    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 2, 1999]
    [Pages 1485-1486]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Hillary Clinton in Syracuse, New York
    September 2, 1999

        The President. Well, all I can say is this has been a very
    interesting night. Duke and
    Terry threw a party in an Irish bar, and
    the first thing I see when I walk in, besides all of your smiling faces,
    is a buffalo head. [Laughter] Now, I don't know what that means.
    [Laughter].
        Audience members. It doesn't mean anything. [Laughter]
        The President. It could be a piece of New York's trivia. The buffalo
    in America was saved by Theodore Roosevelt. We had 20 million buffalo
    head in America in the mid-1800's. When he became President, it was down
    to 12 known head, and he brought them back. Or it could be just another
    metaphor for all the speeches about Syracuse that I've heard from
    Terry. [Laughter] Or it could be a symbol
    of the golf game we had a couple days ago.
        You know, people are asking me how I'm reacting to this whole deal.
    I love it. And I'm trying to think--all the time, people are coming up
    to me and saying, what are you going to do when you leave office? And
    you know, I have a lot of interests. And so one of you who knows that I
    love music--I'm walking through the crowd tonight, and a gentleman gives
    me this video tape which says, ``How to Find Gigs That Pay Big Bucks.''
    [Laughter]
        I am indebted to the people of New York for many things, including
    voting for me and Al Gore twice and giving us a chance to serve. I thank
    you. I love Syracuse. When I came here running for President--I have had
    a wonderful time in this area. It is spectacularly beautiful and is full
    of the rich history of America. And I hope that our presence here has
    helped to lift the visibility of this area in a positive way in the eyes
    of all America. And I hope it does.
        I want to say, if I might, just two things. One is, I'm going to
    spend every day I've got left in the last year and 5 months or so of my
    Presidency to try to prepare this country for the new century. We have
    the chance of a lifetime, which we dare not pass up, with this
    prosperity we have to prepare for the aging of America. For those of you
    who are baby boomers, like me, I can tell you our generation does not
    want to retire and impose an inordinate burden on our children and
    undermine their ability to raise our grandchildren. We can save Social
    Security and Medicare if we do it now and don't squander the surplus.
    And that's what I am determined to do.
        And I'll just mention two more things. We can, if we will use what
    we know, give every child in this country a world-class education, and
    they all need it. And the third thing we can do is bring opportunity to
    the places in America that have still not had job growth and get this
    country out of debt for the first time since 1835. That's what I'm going
    to work on.
        The second thing I want to say is America is always about change. It
    is constantly in the process of reinventing itself. So if someone said,
    ``Vote for me because I'll do everything Bill Clinton said and did,'' I
    would vote against that person, because we're always in the process of
    change. But we have to build on what works. And what we have to do, even
    when we're having a good time, is remember what the purpose of this
    country is. The purpose of this country is every day to make progress in
    expanding opportunity, deepening freedom, and strengthening our
    communities.
        Now, I have known Hillary a long time, as a matter of fact, to be
    precise, 28\1/2\ years. That's how long we've known each other. I have
    known thousands of people in public service. And you shouldn't be
    basically confused by the kind of venom that too often comes out of
    Washington. The truth is most of the people that I've known in public
    life, at all levels, in both parties, were good, honest, hard working
    people that did what they thought was right. And that's the truth--most
    of the people I've known.

    [[Page 1486]]

        But of all the people I have known in public life, in way over 25
    years of working steadily at it now, nobody has the combination of
    intelligence, experience, heart, grit, and pure devotion to the public
    interest that my wife does. You could do a good thing for New York by
    helping her.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:15 p.m. at Mulrooney's Pub. In his
    remarks, he referred to reception hosts John (Duke) Kinney and Terence
    McAuliffe. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.