[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[October 16, 1996]
[Pages 1857-1859]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in San Diego, California
October 16, 1996

    The President. Thank you, San Diego. Thank you for being here 
tonight. Thank you for your support and your concern for our country. 
You had a pretty good seat at the debate, didn't you?
    Audience members. Yes!

[[Page 1858]]

    The President The first thing I want to say is, I hope you were 
proud of your fellow Californians who were the citizens on that debate. 
They did a good job. They asked good questions and made me feel good 
about it.
    I want to thank the people who are here with us tonight. Thank you, 
Deputy Mayor Valerie Stallings, for your comments and for being here. 
Thank you, Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis. Thank you, Congressman Bob 
Filner, the best advocate this county ever had. If you had any idea how 
much time Bob Filner spends burning my ear about something for this 
area, you would double his pay and cut his hours. It's amazing what he 
does. I also want to say a special word of appreciation to Peter 
Navarro, who is also running for Congress, and I want you to help him 
get elected. Stand up, Peter. We have some other congressional 
candidates in the audience. I know Dan Farrell, Rita Tamerius, Darity 
Wesley--are they here still? Good for you. Thank you for running.
    Thank you, Howard Wayne, for running for the Assembly. I know you're 
here. Thank you, Representative Richard Katz, for being here. And Susan 
Davis, thank you for being here. Thank you, State senator and the leader 
of the State senate, Senator Lockyer. Thank you for being here. And 
thank you, Kathleen Connell, for your leadership in the State 
controller's office.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to join me in thanking the people 
who provided our music. The Lincoln High School Gospel Choir, where are 
they? The Scripps Ranch High School Marching Band--that's how we build a 
crowd, you know. You bring a band and all their relatives come and their 
friends. It's great. And Little Feat, weren't they great? Give Little 
Feat a hand. [Applause] They were terrific.
    Folks, I'm so glad to see you here tonight. I'm so glad to see so 
many young people here tonight. It's your future we're fighting for.
    You know, I have had a lot of good and some very moving days in 
California since I have been President. I've had a lot of great days in 
this county since I first started coming here as a candidate. And I was 
thinking tonight--hoping that I would get some questions about it--but I 
want to say to you, the people of this county have worked with our 
administration, and that's why we've been able to double the border 
guards here, why we've been able to invest in cleaning up the 
environment here, why we've been able to help put more police on the 
street here, why we've been able to guarantee that there will be more 
contracts with that shipyard here, so that those folks who asked me not 
to forget them will have jobs into the 21st century. And I thank all of 
you who had anything to do with that.
    You know, tonight you heard two very different visions of our 
future. And what you also heard was what I think is the last debate I'll 
ever be in as a candidate--unless I run for the school board some day. 
[Laughter] But while it was my last debate, I hope it was the beginning 
of a lot of conversations that all of you will have about what our 
country is going to be like in the 21st century. There are enormous 
practical consequences to the ideas that we have, to whether you really 
believe that we're better off on our own or whether we're better off 
when we work together to give each other the tools to make the most of 
our own lives and our families and our communities.
    There's a lot of significance to whether you believe we should build 
a bridge to the future we can all walk across, or just show people the 
valley and say, ``I hope you can find some way to get over it;'' whether 
you believe that we're out there on our own because the Government is 
intrinsically our enemy or whether you think that the Government is just 
another part of this great partnership we call America. And Hillary was 
right: it does take a village to raise a child and build a community and 
build a future.
    I want all of you to know, especially the young people that--I want 
you to know that, as someone who is not so young anymore, I am more 
idealistic today about the promise of this country than I was the day I 
took the oath of office as President. I have more confidence today in 
our ability to work together to make good things happen for America than 
I did the day I took the oath of office. I have more conviction today 
that our best days are still ahead. And I know that 20 days from now, if 
we decide that together we're going to build that bridge, that our best 
days are still ahead, and your best days are still ahead, and America 
will still be the greatest country in human history in the 21st century. 
Will you help me build that bridge? Will you help me do it for 20 more 
days? [Applause]
    Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

[[Page 1859]]

Note: The President spoke at 8:47 p.m. in the Organ Pavilion at Balboa 
Park. In his remarks, he referred to Peter Navarro, Dan Farrell, Rita 
Tamerius, and Darity Wesley, candidates for California's 49th, 48th, 
51st, and 52d Congressional Districts, respectively; and Susan Davis, 
candidate for California State Assembly.