    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 22, 1999]
    [Pages 1574-1575]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Gore 2000 Reception
    September 22, 1999

        Thank you very much. You have to give me 2 seconds to recover
    myself; Ann Richards just told me a joke.
    [Laughter] I've got to collect myself here. [Laughter]
        I'll be quite brief tonight, first because I'm hoarse, and secondly,
    because you're all hungry, and thirdly, because I want to listen to the
    Vice President. But I want to say a few things, beginning with thank
    you. Thank you for being here; thank you for supporting his campaign;
    thank you for giving the good things that we have done these last 8
    years a chance to be the springboard for positive change in America.
        You know, a lot of people have forgotten that when Vice President
    Gore and I went out across the country in 1992, we were in the worst
    recession since the Great Depression. We had a lot of division in our
    society that was complicated by the previous administration's vetoes of
    the Brady bill, which is now the law, and the family and medical leave
    bill, which is now the law. And we asked the American people to give us
    a chance to put them first and to take a new direction. And the results
    are clear: We've had the lowest unemployment, welfare rolls, and crime
    rates in a generation, and the longest peacetime expansion in history.
        So the question facing the American people now is not, as it is
    often put, do we need a change? The answer is, yes, we do. The question
    is not will we change? The question is how are we going to change? Are
    you going to build on the good things that are going on in America now
    to face the unmet challenges of the country in the 21st century, or will
    we basically go back to the approach that got us in so much trouble in
    the first place? That is the choice before the American people.
        And I want you to know three things about Al Gore. Number one, he's
    done more with the job he's had the last 6\1/2\ years than any person in
    history, whether it was something very

    [[Page 1575]]

    public and visible, like breaking the tie to give our economic plan the
    chance to bring the American economy back or breaking the tie to stand
    up for closing the gun show loophole so the background check law really
    works, to things that you may not see, like taking the lead in giving us
    the smallest Federal Government in 35 years, hooking up every classroom
    in this country to the Internet, managing big chunks of our foreign
    relations, being the main person in the administration in the drafting
    of the Telecommunications Act, which has already created 300,000 high-
    tech jobs in this country. The American people ought to know that.
        The second thing that I think is very important is, he has really
    told you what he would do if he got to be President. And I'll let him
    speak for himself on that, but I think one of the principal reasons for
    the success we had in the last 6\1/2\ years is that I was forced to sit
    down and think through precisely what I would do if the American people
    gave me this job. And then when he joined the ticket, we sat down
    together, and we reissued a blueprint. He's done that in greater detail
    than anybody else.
        The third thing I want you to know is, I believe, having done this
    job now, I have some sense of what it takes to succeed and who would be
    good at it. He has the character, the integrity, the experience, the
    intelligence, the energy, and the ideas necessary to lead this country
    into the new millennium.
        He can only do it if you help him. I hope you will keep helping him,
    because America needs him, and I thank you for being here.
        The Vice President.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:40 p.m. in the John Hay Room at the Hay-
    Adams Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to former Gov. Ann Richards of
    Texas.