[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[October 29, 1996]
[Pages 1974-1975]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Saxophone Club Presidential Victory Concert
October 29, 1996

    Thank you. Let me say to all of you, you have honored me and our 
party by being here tonight. I can't thank you enough. I want to say a 
special word of thanks to the Saxophone Club, to the DC Chapter, and to 
Bennet Kelley, to all of you who had anything to do with putting this 
together.
    I thank Bruce Hornsby and his wonderful band for keeping us pumped 
up and playing so brilliantly. I thank Stevie Wonder for so brilliantly 
taking us back across the years and bringing us back today again. He was 
magnificent, let's give him a hand. [Applause]
    And thank you, Kevin Spacey, for being here and for showing your 
versatility, your patience, your talent. You know, from ``The Usual 
Suspects'' to ``Seven'' to ``A Time To Kill,'' to Johnny Carson, to 
killing time creatively--[laughter]--this man has a brilliant past and a 
more brilliant future. I am so honored that he was here tonight. We 
ought to give him a Purple Heart for how much time he had to stand up.
    You know, I felt so sorry for Kevin up here. It reminded me of some 
of the licks that I have taken in this campaign. And one day when I was 
kind of feeling sorry for myself, somebody reminded me of something Mark 
Twain said and I wish I could have whispered to Kevin. The fellow said, 
``You know, you ought to consider yourself like the dog Mark Twain 
talked

[[Page 1975]]

about. He said, every dog needs a few fleas; it keeps him from worrying 
so much about being a dog.'' [Laughter] And so no matter whatever 
happens to Kevin in his performing life, he'll always remember it will 
never be as bad as when he had to stand in Constitution Hall and make up 
jokes for 20 minutes during acts. You were great. Thank you, and God 
bless you.
    You know, this election is in 7 days. It has always been about the 
future. The work that Al Gore and I have done for 4 years has been about 
building an America for the 21st century. Whatever else people say or 
talk about in the end, it's about the future of the young people in this 
grand old Constitution Hall tonight and all your counterparts all across 
our great country.
    And so I ask you to give 7 more days of effort and your voice, your 
passion, your commitment to making sure that we roar into that next 
century together; that we build a bridge we can all walk across; that we 
say no to division, no to going back, no to the short-sighted, negative 
forces that would tend to divide us and cloud our clear vision of the 
tomorrow we can make together. Our best days are still ahead.
    Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:27 p.m. in Constitution Hall. In his 
remarks, he referred to Bennet Kelley, national cochair, Saxophone Club; 
musicians Bruce Hornsby and Stevie Wonder; and actor Kevin Spacey.