[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

[[Page 2056]]

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.