an honest and true friend--always

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    tells me exactly what you think--[laughter]--always in the spirit of
    friendship and loyalty to your country. And I thank you so much.
        I thank the Hollywood Women's Political Committee for your role in
    this evening. I want to thank everyone who worked on this event, all the
    stagehands and everybody else who made Tom Hanks miserable up here.
    [Laughter] Did you love seeing Tom Hanks? I visualized him, fistfuls of
    Oscars, miserable up here with nothing happening. [Laughter]
        Tom, you have suffered so much tonight it's okay with me if you go
    and do ``Primary Colors'' now. [Laughter] As a matter of fact, I'd like
    to see somebody make some money out of that thing using their own name.
    [Laughter]
        Thank you, Chicago. Thank you, Tom Scott. Thank you, Paula
    Poundstone, you were especially good tonight. I thank Aaron Neville and
    his brothers and his band. I thank the Eagles for helping us to live in
    the present and the past at the same time.
        Thank you, Maya, you were magnificent as always. I don't know why
    anybody would want to take ``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' out of
    the library. I think every child's heart would sing more who read it and
    the brave story of this remarkable woman.
        And thank you, Barbra, for being my friend and for sharing your
    extraordinary gift. I remember once when I was a young man, I always
    wondered what it would be like to really be friends with someone who had
    been given a gift from God that was truly breathtaking, you know, to
    have moves like Magic Johnson, or do things that the Olympic champions
    do. I think it's remarkable that Barbra Streisand loves her country and
    is a good friend to so many of us but especially to me, for doing this 4
    years ago and coming back tonight. I think it's a good luck charm, and I
    thank you.
        Ladies and gentlemen, you came here tonight; you have generously
    contributed. There are many people here from our campaign and from the
    Democratic Party; I won't mention them all. I will say that this is our
    chairman, Don Fowler's birthday, and this is the best birthday party
    he's had in a long time. [Laughter] And the rest of us will be miserable
    thinking of an encore next year. You've earned the right to be liberated
    from a speech, and I'm about to do it for you.
        But I do want you to think about this: We are living through a time
    of unbelievable change in the way we work and we live and we relate to
    each other and the rest of the world. Just, every one of you, think how
    much what you do for a living has changed with technology, with the
    explosion of discoveries in the last few years.
        And the thing that bothered me most in 1992, more than the stagnant
    economy, more than the rising crime rate, more than the threat of even
    the social divisions, was that people's hearts were hardening about
    America. This is a place that depends upon faith and hope and
    imagination. It is an idea. And we've been around for 220 years
    struggling to inch closer and closer and closer to what's in the
    Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence,
    because there's always been enough faith and hope and vision to go on.
    And it seemed that people were really beginning to lose that.
        What I want you to do tonight is to leave here feeling good, because
    I've just been on a train trip; I've just been on another one of our bus
    trips with Hillary and Al and Tipper, where he was doing his macarena
    thing. And thank you, Tom Hanks, for all the wonderful things you said
    about unquestionably the finest Vice President who ever served this
    country. Thank you.
        But on this train trip in these little towns there would be
    thousands of people coming up, cheering and singing and waiving their
    flags. And whenever we stopped, in all the stops we made, there were
    only two crowds of under 10,000 and there were several of 20,000 and
    more. On Labor Day I went to De Pere, Wisconsin, a relatively small
    community of under 30,000, but there were more than 30,000 people at our
    Labor Day rally there in the suburb of Green Bay.
        And today, just today I finished a swing out West at the Morris
    Dailey Elementary School in Fresno, and the Chaffey Community College in
    Rancho Cucamonga--I thought I'd never say it. [Laughter] And there were
    not only large numbers of people there, but they were all different
    kinds of people, proud to be together, believing in the future of their
    children, believing in their own future--young people. At this community
    college, there must have been about 20,000 people there, and they were
    on fire because they know that this is a country in better shape than it
    was 4 years ago. They know that we have a path to the future that we can
    go.

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    And they know we can go there together. And that's just the way they
    want it. And I'm convinced the majority of our people believe that.
        So what you have done tonight is to make it possible for us to carry
    on that fight not just in the race for the Presidency but in all the
    others that embody the choice between building a bridge to the future
    and trying to build one to the past. We are just 4 years away from a new
    millennium, 4 more years away from proving that America has an unlimited
    capacity to be forever young and to keep its best days in front of it.
    And you have made it possible for us to pursue that with vigor and
    confidence and good heart.
        And I just want you to think about those children who were up on the
    stage tonight, because whenever I finish speaking and I go down to those
    crowds and I look at young people who believe in their own potential and
    who do not like the idea that we have to be divided and we have to leave
    some behind and who do believe it takes a village to make the most of
    all of our lives, I know why we're all doing this.
        That's why you're here tonight. And from the bottom of my heart, I
    thank you. And I ask you to remember that there are still 54 more days
    before anybody can celebrate anything--54 more days of fighting for the
    future of the children who closed this wonderful performance tonight.
        Thank you all, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:05 p.m. at the Burkle residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to recording and film executive David Geffen; actor
    Tom Hanks; musical groups Chicago, the Aaron Neville Band, and the
    Eagles; saxophonist Tom Scott; comedienne Paula Poundstone; author Maya
    Angelou; singer Barbra Streisand; NBA basketball player Earvin (Magic)
    Johnson; and Donald L. Fowler, national chairman, Democratic National
    Committee. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.