    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 23, 1999]
    [Pages 1869-1871]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Birthday Celebration for the First Lady
    October 23, 1999

        Senator. [Laughter] Marisa, thank you for
    coming. We thought someone should be here today who does not have an
    accent. [Laughter] We have so many wonderful entertainers who are here
    for the VH1 millennial concert, which will be held later this afternoon.
    and one of them just came in, my neighbor and friend from Mississippi
    B.B. King. Please come in.
        Since we're celebrating her birthday--and it's almost reached the
    point where Hillary and I don't want to celebrate anymore--[laughter]--I
    want to tell you, B.B. played at the White House
    the other night; we had a blues concert; and he's a year or two older
    than I am--[laughter]--and he's just as good as he ever was. So you
    never get too old to do what you do well and love, and I thank him.
        I will be brief and then bring on the birthday girl. I have to say
    one other thing as a point of personal pride. Senator Daschle couldn't--because we both come from what my
    predecessor used to call a small State--could not bring himself to tell
    you the most relevant fact of that little history lesson he gave you
    about women in the Senate. Hattie Caraway was elected more than 60 years
    ago with the help of Huey Long, back when he was for Roosevelt as an
    ardent supporter of the New Deal. The first woman ever elected to the
    United States Senate was from my home State of Arkansas, and I'm very
    proud of that.
        I think it's high time New York, which has been on the cutting edge
    of so many other

    [[Page 1870]]

    developments, join that great phalanx for the future.
        But I want to say something serious, that has nothing to do with
    Hillary or me or almost nothing to do with our party, except that we
    happen to be the only people, in my view, doing the right thing. Back in
    '92, when we moved here after the election and we began to work, this
    country was in trouble. It was so long ago, and things had been good for
    so long, a lot of people had forgotten what it was like then, how high
    the unemployment rate was, how high interest rates were, how big the
    debt was and the deficit, how much the crime rate was going up, how
    swollen the welfare rolls were, and how divided the society was.
        We have worked hard to turn this country around. And it is moving in
    the right direction. If this economy keeps going until February, it will
    be the longest economic expansion in the history of the United States,
    and it will be done without a war. We have the lowest unemployment rate
    in 29 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 30 years, the lowest poverty
    rates in 20 years, the lowest crime rates in 30 years, the first back-
    to-back budget surplus in 42 years, the smallest Federal Government in
    37 years. The environment is cleaner. There are more protections for
    family leave to help people balance family and work. We've got 150,000
    young Americans serving in AmeriCorps. The country is moving in the
    right direction.
        But the great question now is, what will we do with this moment of
    prosperity? And as all of you know, I'm not running for anything.
    [Laughter] My interest is in what happens to our children and
    grandchildren. We've worked real hard for 7 years to turn this country
    around. And now we are in the position that most countries get maybe--
    maybe--once in the lifetime of a citizen, where things are moving in the
    right direction and you can literally chart the course for the future.
    You can paint a picture of your children's future and give them a chance
    to live it.
        And because it is the United States and because it's the end of the
    cold war and because of our fortunate position, we also can help make
    the world a more peaceful and prosperous and secure place, not only for
    our children but for children in every continent.
        That is this incredible opportunity we're getting. But nations are
    like people. Sometimes--I used to have a rule in politics--I had eight
    or nine rules, but one of my rules was, you're the most vulnerable when
    you think you're invulnerable. And if you think about your own life, we
    commonly make mistakes when we think everything is going great, because
    we break our concentration; we become self-indulgent; we think all the
    things that happened to us as individuals. That can happen to the
    country. That's why I vetoed that tax bill, because it was self-
    indulgent, short-term.
        I would be here for my wife if she were not my wife, because we have
    got to have people with a lifetime of commitment to the future and to
    children, to a balanced sense of the country coming together and moving
    together. We need somebody who understands that for all this economic
    prosperity there are people and places that have been left behind. And
    if we can't bring economic opportunity to poor people now, we will never
    get around to doing it. That ought to be one of our highest priorities.
        We need somebody who can resist the lure of the moment of the
    election and say, ``We're going to keep paying down this debt so we get
    out of debt for the first time since 1835. We can do it in 15 years if
    we stay at it.'' We need somebody that will think about the aging of
    America. You know, my generation is plagued with this--the idea that
    we'll retire and hurt our children and our grandchildren.
        What I want you to know about Hillary is, from the first minute I
    met her, she was thinking about the things that are important today. And
    one of the reasons that she looks so much younger than she is--
    [laughter]--apart from the highly interesting and stimulating life--
    [laughter]--and how good the American people have been to us, is that
    all of her life--all of her life--she has cared about the things that
    America needs to focus on now, that we dare not pass up the opportunity,
    literally, of a lifetime. I hope.
        Never in my life, not even once, has our country been in the
    position that we are now in to shape the future of our children and
    grandchildren and the future of the world. The only time in my life when
    the times were remotely this good was in the early 1960's, and we had to
    deal with the civil rights challenge and the war in Vietnam and the cold
    war. This has never happened in my life.
        And you need people in the Senate who are genuine visionaries and
    practical doer. She is

    [[Page 1871]]

    a genuine visionary, a practical doer, and a wonderful human being.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately noon at the Capitol Hilton.
    In his remarks, he referred to actress Marisa Tomei and musician B.B.
    King. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.