    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [June 23, 1997]
    [Pages 808-810]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Reception in Los
    Angeles
    June 23, 1997

        The President. Thank you very much. Just a minute, I have to ask
    Senator Boxer a question. [Laughter] She said, ``You don't really have
    to say anything, it's just''----
        Senator Barbara Boxer. No, I didn't, I said we want you to.
    [Laughter]
        The President. She said, ``I've been up here working for you for an
    hour, keeping the crowd''--[laughter]--I was back there working for her
    for an hour. [Laughter]
        Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of campaign reform and full
    disclosure--[laughter]--the real reason I'm here is that Barbara Boxer's
    first grandchild is my second nephew; it's just a family thing.
    [Laughter] It doesn't have anything to do with party or loyalty or
    agreement or anything. That's not true. I mean, it's true, but it's not
    the reason I'm here. [Laughter]
        I'm so glad to see all of you here. I'm glad to see this enthusiasm
    for the person who is clearly the most enthusiastic member of the United
    States Senate. I'll tell you something, if the best Democrats in every
    State where there's a Senate race where we don't have a seat woke up
    tomorrow with a combination of Barbara Boxer's enthusiasm, self-
    confidence, and courage, we would win the Senate in a walk in 1998.
        And I want to thank you for being here for her for a lot of reasons,
    but I would like to just emphasize two or three. I know Barbara gave her
    speech, and I know essentially what she said, even though I was in there
    working for her, but I want to remind you of a couple of things. When I
    took office in 1993, this State was not in good shape. Even more
    importantly, the politics of our country was dominated essentially by
    rhetorical and ideological name-calling, and the whole drive of every
    election was basically to see how people could be divided in a way that
    advantaged the candidate who was trying to do the dividing. And most
    people just thought, well, it just doesn't matter. No one can seriously
    assert that now.
        I said, if you'll give me a chance to serve, and you give her a
    chance to serve, we'll change the economic direction of this country and
    this State. We'll get rid of trickle-down economics. We'll replace it
    with an invest-and-grow strategy. We'll cut the deficit, invest in our
    kids and our future, invest in the environment and technology and
    medical research, still reduce the deficit. We'll expand our trade
    around the world. And we'll be stronger.
        And when Barbara Boxer cast the decisive vote for my economic
    program in 1993--it passed by one vote, including the Vice President--as
    he said, ``Whenever I vote, we win.'' [Laughter] I mean, the things that
    our friends on the other side said were just unbelievable. They said the
    sky would fall, the end of the world was here, nothing good would ever
    happen in America again. And we now know what happened. This is not a
    matter of dispute anymore.
        Five years later, we have over 12 million new jobs, the lowest
    unemployment rate in 24 years, the lowest inflation in 30 years. The
    stock market has more than doubled. And something that's very important
    to us as Democrats, because you contribute to come here in large measure
    on behalf of those who cannot afford to be here: We've had the biggest
    decline in inequity among working people in over 30 years--in over 30
    years. And none of that would have happened if California had sent
    Barbara

    [[Page 809]]

    Boxer's opponent to the Senate in 1993, because we would have been one
    vote short. None of it would have happened. And I could go through
    example after example after example of that. So I say to you, for the
    following reasons, you must make sure she wins again.
        Number one, she was right when you needed it, and California's back,
    and that's important. Number two, she always sticks up for what she
    believes in, and she's the same every day. She's the same in public and
    in private. She has integrity in the best sense: Her mind and her spirit
    and her words are always in the same place at the same time. And we need
    more of that in public life. And third, and maybe most important, as Bob
    Torricelli said earlier today and may have said here before I got here,
    she is really the greatest spirit in the Senate. And let me tell you
    something, after all this time I've spent in Washington, I still
    remember back before I moved there when I had a life. [Laughter] And,
    you know, back where people of different parties spent more time
    figuring out how they could work together than how they could bad-mouth
    each other, back where people were hired to be mayors and Governors and
    they were evaluated based on whether they got results, not how well they
    could keep people torn up and upset all the time.
        And that's what I tried to bring to this country. And it's amazing.
    There are people in Washington--I think that it really makes them sad
    that America's doing so well. They wake up every day trying to think of
    some way to put us down, this whole country, and get us back to being
    angry and mad with one another. And I just keep trying to get everybody
    to look on the bright side and go forward. She is exhibit A. Barbara
    Boxer is exhibit A.
        And if you think about the kind of challenges we're facing for the
    future, with all the things that are going well here, we still have some
    significant challenges. Can we really do what we need to do with the
    environment and still grow the economy? Yes, but we'll have to work
    together and be in the right frame of mind so we can have honorable,
    principled, and honest compromises.
        Can we really find a way to stop talking about and actually do
    something about the real and physical isolation of the poorest of our
    children who have not been touched one whit by this recovery? Yes, but
    not if we think we can win elections by quick slogans instead of
    actually doing something about it and not if we think we can do it as
    one party or one small group, instead of as an American commitment.
        Can we really become the world's first truly great multiracial
    democracy where no race is a majority? That's about to happen here in a
    generation, about to happen here in California within 3 to 5 years. Yes,
    we can, but only if we have a certain largeness of spirit where we
    respect our honest differences of opinion, where we relish our
    diversity, but where we know underneath our basic humanity unites us and
    is more important than anything that divides us.
        Now, when this election develops and the people that run against
    Barbara Boxer try to turn her into some kind of cardboard cookie cutout
    of who she really is and try to sort of perform reverse plastic surgery
    on her, you remember that when California was in need, she was there.
    You remember that every day she is up there actually getting things
    done. And remember most of all, she has the sort of spirit, quite apart
    from any vote on any issue, that is the precondition of America
    finishing the job of preparing this country for the 21st century and
    giving all our children the chance to live out their dreams and getting
    people to be responsible and to serve their communities and to be good
    citizens and bringing us together as one community.
        California will send a signal to America about whether we can do
    what we need to do in the 21st century because you are already largely
    there, in ways that are all positive and ways that are somewhat
    negative. And you have to decide how you will approach what is left to
    be done. And I'm telling you, this country needs somebody in the United
    States Senate like Barbara Boxer, somebody who no matter how tough it
    gets, won't wilt; somebody who will be the same every day; and somebody
    who will treat her adversaries with dignity and decency and will wake up
    in a positive frame of mind, because that is a precondition for solving
    any problem that is fundamentally a human problem. And most of the
    problems we have left start as an affair of the heart.
        So stick with her. I'm glad you're here for the kickoff. I want you
    to be there in the middle. And I want you to be there at the end. And I
    want to see you on television celebrating on election night.

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        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:05 p.m. at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.