    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [August 3, 1999]
    [Pages 1375-1376]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Closing Remarks to the National Welfare to Work Forum in Chicago
    August 3, 1999

        I've been asked to announce that as soon as we adjourn this meeting,
    in this very spot, Rodney will be offering
    memory training to everyone who would like to stay. [Laughter]
        I want to thank you for you devotion to this cause. And Jim, thank you for giving us this fine man. I just want to ask you all to think about
    something. You know, while Rodney was talking to all the people here, I
    just got to sit here in the middle, and so I could see everybody else.
    And I would turn around, and I would look--every time somebody was
    talking, I would look at every face in the section. And what I saw was
    that all of us had the natural human response. We were exhilarated by
    the stories that these people told. We were gratified by the enlightened
    self-interest of the employers.
        I had a funny thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago. We were in
    an unrelated fight in Washington, and one of the people who took the
    opposite position from me said, ``Oh, the President is always up there
    telling stories. What have stories got to do with this?'' Well, we found

    [[Page 1376]]

    out today, didn't we? I mean, all of our lives are nothing but our
    stories.
        I say this, one of our small business owners said that she was once
    on public assistance herself. I'm in a line of work where every
    politician would like you to believe that we were all born in log cabins
    that we built ourselves. [Laughter] But the truth is, none of us who are
    here today, who have been fortunate in our lives, got here without
    somebody giving us a helping hand, without opportunity. I always tell
    everybody, you know, a couple of different bumps in the road, I could
    still be home doing wills and deeds in Arkansas in some small office.
    [Laughter]
        We should recognize that we can pass these programs to empower
    people, but it takes human beings with real commitment, like the
    employers we have honored today and all the others in this room and all
    those like them around this country. And then it takes people with the
    courage to stand up and say, ``I'm going to change my life.''
        You know, this was hard for--a lot of these folks, they had to stand
    up here and give a little speech in front of the President today. That
    wasn't easy, right? They did a good job. But as difficult as it was, it
    was probably harder for some of them to actually stand up and say, ``I'm
    going to change my life.'' That's harder.
        And I'm just telling you, all over this country today there are
    people just like them who still don't have the lives they have. And we
    can reach them, too. And if we do it, America will be a better place. We
    will be closer to the one America of our dreams when we start this new
    century. We'll have a stronger economy.
        And again I say, there are legal changes we need to make; there are
    investment commitments we need to make in Washington. I hope you'll help
    us make them. But in the end, it will be the personal marriage of
    employers and employees that will see us through.
        And Rodney, we'll follow your lead.
    We'll follow the lead of our founding companies. But I ask you all to
    leave here with a renewed sense of energy and commitment and go out and
    tell other people about what you have seen and what you have
    participated in and what we can do. And if you do that, we will finish
    this job. And we'll hear a lot more of the stories that make our hearts
    soar.
        Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:25 p.m. at the Navy Pier Festival Hall.
    In his remarks, he referred to Rodney J. Carroll, forum moderator and
    division manager, Metro Philadelphia Division, and James P. Kelly,
    chairman and chief executive officer, United Parcel Service.