[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
[November 2, 1997]
[Pages 1482-1484]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 1482]]


Remarks at a Rally for Congressional Candidate Eric Vitaliano in
Staten Island, New York
November 2, 1997

    The President. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as you may have 
noticed in the last couple of days, I'm a little hoarse--[laughter]--so 
I can't speak too loud, though I hope I will be heard.
    I want to thank President Springer for making us feel so welcome. 
Thank you, Assemblywoman Connelly, and all the other leaders of our 
party who are here. I want to thank Senator Bob Torricelli from New 
Jersey for being here with me, and in a moment I want to ask him to say 
a few words--he is always in stronger voice than I am. [Laughter] But 
most of all, I want to thank Eric Vitaliano and his wonderful family for 
making this race for Congress for your future and for our country.
    I'm so happy to be back in Staten Island. I'm glad to be here 
especially on this mission, because the people who live on this island 
and the people who live in Brooklyn in this congressional district are 
representative of the people I ran for President to give voice to and to 
give a future to.
    I want to just ask you to remember what it was like in 1991 and '92, 
when I started running for President. The economy was down, the country 
was drifting, politics was used to divide people with hot air and bogus 
charges, and we had no strategy to restore the middle class, to rebuild 
the economy, to reclaim the future for our children. And so I set out 
from a very different place, but representing people very much like you, 
to bring a vision to this country and unite us behind the idea that in 
the 21st century every American responsible enough to work for it, 
regardless of their race or station in life, ought to have a chance to 
live the American dream; that this country ought to continue to lead the 
world for peace and prosperity; and that we ought to unite, across all 
the lines that divide us, into one America.
    Now, no one can come into this district and tell you for whom to 
vote. But I want to ask you, why has the other party spent all this 
money on ads trying to tear down Eric Vitaliano? And why did my 
predecessor and my distinguished opponent in the last election come here 
on behalf of his opponent? Because they are still trying to implement 
the contract on America and their agenda--and we don't think they're 
right--and because they have--this is the most important thing--they 
have opposed every single thing we have tried to do that has moved this 
country forward in the last 5 years.
    So I don't want you to vote for me or against President Bush or 
Senator Dole or even Speaker Gingrich. I want you to vote for yourselves 
and your families and your future. This election--this is not about New 
York City politics, New York State politics. This is about what this man 
can do for you to set the right course for this country that will help 
the children of Staten Island and Brooklyn to have a brighter future. 
That's what this is about, nothing more and nothing less. I'll just give 
you some examples. And you remember, they all came for Mr. Vitaliano's 
opponent. I'm proud to be here for him.
    But let me just give you some examples--vote for your future. I said 
we ought to break out of the bogus political debate in Washington that 
was paralyzing America. I said we could reduce the deficit and balance 
the budget and still invest in the education of our children. They all 
opposed it. We were right and they were wrong. We've got 13 million jobs 
and low unemployment.
    I said that we could talk tough on crime till the cows come home, 
but until we acted tough and smart, till we supported more punishment 
and prevention, and until we put 100,000 police on the street in 
America, we couldn't bring down crime. Well, they opposed it. But we 
were right, they were wrong. Crime has been going down in this country 
for 5 years. That's what you ought to vote for.
    They said Government was inherently bad and ought to be demolished. 
I said, no, it ought to be smaller and less bureaucratic, but we still 
ought to invest in the education of our children, in cleaning up our 
environment, in protecting the public health. They opposed us on all 
those issues. Today, the deficit has been reduced by 90 percent, the 
Government is 300,000 people smaller, but we're spending more on 
education

[[Page 1483]]

and public health and environmental protection. We were right, and they 
were wrong.
    Make no mistake about it, this is about you and your life. This man 
has shown you in his public service that he knows how to take sensible, 
tough, but smart policies on crime; that he is committed to preserving 
the environment--when he got the legislation through to close that 
landfill. He has shown you that he cares about middle class families and 
middle class values and the future of children and that he believes it 
ought to be a future that includes all kinds of Americans. That is what 
is at issue. Make no mistake, that is what is at issue.
    And what you have to decide is whether you believe the course that I 
have taken, which has moved away from the old liberal-versus-
conservative debate to build a common future for America's future--
whether that kind of course, which requires independence, which requires 
the ability to differ, which requires the ability to think, and requires 
the ability to pull people together--whether that's the course you want, 
or whether you want one more soldier in the army that opposed our 
economic policies, our education policies, our environmental policies, 
our crime policies, right down the line. If you believe the country is 
better off today by having that kind of leadership and that kind of 
direction, you have only one choice on Tuesday: you have to show up for 
Eric Vitaliano and send him to Congress.
    We are determined to open the doors of college to every American who 
will work hard enough to earn the grades to go. We are determined to 
make sure every 8-year-old in this country can read, that every single 
classroom in America is hooked up to the Internet, that every adult who 
loses a job has an immediate--immediate--chance to go back and get new 
skills and get back into the work force. We are determined to move this 
country forward together. We are determined to prove we can keep 
cleaning up the environment while we grow the economy. We are determined 
to keep working on the crime problem until it not only goes down but 
everybody in every neighborhood feels safe when their children are on 
the streets and in the parks again. That's what we're determined to do.
    And maybe most important of all, we are determined to give families 
and communities the tools to solve their own problems. The first bill I 
signed was the family and medical leave law. The people who are trying 
to beat Eric Vitaliano opposed it.
    So I ask you to think about this. And on Tuesday when you get up, 
don't be thinking about me; don't be thinking about those other folks 
that came in here for Eric's opponent. Be thinking about your children, 
your grandchildren, the people you live here with, the kind of Staten 
Island you want to build, the kind of New York you want to build, the 
kind of future you want to build. And make sure you show up, and drag 
three or four of your friends along with you, and tell them that America 
has a lot riding on the decision made in Staten Island and Brooklyn.
    Thank you, and God bless you. [Applause] Thank you.
    Now, 2 years ago, I was in the same sort of fight with Bob 
Torricelli in New Jersey. They said we couldn't win. They ran the same 
kind of negative ads against him. They said the same things against him. 
One thing is, they're perfectly predictable. [Laughter] But Bob 
Torricelli triumphed with the help of people like you. He's worked all 
over America to help us have that kind of election in other places, and 
I'd like to ask you to make him welcome. Senator Bob Torricelli from New 
Jersey.

[At this point, Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. One more thing. One more thing. In these elections, 
these special elections, very often the outcome is determined not by 
those who vote but by those who have an opinion who don't vote. And I 
want to say a special word of thanks to the unions, to the police 
officers' association, to the teachers, to the firefighters, the city 
workers, to every group of people who are supporting Eric.
    But let me tell you, those of you who are part of organizations and 
those of you who are active in the Democratic Party and those of you who 
are here as concerned citizens and especially those of you who are here 
who are students, who have the most at stake because you have the most 
years still ahead of you--you must go, and you must bring your friends. 
Don't make your endorsements meaningless by not making them manifest by 
a big turnout. Don't let the people who don't vote determine this. Let 
the people whose eyes are bright and focused on the future have the 
energy and the compassion and the patriotism to show up on

[[Page 1484]]

Tuesday so we'll have a big celebration Tuesday night.
    God bless you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:06 p.m. in the athletic center at the 
College of Staten Island. In his remarks, he referred to Marlene 
Springer, president, College of Staten Island; State Assemblywoman 
Elizabeth A. Connelly; and Mr. Vitaliano's opponent, Vito Fossella, 
Republican candidate for New York's 13th Congressional District.