[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[September 1, 1996]
[Pages 1454-1459]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Little Rock, Arkansas
September 1, 1996

    The President. Thank you. I'm hoarse, folks, I can't shout over you. 
You've got to help me tonight; I'm a little hoarse. Oh, I'm so glad to 
see you. Thank you for coming. Thank you.
    I want to thank all of those who made this night possible--thank my 
longtime friend Joe Purvis for bringing Little Joe and the BK's here; 
the magnificent Philander Smith Choir, thank you very much; Mayor 
Dailey, Mayor Hays, Judge Villines, thank you.
    I want to thank the young children from Gibbs Magnet School and from 
Clinton Elementary School for these signs. Thank you. Hold up your 
signs, kids. The children made all these signs. Let's give them a hand. 
They did a great job. [Applause] Thank you.
    I thank Congressman Ray Thorton for being here tonight, for his 
service to our State. I think he's the only person in the history of 
Arkansas who represented two entirely different regions of our State in 
the Congress, president of our two largest universities, a very 
distinguished American citizen, and a great future judge on the Arkansas 
Supreme Court. Thank you, Ray, and good luck to you and Betty Jo.
    I thank my dear friend Judy Collins for being here tonight. Wasn't 
she magnificent? Thirty-two years ago this month, I went to hear Judy 
Collins sing at the George Washington University auditorium when I was a 
freshman at Georgetown. And I thought that I had never heard a voice 
like that, never would again. I talked about it for days. And if anybody 
told me then--32 years ago--we'd both be here tonight, I wouldn't have 
believed it. But I like it, and I'm glad to see her. I should tell you 
that she was 8 years old at the time of that concert. [Laughter]
    I want to thank my good friends Mack McLarty and Rodney Slater for 
being here. They are representing all the Arkansans who are serving you 
in Washington with great distinction, as have they.
    Finally, let me say--I see so many other folks here--just my 
friends, my supporters, legislators, county officials, city officials, 
personal friends. I'm delighted to see all of you here. I was looking at 
David Pryor. He said I met him when I was 19; I did--30 years ago and a 
few odd months, in the hot summer Arkansas campaign of 1966 on the 
street of a small county seat in south Arkansas. And I thought, that 
guy's the best politician I've ever seen. [Laughter] He had more moves 
than Magic Johnson working that street, and he still does.
    And let me say to you, David, and to Barbara, I remember when you 
were in the snows of New Hampshire. Many of you were also there. I 
remember when you stood with me when we were dropping in the polls, and 
people said the campaign was over. And I remember how you stood by me in 
the first 2 years of our Presidency under all manner of assault to stand 
up for what was right for America. You have done a lot of things for all 
of us to love you, David Pryor. But I will never forget that when it 
wasn't at all clear that I would be here on this night doing this in 
this way, you were always there because you thought it was right. And I 
will love you until the day I die. Thank you, and God bless you.
    Ladies and gentlemen, 20 years ago this year when the people of our 
State elected me attorney general, I had my first reception in January 
of 1977--nearly 20 years ago--Hillary and I did right here in the Old 
Statehouse. And I remember what a cold and icy January it was--do you 
remember, Mack? All of my friends from north Arkansas just sort of slid 
down here on the ice and came to the reception. [Laughter]
    Over the years I have been back here many times because I love this 
building. In 1979, in

[[Page 1455]]

my first term, I asked the legislature to give us some money to restore 
it to its original condition so it would be ready by the time we turned 
150 years old as a State, in June of 1986, and they did. This is a 
treasure for me because here on this wonderful lawn, under these grand 
trees, in front of this great building, we can live again, all of us, 
the history of our State, and a big part of the history of our Nation.
    That's why I came here almost 5 years ago--5 years ago last month--
to declare my candidacy. And I used to be able to do this from memory, 
but you know, in spite of all David said about me being young, I'm 50 
now, I've got an AARP card--[laughter]--and that means you all have to 
cut me some slack. So I brought a few notes here.
    Five years ago when I was here, I said when we started this campaign 
for the Presidency, ``All of you in different ways have brought me here 
today, to step beyond a life and a job I love, to make a commitment to a 
larger cause, preserving the American dream, restoring the hopes of the 
forgotten middle class, reclaiming the future for our children.''
    In November of 1992, when I was declared the President-elect, I was 
right here again in the spot that embodies for me all that is best in 
our State and public service.
    So I wanted to come here just as quick as I could get here, as I 
begin the last campaign of my life, unless I decide to run for the 
school board some day. [Laughter] And I want to say to all of you, you 
made possible something extraordinary in these last 4 years. And I came 
here to give you an accounting and ask you to rear back one more time 
and go with me through November and into the next 4 years. Will you do 
that? [Applause]
    Folks, 4 years ago we had to weather all those snide charges about a 
small Southern State; we had to listen to all those people trying to 
rain on our parade. And I had to look at all those people kind of look 
at me askance when I said it seemed to me that if we took the philosophy 
of governing that we had embraced here, not who's to blame but what are 
we going to do about it, it would work in Washington, too.
    Four years ago we had high unemployment, stagnant wages, crime and 
welfare rolls rising, cynicism on the rise, problems unmet, middle class 
dreams of America in danger. Four years later, after 4 years of getting 
rid of ``who's to blame'' and asking what are we going to do about it, 
look where we are.
    With a simple but profound strategy--opportunity for everybody, 
responsibility from everybody, and everybody that believes in the 
Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights is 
part of our American community and entitled to go with us into the 
future--with that simple strategy, we have over 10 million new jobs; 
almost 4\1/2\ million new homeowners; wages are rising again for the 
first time in a decade; 4 years of declining crime; 1.8 million fewer 
people on welfare; 10 million Americans are about to get an increase 
because of the rise in the minimum wage on October 1.
    Twelve million Americans have gotten to take a little time off for 
the birth of a child or a sick parent without losing their job because 
of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Fifteen million of our hardest 
pressed Americans have gotten a tax cut to help raise their children. 
And every single small business in America has been made eligible for a 
substantial reduction in taxes if they invest more in their business to 
grow the business more and help grow our economy.
    Forty million Americans have had their retirement savings made more 
secure after the terrible, damaging years of the 1980's. Fifty million 
Americans are breathing cleaner air. And, yes, Senator Pryor said it 
all: We fought a long, hard battle for health care and paid a big price 
for it. But when I signed the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, 25 million 
Americans were told, ``You cannot lose your health insurance because 
somebody in your family's been sick or because you have to change 
jobs.''
    So I say to you, my friends here at home, what I said on that train 
trip and on that bus trip, which I loved because I got to see all those 
folks that look just like you, who are just like you, that made this 
country go, the kind of people the President doesn't often see if he 
just gets in Air Force One and then jumps in the limo and goes to the 
event--you get on a train, you get on a bus and you see the people that 
make this country go. And I'm telling you, we're better off than we were 
4 years ago, and we are on the right track to the 21st century.
    Now, I want to say----
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Sounds good. Thank you.

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    But let me say what I said at the convention one more time. You all 
taught me something when I had to run for reelection as Governor all the 
time. [Laughter] I remember one time I was at a rally in 1984, trying to 
get reelected, and I gave a great speech about what a good job I'd done. 
An old boy came up to me after it was over and said, ``Well, so what, 
Bill, that's what we paid you for.'' [Laughter] ``What are you going to 
do next time?''
    And so I say, I realize that that's what you paid me for. And that's 
why when I spoke to the country and to our Democratic Party in Chicago 
on Thursday night, I tried to lay out what I thought the stakes were in 
this election. My record is relevant and so is Senator Dole's, but only 
insofar as it gives you some guidance about what we'll do in the next 4 
years, because we can't undo the past if it's bad and we can't relive it 
no matter how good it is. We have to think about tomorrow.
    But I will say this, with all respect: That's what this choice is. 
The choice is whether we're going to build a bridge to the past or build 
a bridge to the future. I want you to help me build a bridge to the 21st 
century. Will you do that? [Applause]
    Now, folks, you know what kind of bridge I want to build to the 
future, and I don't have to tell you about the details. I want to build 
a bridge to the future that everybody has a chance to be a part of, and 
that means we have to do a lot more than we have done as a people to 
make sure every single person in this country, not only the children but 
the adults as well, have access to lifetime education and that it's the 
best in the world. We have to do that.
    You think what it would mean to Arkansas and to Arkansans if we 
passed a tax cut that said you can have the equivalent of a community 
college tuition for 2 years in your pocket as a tax credit so that 
everybody in this country can have 2 years of education after high 
school, make it just as universal as a high school education is today.
    Think what it would mean to Arkansans if we said every family in 
this State, except those like me who don't need it, can have a deduction 
for the cost of college tuition, any tuition after high school up to 
$10,000 a year.
    Think what it would mean to the people of this State if we could say 
to every unemployed person and every underemployed person, we want you 
to have access to a new kind of ``GI bill,'' a ``GI bill'' for America's 
workers, because this economy changes a lot and even when we're creating 
jobs, some people are always being left behind. So we're going to give 
you $2,600 a year to spend as you see fit getting an education and 
finding a new job so you can get a better job with higher skills and a 
brighter future. Think what that would mean if we could do that here for 
our people.
    Think what it would mean when we hook up every classroom and every 
library in every school in this State, not only with computers and 
trained teachers but hook them up to the information superhighway so 
that for the first time in the history of America in the poorest school 
district in Arkansas, they can get the same information in the same time 
with the same quality as people in the richest schools in this country 
do. Think what that will mean to the people of Arkansas and to our 
children.
    And I want to build a bridge to the 21st century that keeps this 
economy going. That means we have to keep trading more. That means we 
have to keep investing more in technology and research. You heard 
Christopher Reeve talk at the Democratic Convention about that. It's not 
just a matter of humanity, it's a matter of our future. We are 
generating enormous opportunities, economic opportunities, as we search 
for the solution to medical mysteries.
    We've doubled the life expectancy for people with HIV in 4 years. We 
now have seen for the first time in laboratory animals, animals that had 
their spines severed and were paralyzed, getting movement back in their 
lower limbs. It won't be long before we can do that for people. But we 
have to keep investing if we want to do that.
    The Internet--a lot of the kids in this audience just routinely hook 
into the Internet. The Internet got started as a Government research 
project. We figured out how to do it, then we got out of the way and let 
the private sector take it over. But we have to keep investing. And I 
want you to support that kind of future that will grow the economy.
    And let me say this: I want you to support us in our effort to 
balance the budget in the right way--in the right way. Now, when they 
sent me a budget, they said, ``Here's our balanced budget. We're going 
to have this huge tax cut and give it to some people that don't need it. 
And you're going to have to take it,

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or we're going to shut the Government down. And oh, by the way, we're 
going to change Medicare into a two-class system so that the oldest, the 
poorest, and the sickest seniors in this country get the shaft. And oh, 
by the way, we're going to remove Medicaid's guarantee of health care to 
pregnant women and little children and the elderly in nursing homes and 
families with people with a disability in them. And oh, by the way, even 
though we're moving into the 21st century, we're going to cut back on 
education, everything from Head Start to college loans. And we're going 
to cut back on protecting the environment. And if you don't do it, we'll 
shut the Government down.''
    I said, ``Let her rip. I'm not going to put that on the American 
people.'' But I did say also, ``I'm not going to talk about who's to 
blame. You all won the Congress fair and square. You want to balance the 
budget, that's the right thing to do for America. Let's just balance 
that budget in the right way.''
    Now, let me remind all of you here what that means. I hear people 
all the time--all these political consultants tell you, ``Don't talk to 
people about balancing the budget. If things are going good, they're 
bored with it.'' Here's why you ought to care about it: because if we 
don't balance the budget and we do something that increases the deficit, 
what does that mean? We have to go borrow money while you're trying to 
borrow money. What does that mean? Your home mortgage, your car payment, 
your credit card payments go up. What else does it mean? It means 
businesses have to pay more to borrow money so they don't borrow as 
much; they don't invest as much; they don't create as many new jobs.
    Arkansas has got a low unemployment now. But I want to see that 
unemployment rate spread to every county and every community that 
doesn't have a low unemployment rate yet. And we can do it, but we've 
got to keep it coming down.
    Now, along comes our opponents who said for 2 years all they wanted 
to do was balance the budget. And they say, ``No, no, no. Forget about 
that. Vote for us. We're going to give you a bigger tax cut.'' That's 
what they say, 5 times as big.
    Here's the problem: Number one, if you hated the budget I vetoed 
last time, wait until you see this one. This one will take bigger cuts 
out of Medicare, Medicaid, education, the environment, and worker 
pension funds. It's wrong. And you don't want me to do that, do you?
    Audience members. No-o-o!
    The President. Even then, they won't pay for it. And the deficit 
will go up again. And that means higher interest rates and all those bad 
things.
    Now, let me ask you a question, just a little old question we might 
ask at a country crossroads at home: Would you go to the bank and borrow 
money to give yourself a tax cut?
    Audience members. No-o-o!
    The President. Well, why would you hire somebody to do that for you? 
You wouldn't do that. You wouldn't do that.
    Now, there's another alternative, but let me get down to that. I 
know--I learned a long time--I remember one time President Reagan came 
right here to this spot and gave a speech for the Republicans and tried 
to tell them they needed a different Governor--1984--and I'm glad you 
all didn't listen. [Laughter] And I know that even a President from 
Arkansas can't tell people from here how to vote, so I don't want you to 
do this for me, I want you to do it for you.
    But you've got Winston Bryant and Vic Snyder over here trying to get 
into the Senate and the House, with Boyce Davis and Marion Berry. And I 
want to tell you something. If you want this done right, if you want me 
to do more than say no, if you want me to be able to say yes to the 
right kind of balanced budget and the kind of programs that I advocated 
when I spoke to the country in Chicago on Thursday night, then send Vic 
Snyder to the House and send Winston Bryant to the Senate, and give us a 
chance to grow this country in the right way. This is terribly 
important.
    Let me say just something else real briefly. It's not enough to 
create opportunity; we also have to have more responsibility. The other 
guys, they talked a lot about welfare reform and hating the Government, 
but we reduced the Government to its smallest size in 30 years. And we 
reduced the welfare rolls by 1.8 million. But I signed that welfare 
reform bill, and I was proud to do it because--here's the new deal--
there's a lot of legislators here, so you all listen to this. Here's the 
new deal. This deal says, for people who are poor and their children, 
eligible for welfare, you still get guaranteed health care, guaranteed 
food stamps, and guaranteed child care if you go to work. But the

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income check can now be given to the States, and the States can decide 
whether to continue the income check or whether to develop a job program 
that will put more people into jobs. And they have to do that.
    Now, here's what I want to say to you folks: Now this is not a 
political issue anymore. Welfare is no longer an issue that 
conservatives can condemn liberals over, that politicians can condemn 
poor people over. We have gotten rid of the system people say they don't 
like. But if you want to require somebody with kids to feed to go to 
work and require them to do it, they better have some work there to go 
to. That is the issue now. We have a responsibility to create these 
jobs. And we have to build a bridge to the 21st century that puts people 
to work who have never had a chance to go to work before.
    It brings me to the other person over here I want to talk about. The 
biggest new job States will have to perform is figuring out a humane and 
decent and honorable way to create work for people on welfare who are 
able-bodied. It is not simple. It is not easy. And every time you vote 
for a Governor, a lieutenant governor, a State official, a legislator, 
you ought to ask yourself: What kind of person am I electing, and who is 
most likely to be able to be most energetic in growing the economy 
overall and trying to figure out specifically how to do these new deals, 
these new jobs, especially welfare reform? I'll tell you what the answer 
to that is. The answer to that is Charlie Cole Chaffin, and you ought to 
make her the Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas.
    I want to just say one other thing about this responsibility 
business. I never believed for a minute what so many Americans did, that 
we couldn't do anything about crime. And when I went around the country, 
started running for President, I went to town after town where the crime 
rate was going down. And I asked them, ``Why did the crime rate go 
down?'' And I talked to the police officers. They said, ``Well, we put 
more police on the streets. We got them out of the cars. We've got them 
working in the neighborhoods. We've got them working with the kids. And 
it's working.'' And I said, ``What else do you need?'' And they said, 
``Well, we could use a little help with these assault weapons, because 
we don't have them. And we could use a little other help.''
    So here's what we did. We passed a crime bill that's putting 100,000 
police on the street. The other guys voted against it. Think about this 
in this race for Congress. Think about this in the race for Congress and 
Senators. The other party led the fight against it. Then they tried to 
repeal the 100,000 police. Even after the crime rate had gone down for 3 
years, they still tried to stop us from doing it.
    And we're halfway home now, and we need to finish that. We've got 4 
years of declining crime rates. If we had 4 more years of declining 
crime rates, they might be down where we could all live with it. And I 
want you to stay with a strategy that's working. Again, send Winston 
Bryant and Vic Snyder to Congress, and let's keep the 100,000 police 
coming.
    Now, the last thing I want to say is, you taught me--not the other 
way around--that when we work together we never lose. When we treat each 
other with respect we always win. When we behave with dignity and honor, 
we're always ahead. That's still a big problem. You have no idea how 
much time I spend as President dealing with foreign policy problems 
caused because people in other countries insist on killing each other 
because they're different from one another. You have no idea.
    What is Bosnia about? What is the crisis in Northern Ireland about? 
What is the Middle East about? What are all these tribal wars in Africa 
about? Just something about people, if you let them go unrestrained, 
that makes them think that their lives mean more when they can look down 
on their neighbors, and they'll even go to the point of killing them. 
And pretty soon they get to killing one another, and they forget why 
they started fighting. They just can't quit anymore.
    Now, that's why I react so strongly when churches burn in our 
country and in our State. It's wrong. That's why I got so upset the 
other day when those African-American Special Forces personnel went home 
to their barracks in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and saw those swastikas 
on their doors. Now, folks, you read every week about some foreign 
policy crisis I'm dealing with. And I bet a lot of you think, you know, 
I wonder what Bill's thinking about that; he didn't learn much about 
that when he was Governor. I tell you one thing I know, if at midnight 
tonight I call those Special Forces and I tell them to be halfway around 
the world by noon tomorrow and put their lives on the line for

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you, they will do it. They do not deserve to have swastikas on their 
doors. This is not right. This is not right.
    So I guess what I'd like to say is we talk about this ``it takes a 
village'' business, but it really is important. You've got to really 
decide, and the people of this country have to decide. Do you think we 
have to go forward together and that the role of the Government is to be 
a part of our national village to give people the tools they need to 
make the most of their own lives? Or do you think we'd be better off 
with a sort of ``you're on your own'' philosophy? That's also a big part 
of this election.
    I know that if we go forward together, if we get more opportunity 
for everybody and more responsibility from everybody, our best days are 
still ahead.
    But I know one thing: You have got to be committed, every single one 
of you, to building that kind of a bridge. So think about this: All of 
you have been with me all of these years; this is our last go-round with 
the highest stakes for the largest number of people. The kind of country 
we'll be at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium will be 
determined by this election. What this country looks like when our 
children and our grandchildren are our age will be determined by the 
decisions we make in this election.
    I have no right to ask you for anything for me; you have already 
given me more than I can ever repay. But for the sake of our children, 
our State, and our beloved country, one more time will you help me build 
that bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]
    Thank you. God bless you. Let's go get it.

Note: The President spoke at 6:38 p.m. at the Old Statehouse. In his 
remarks, he referred to Joe Purvis, chairman, Clinton Birthplace 
Foundation, Hope, AR; Mayor Jim Dailey of Little Rock; Mayor Patrick 
Henry Hays of North Little Rock; Buddy Villines, Pulaski County judge; 
Betty Jo Thorton, wife of State Representative Ray Thorton; Barbara 
Pryor, wife of Senator David Pryor; Winston Bryant, Arkansas senatorial 
candidate; and Vic Snyder, Boyce Davis, and Marion Berry, candidates for 
Arkansas' Second, Third, and First Congressional Districts, 
respectively.