[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[March 15, 1999]
[Pages 373-376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With Michael Jackson of KRLA Radio
March 15, 1999

    Mr. Jackson. Forgive me. There we had the Deputy Director of the 
Office of Management and the Budget with us, Sylvia Mathews. We are 
supposed to be at the end of the show,

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but I'm changing the rules. I'm going to carry my microphone and stand 
up for a moment. I'm truly honored to have the opportunity of saying 
good morning to the President of the United States.
    The President. Good morning, Michael. Or good afternoon, here.

President's Accomplishments and Goals

    Mr. Jackson. It's good to see you again, sir. I have had most of 
your Cabinet here this morning. The enthusiasm that they show for the 
jobs that they have--and they all come from different worlds. It's 
something uniquely and distinctly American. And I also said to, I think 
it was Donna Shalala--I said, when I see pictures of you with the 
leadership of Japan or the Central American countries most recently, you 
look America. And when I see you standing next to Al Gore, you look 
America. And when I see you standing with the First Lady and Al Gore's 
wife, Tipper, you look America.
    What are you most proud of, sir?
    The President. You mean about what we've done here?
    Mr. Jackson. Yes.
    The President. I think I'm most proud that we've been able to pull 
the country together and give people a sense that we're going in the 
right direction again. I'm proud of the opportunities that millions of 
Americans have had to live out their dreams and shape their destinies 
and take care of their children. I'm proud of the fact that we have 
faced the tough challenges that our country has, instead of dodging 
them. I'm proud of the fact that--I think Americans have a lot of 
confidence now that we can deal with all the things that are before us 
and move into the future in a very good way.
    I'm proud of all that. I'm just grateful that I have the chance to 
serve and that we've got almost a quarter of our time left to get some 
of the things done that I very much want to do before it's over.
    Mr. Jackson. Isn't that expression ``lame duck'' a painful one? A 
quarter of your time still remains.
    The President. Yes.
    Mr. Jackson. Do you know a full agenda of what you would like to be 
able to accomplish in that time, sir?
    The President. Well, sure. I mean, I talked about it at great length 
in the State of the Union Address, but I very much want to secure the 
long-term economic well-being of the country as much as I can, and to do 
that, we have to deal with the challenges of Social Security and 
Medicare and paying the debt down.
    I very much want to make a lot more headway on bringing economic 
opportunity and a better quality of life to the urban and rural areas 
where there is still trouble. There are places within the sound of our 
voice now, in Los Angeles, where we still haven't seen the level of 
recovery I would like to see. And I've got a major initiative designed 
to leave no one behind as we go into this new century, and I'm hoping 
that we can pass that this year. And of course, around the world there 
are a lot of places that I'm still trying to build bridges to and bring 
peace to. That's what my trip to Central America was all about.

China

    Mr. Jackson. Nothing is black and white, or simple, is it, in your 
position? I mean, China makes the news, but not all for the constructive 
things that are going on in our relationship with them.
    The President. That's right. Well, one of my predecessors once said 
that he never got any easy decisions because all the easy ones were made 
before they got to the President's desk. So there are a lot of complex 
issues. You know, with China we have our differences. We differ with 
them on their human rights policy. We differ with them on their Tibet 
policy. We are struggling to establish an economic partnership that is 
fair and good and--good for them, good for us.
    But because we have worked with them, instead of trying to isolate 
them, we've also made the world a safer place. They've helped us with 
the nuclear problem in Korea. They've helped us in refraining from 
giving dangerous technologies to other countries that we believe might 
misuse them or would aggravate tensions where they are. They've helped 
us to try to limit the Asian financial crisis.
    So I believe that the best policy with China is an honest one: Where 
it's in our interest and theirs, we should work together for world peace 
and for economic prosperity, and where we have honest differences, we 
ought to state them.

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The American Century

    Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, earlier this morning in a conversation 
with Bill Daley, your Secretary of Commerce, I said, only a short while 
ago people would say, ``This is the American Century; the next one won't 
be.'' Now, everybody's convinced it will be; the 2000's will be ours as 
well. What is it we've got?
    The President. I think an infinite capacity for renewal, for change, 
anchored in a magnificent set of common values in our Constitution.
    Every year, in one way or the other, we see the wisdom of our 
framers ratified. We've got a Government that's a democracy but also has 
protections against abuse of power. We've got a Government that has some 
absolutely unbending rights for its citizens but is infinitely flexible. 
And I think that--what I hoped to do when I came to the Presidency, over 
6 years ago, was to give people a sense of possibility again and to give 
our country a sense of community again.
    You know, I was deeply moved by all the troubles in Los Angeles in 
the early nineties, and it became almost a metaphor for what was going 
on through the country. We had more and more diversity, more and more 
people whose family's first language was not English. I saw that as an 
enormous opportunity in the global society of our children's future. But 
I knew we had to find a way to come together as well as to move forward. 
I think we're doing that now, and I feel very good about it.

Central America

    Mr. Jackson. How was the trip to Central America?
    The President. Well, it was sobering but heartening. It was 
heartening in the sense that all those countries are democracies now. 
They've overcome bitter, bitter civil wars. People that were shooting 
each other a few years ago are now dressed in suits and ties and nice 
dresses, sitting in parliaments, you know, working with each other. And 
that's good.
    It was sobering because the hurricane was the worst natural 
disaster, perhaps ever, in Central America, devastating to a lot of 
those countries. And I'm hoping the United States will do more to help.
    I want the American people to know that Central America is one of 
the few regions of the world where we actually have a trade surplus. And 
if we want to reduce illegal immigration from Central America, the best 
way to do it is to strengthen their democracies and their economies, 
make them good business partners for us. They help us fight drugs; they 
help us promote democracy; and they'll help us grow our economies.

Immigration

    Mr. Jackson. Interesting, sir, in a conversation earlier this 
morning with your Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, 
she made a comment, just in passing, that most of the people that come 
here would rather--in the main--stay home in their own countries. It's 
opportunity here that brings them.
    The President. I think that's right. Most of the people who wish to 
emigrate to America and stay sign up, get on the list, wait their turn, 
and do it in a legal way. Most of the illegal immigrants who come here 
come because they literally can't make a living at home, and many of 
them have children.
    For example, the largest source of foreign exchange that El Salvador 
has is $1 billion a year that Salvadoran citizens working in the United 
States send home to their families. So if we could stabilize their 
economies, make it possible for them to make a living at home by doing 
business with us, instead of having to come here and try to sneak 
through the borders, the illegal immigration problem would go way, way 
down.

Participation in Broadcast

    Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, I have been given the word. You have a 
very busy schedule. I am thrilled; this was very unexpected.
    The President. Well, I just wanted to thank you, Michael, for what 
you do on your program, the people whose voices you give the opportunity 
to be heard, and for giving all of our people a chance to come by and 
talk. I think it is true, we are still enthusiastic. We act like we got 
here last week, most days. But I think that's because we try to stay 
busy. We try to focus on not what we did yesterday or last year or 5 
years ago but what we're going to do tomorrow.

Kosovo/2000 Democratic Convention

    Mr. Jackson. Sir, last night I went to a restaurant, and there's 
your Secretary of State working over dinner. You're overworking her, 
sir.

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    The President. I am overworking her. She--we got some good news today there, you know. We had 
two announcements today of note. One is that the Kosovar Albanians said 
that they would sign the peace agreement----
    Mr. Jackson. Congratulations.
    The President. ----which means that now we just have to convince Mr. 
Milosevic and the Serbs to go along. If 
they do, we can avoid a major war there.
    Of course, the other big announcement today is the Democrats are 
going to have their convention in Los Angeles.
    Mr. Jackson. In our town.
    The President. That's right.
    Mr. Jackson. I'm going to be there every day doing my show.
    The President. Well, we're all very excited about it. You know, 
bringing back California became an obsession around here in my first 
term. And we know now that in the State, and even, indeed, within the 
confines of Los Angeles County, there is an example of virtually every 
good thing that this administration has tried to do over the last 6 
years. So we're excited about going there, and we think America will 
like it, seeing it on television. They'll see, I think, a very good 
picture of America's future, and that's what we'll hope to provide.

Gov. Gray Davis of California

    Mr. Jackson. If I can just throw one more quick one. Rodney Slater, 
your Secretary of Transportation, was on this morning, sir. And we were 
talking about the impact that you've had on our new Governor, the fact 
that he did what Pete Wilson never did in 8 years. He went to Central 
America--he went to Mexico, I beg your pardon----
    The President. Yes.
    Mr. Jackson.----and built a bridge there. And our State's almost a 
nation.
    The President. Well, I think, first of all, I think Governor Davis 
is doing a terrific job. And I suppose I've learned as much from him as 
he's learned from me. But I think the thing that Californians can be 
proud of is that he will, in my view, he will keep the State focused on 
the future. He'll keep working on the big issues, and he'll get results. 
He will stay at something until he gets results.
    And I personally thought his decision to go to Mexico and establish 
a relationship with the President there, who 
is a progressive, able person and an honest person, was a very smart 
decision for the people of California. But it's one of many smart 
decisions he's made. And I think that when we come there for the 
convention, it will give America a chance to see a lot of the good 
things that are going on in California.
    Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, thank you very much indeed for your 
time, sir.
    The President. Thank you. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 3 p.m. The President spoke from Room 415 of 
the Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
(Serbia and Montenegro); and President Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of this interview.