[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[October 30, 1998]
[Pages 1924-1925]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1924]]


Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate Charles E. Schumer in 
Brooklyn, New York
October 30, 1998

    Thank you. First, let me just thank Joe and Trina for welcoming all 
of us into this truly beautiful home. I've had a wonderful time. I want 
to--if I could say one thing, when we get close to an election like 
this, and Chuck and Iris and all the people that are working so hard for 
him, you are more and more nervous, and you don't get any sleep. And 
you're more or less on automatic, and it's so easy to forget why you've 
been doing all that. And then we come in here and see all of these huge 
families with the children and the grandchildren and the in-laws--
[laughter]--I believe I could sort you all out now because I've got all 
the different cross currents here. [Laughter]
    But let me tell you, I am thrilled. This is what America is all 
about. And I cannot thank you enough. I find myself for the second 
Friday in a row racing the Shabbat clock. [Laughter] Last week, we were 
at Wye. We had a deal; then we didn't have a deal. And we had a time to 
announce it, and then we didn't. I was up for 39 hours. That's really 
how--people say, ``How did this get done?'' It's simple. I was the last 
person standing. [Laughter] They were saying, ``Please let us go to bed. 
Please let us.'' ``No.''
    I don't want to race the clock again. I want to respect this very 
much. One of the reasons this country is around here after 220 years is 
that the first amendment to the Constitution guarantees to every person 
who comes here the absolute unrestricted practice of his or her faith. 
And there are people in this room who have given me a chance to help 
move people from Syria out and come here. And for giving me the chance 
to work with you, I thank you.
    The work that I have been able to do with my own people in Ireland 
or for peace in the Middle East, where my faith was born as well, in all 
other parts of the world, in Bosnia, now in Kosovo, where I think we 
have averted another humanitarian disaster, is very important.
    But we also need to remember what makes America the world's leader 
is our strength at home and our ability to live at home by what we say 
we believe. The power of our example is necessary for the power of our 
armies to make sense to anybody. Who else would the Israelis and the 
Palestinians say, ``We would like your CIA to monitor part of our 
accords?'' [Laughter] I mean if you think about it, it's an incredibly 
humbling thing, a great honor for a country to be trusted in that way.
    And what I want to say to you, I can say very briefly. For 6 years I 
have worked to bring this country together, to move it forward, and to 
be a force for peace and freedom throughout the world. The country is 
better off today than it was 6 years ago, mostly because of people like 
you, but our policies clearly helped.
    In the last year, I was deeply frustrated at all the things I tried 
to do that we couldn't do because of the increasing partisanship of the 
other party in Washington. And I can tell you that, especially for New 
York, to have someone like Chuck Schumer in the United States Senate, 
someone who could serve in the tradition of the greatest New York 
Senators and the greatest Senators in the history of this country, would 
be a great gift to America.
    To have a few more Democrats like Chuck Schumer may mean the 
difference in whether we save Social Security or forget about our 
obligations to our parents and our children. It may make the difference 
in whether we can pass a Patients' Bill of Rights so all people, not 
just the well-to-do, can be guaranteed that they will get quality health 
care if they have health coverage. It may make the difference in whether 
we actually go out and build schools and hire teachers and provide 
excellence in education to all our people without regard to their 
incomes or their backgrounds or their family circumstances. In short, it 
can make a difference in whether America has more families that look 
like you do 10 years, 20 years from now.
    You look at this room. If I could walk into any neighborhood in 
America and hold a meeting like this, we would have not 10 percent of 
the problems we have today. Look around here; look around. So I'm going 
to let you get on with the Shabbat, but remember, on Tuesday your 
responsibilities as citizens kick in.

[[Page 1925]]

    And let me just ask you one more thing. Chuck said, you employ many 
thousands of people. Between now and Tuesday, you will come in contact 
with people with whom you worship, people with whom you work, people 
with whom you socialize, people with whom you may sit in a coffee shop. 
I implore you--usually in America--usually--we turn out in pretty good 
numbers for Presidential elections, and then half our people stay home 
in the off years.
    This is not an ordinary time. These are big, big issues. And New 
York has a chance to give a gift to itself and to the Nation in Chuck 
Schumer. And I want you to do everything you can between now and 
Tuesday, except when you're taking time off to worship, to ask people to 
show up. Will you do that?
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:35 p.m. at a private residence. In his 
remarks, he referred to Joe and Trina Cayre, dinner hosts; and Iris 
Schumer, wife of Representative Charles E. Schumer.