[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[October 12, 1998]
[Pages 1781-1782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1781]]


Remarks at a Reception for Gubernatorial Candidate Peter F. Vallone in 
New York City
October 12, 1998

    The President. Thank you very much. First of all, let me thank Mayor 
Dinkins for his presence here tonight and his friendship and the many 
things he did for the people of New York and the many things that he's 
done for me over the years. And Peter, I want to tell you that I 
appreciate being invited to come by and be with your friends tonight and 
your supporters. I thank you and Tena for making this race, and I thank 
you for the personal support you have given me. I'm very grateful for 
that.

[At this point, a telephone rang.]

    The President. Somebody answer that phone. [Laughter]
    I'd also like to thank you for letting me--I've got one nonpaying 
guest here tonight, my senior Senator from Arkansas, Dale Bumpers, who's 
back there. He is universally considered to be the best speaker in the 
United States Senate, so if we were really being generous, I'd let him 
talk, and I'd sit down tonight. But I'll pull rank a little bit.
    I want to make a couple of points, if I might. First of all, our 
country is in good shape. Compared to 6 years ago, we are in much better 
shape. We've got the first surplus in 29 years and the smallest 
percentage of people on welfare in 29 years and the lowest unemployment 
rate in 28 years, the lowest crime rate in 25 years, the highest 
homeownership in history. That's the good news.
    But the important thing is that at this moment, we can't just sit 
around and enjoy that. We have to build on it. This is a record to build 
on, not to sit on, because we live--as everybody in New York City knows, 
here, the financial capital of our country, we are living in a very 
dynamic world. And there are a lot of things going on out there. Some of 
them are good, and some of them are quite challenging.
    Not only that, there are a lot of challenges we haven't met here at 
home. And the reason that we're back in Washington working on this 
budget now, trying so hard--here we are just 3 weeks before an 
election--to get a budget passed, and this is the first time in 24 years 
that the United States Congress has not passed a budget resolution with 
their own budget plan. But the reason we're doing it is because we know 
we still have big challenges out there.
    We have got--just to take one example that's very important in New 
York--we have got to keep the economic growth going by maintaining our 
leadership in the global economy and stabilizing all these troubles 
elsewhere; otherwise, they'll come back here to hurt us. That's what 
this International Monetary Fund issue is all about.
    We have got to expand economic opportunity into the poorest inner-
city neighborhoods and rural areas in this country which haven't 
received them. Secretary Cuomo, from New York, the HUD Secretary, has 
got a great program up here that he and the Vice President put together 
to get more investment into those areas. And for the last 4 days, if 
you've been paying attention to the news, you know I've been involved in 
a pitched battle trying to pass the education plan that I sent to 
Washington--to Congress in January, for smaller classes in the early 
grades, for modernizing and building 5,000 schools, for hooking up all 
our classrooms to the Internet, for giving children after-school and 
summer school programs and mentoring programs for middle school kids 
from troubled neighborhoods so they can know they can go on to college 
if they settle down and do a good job in school.
    We're fighting a huge battle that Senator Bumpers has really helped 
us on, on the environment, where every year now--every single year--we 
have to look at 10 or 15 bills having nothing to do, very often, with 
the environment, being littered with what they call riders in 
Washington, designed to undermine America's commitment to environmental 
protection at the very time when we know more than we ever have before 
about how to grow the economy and improve the environment.
    We didn't succeed in passing the Patients' Bill of Rights, but we 
need to keep working until we do, because I think if someone gets hit--
God forbid--going out of this hotel tonight, by a car, you shouldn't 
have to go all the way

[[Page 1782]]

across town to an emergency room just because that's the only one 
covered by your HMO. If your doctor tells you you need a specialist, you 
ought to be able to get it. And you ought to know that your medical 
records are private. Those are just some of the things we're trying to 
do.
    Now, what's that got to do with the Governor's race? A lot. The 
answer is a lot. There are some things that the President can do that 
will affect the country as a whole, independent of what is going on in 
the communities of America, the cities of America, or the States of 
America. You know, I have to get this International Monetary Fund 
funding passed. I have to come up with a plan to, in my judgment, reform 
the global financial system so that we avoid some sort of catastrophe 
here. That's my job. Tonight my Special Envoy for Kosovo, Dick 
Holbrooke, is briefing our NATO allies about what we're trying to do to 
make peace in Kosovo. Those are things that the President only can do.
    But in education, in crime control--when we passed the crime bill to 
put 100,000 police on the street, that money went through the Governors 
and the mayors. If we pass a bill in the Congress to put 100,000 
teachers in the classroom, that money will go through the Governors, and 
to some extent, the large local school districts.
    But the Governors of this country have primary responsibility in so 
many areas--relating to education, relating to law enforcement, relating 
to the environment, relating to economic growth in a specific area. And 
if you look at Peter Vallone's record here in New York City, I defy you 
to find another city official anywhere else in America who has been as 
innovative in three things that all go together: improving education, 
fighting crime, and being responsible with the budget. You will not find 
a better record of reform from any big-city official anywhere in the 
United States. And I think that is very important.
    Now, why is that important? Because whatever we do in Washington, it 
has to be made live on the streets of America, in the communities, and 
in the States. And I can tell you--I was a Governor for 12 years; I know 
a little about that job. And as we move into this next period of our 
Nation's history, we have given you the smallest Federal Government in 
35 years. We have focused far more on empowering the American people to 
solve their own problems and less on setting up new bureaucracies. But 
we have also given big, big new responsibilities to the States. The 
Governors will have more to do than anybody else with whether we really 
succeed in adding 5 million children to the ranks of those with health 
insurance. The Governors will have a great deal to do with deciding 
whether all these funds we're trying to get in education actually lift 
the learning of our children all across America. And I could go on and 
on and on.
    So I'm here not just because this man is my friend and he has stood 
up for me, but because, far more important, he has stood up for and led 
the people of New York City in an exemplary way, in a reformist way, 
building a better future for our children.
    And let me just make one last point that's very much on my mind 
today. I'm sure that most of you saw in the press that the young man who 
was beaten so badly in Wyoming passed away today. We don't know the 
facts of the case, and none of us should comment on them or prejudge 
anyone. But the indications are that he was beaten so badly because he 
was gay, by people who were either full of hatred or full of fear or 
both. And yet if you think about it, the thing that's special about 
America is that we're supposed to create a place for every law-abiding 
citizen in this country, no matter how different we all are, one from 
another--by race, by religion, by circumstance, by neighborhood--no 
matter what.
    One of the things I have tried hardest to do as President--I think 
with more success in the country than in Washington, DC--is to reconcile 
Americans to one another and to make us all understand that we don't 
have to be afraid of each other if we share the same values, follow the 
same rules, and are committed to building the same kind of future. 
That's another reason I'd like to see Peter Vallone have a chance to 
serve as Governor, because I think he's that kind of person.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 5:25 p.m. in Conrad Salon E at the Waldorf 
Astoria Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to former Mayor David Dinkins 
of New York City; Mr. Vallone's wife, Tena; and murder victim Matthew 
Shepard.