    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 21, 1999]
    [Pages 1844-1847]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Senator Edward M. Kennedy
    October 21, 1999

        Thank you. Is this a rowdy crowd or what? [Laughter] You know, I'm
    not used to showing up and being the straight man. [Laughter] This is a
    very emotional moment for me. [Laughter] When I was in the 10th grade,
    Ted Kennedy was in the Senate. [Laughter] And when I retire from two
    terms as President, Ted Kennedy will be in the Senate. [Laughter] And I
    resent it. [Laughter]
        I don't know what Patrick's doing
    here. He's supposed to be raising money for House Members. [Laughter]
    You may have cost us four seats tonight, with all this money going here.
    [Laughter] Actually, he got an excused absence from Master
    Gephardt to come here tonight, and I'm
    grateful.
        Let me say a couple of words seriously. I am genuinely honored to be
    here. I love Edward Kennedy. And I am something of a student of the
    history of our country. I just--one of our guests tonight gave me a
    biography of Chester Arthur, because I don't own one. I've got this
    great--I've read all about all of our Presidents; I've studied the
    history of the United States Congress.
        I do believe that any fair reading of that history would say that
    Edward Kennedy was one

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    of the four or five most productive, ablest, greatest United States
    Senators that ever served this great Republic of ours.
        And I am grateful for this family's commitment to public service.
    There is no question--I was a Governor for 12 years, and I care a lot
    about these issues that the States deal with. There's no question that
    Kathleen has done more with the
    job of Lieutenant Governor than any person in her position in the United
    States of America and that Maryland was the first State--thanks to her--
    to make community service a part of the requirement of being a student
    in the public schools. And that is very, very important.
        And you know, I said I was in the 10th grade when Ted went to the
    Senate. Patrick looks like he's in the
    10th grade--[laughter]--and yet, here he is. You know, he's been here
    3\1/2\ months or something in the Congress, and he's already the head of
    the campaign committee. [Laughter] So I think that there is no limit to
    what he can and will do in the Congress. And you already heard him say
    he's trying to recruit one of his
    brothers--I mean one of Kathleen's
    brothers to run for the Congress in Illinois. So we are grateful for the
    service of this Senator and this family. And, you know, Vicki is my neighbor from Louisiana, so they've shown a
    certain affinity for Southerners. [Laughter]
        I want you to know something else, too, that I'm grateful for. In
    January of 1992 Jackie came to a fundraiser for me when I was running
    fifth in New Hampshire, and reached out to my wife and to my daughter in ways
    that I will never forget. One month after, her son had also come to an
    event for me, when I think I was running sixth in New Hampshire.
    [Laughter] So we've had this marvelous friendship.
        Sargent Shriver was, yesterday, with
    me when we celebrated the fifth anniversary of AmeriCorps. We've had
    150,000 young people in 5 years serve their country in citizen service,
    earned some money to go to college. We've done a lot of things together.
        But the reason that you're here and the reason you ought to be here
    is that a lot of big decisions are going to be made in the next few
    years. And it'll make a big difference if Ted Kennedy is in the Senate.
    We also have a genuine, legitimate chance to be in the congressional
    majority again. And that's very important.
        But I said in '92 if people would vote for me, I would try to
    reinstitute the basic values of opportunity, responsibility, and
    community. I said that we would try some new ideas that would transform
    our country. I said in '96, ``If you'll reelect me, I'll try to build
    this country a bridge to the 21st century.'' I might have said, in
    starker terms, that this country was in tough shape in '92, and drifting
    and divided. A lot of people have forgotten that.
        And I feel that we have sort of turned around, just like a big ship
    in the middle of the ocean, and we're steaming in the right direction.
    Any statistic I could quote--we have the longest peacetime expansion in
    history, 19\1/2\ million new jobs, the highest homeownership ever. And
    just listen--when people ask you why they ought to be for the
    Democrats--we have the lowest unemployment in 29 years, the lowest
    welfare rolls in 30 years, the lowest poverty rate in 20 years, the
    lowest crime rate in 26 years, the lowest murder rate in 31 years, the
    first back-to-back surpluses in 42 years, all with a Government that is
    the smallest it's been since John Kennedy was President in 1962, 37
    years ago. And Ted Kennedy was at the center of every decision that was
    made that made that possible. And you should be proud of that.
        Now, next time you meet somebody that says they're going to vote for
    a Republican for the Congress or the White House, you give them those
    statistics and ask them what their answer is.
        But what I want to tell you is we can build that bridge. But the
    people of this country are going to make some profound decisions. And
    there are profound differences. Are we really going to do what the
    Republicans want and give all the non-Social Security surplus away in a
    tax cut? If they get the White House and Congress, we will.
        Are we going to meet the challenge of the aging of America? The
    number of people over 65 is going to double in 30 years. I hope to live
    to be one of them. [Laughter] We'll have two people working for every
    one person drawing Social Security. We have a chance and an obligation
    to save Social Security, to reform Medicare, to restore some of the cuts
    we put in that were excessive 2 years ago, to add a prescription drug
    benefit, and to take care of the elderly of this country, which all of
    the young people should favor, because it means they won't have to do it
    and they'll have the

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    money to raise our grandchildren. It's a big issue.
        Are we going to take seriously our responsibility to the largest and
    most diverse group of students in our history, and modernize their
    schools and connect their classrooms to the Internet, and give them
    teachers so they'll have small classes with well-trained teachers in the
    early grades, and give them the after-school and the summer school
    programs they need? Or are we going to squander that opportunity?
        Are we going to do something, finally, for the people and places
    that have been left behind in this recovery? Yes, we've got the lowest
    poverty rate in 20 years; that's the good news. The bad news is that
    there's still about 20 percent of our kids in poverty and a higher
    percentage of minority children. And we have a chance to bring the
    benefits of enterprise to people who want to work in places left behind.
    Are we going to do it or walk away from it?
        And I hope to persuade Congress that, well, we can do all this and
    still over the next 15 years pay down our debt until we're debt-free for
    the first time since 1835. And I think another one of your nephews, Joe
    Kennedy, used to talk about this when
    he was in Congress: The liberal party ought to be for doing that,
    because it means lower interest rates; more jobs; more investment;
    higher incomes; lower costs for home loans, for student loans, for car
    loans, and for credit cards. It means average people will live better.
    And I think we ought to do it, since we can meet our other
    responsibilities as well.
        These are just some of the big opportunities that are out there that
    we're for. And there are big differences on whether we ought to have a
    Patients' Bill of Rights; big differences on whether we ought to
    continue to have responsible measures to keep guns out of the hands of
    criminals and kids.
        We are 6 months past that Columbine massacre, and we still haven't
    acted to close the gun show loophole. And the same crowd that's blocking
    it said, when we passed the Brady bill in 1993, that the crooks don't
    get their guns at gun shops; they get them at gun shows and flea
    markets; you won't stop anybody with the Brady bill. Well, 400,000 stops
    later, they have quit making that argument, but now they don't want us
    to do a background check where they said the crooks were buying the
    guns.
        And let me tell you something else that you ought to say. I want
    people to use this. This is not just a matter of crime. The accidental
    death rate of children from guns in the United States is 9 times higher
    than the combined death rate of the next 25 biggest industrial countries
    in the world. Let me say that again: 9 times higher than the next 25
    industrial countries combined--together.
        So we've still got a lot of work to do. And I guess what I want to
    tell you is, I'm grateful that I had a chance to serve. I'm not running
    for anything. I'm here--I kind of wish I were, actually, but I'm not.
    [Laughter] And I'm here, I'm here because I care about my country. I
    care about my daughter's world. I care about
    the grandchildren I hope to have someday. And we've turned this country
    around.
        In my lifetime, we have never had a chance like this. When President
    Kennedy and President Johnson served, we had a good economy, but they
    had to deal with the crisis of civil rights and the problems of the cold
    war.
        We have an opportunity not just to eliminate legal discrimination--
    which we ought to continue to do with the employment nondiscrimination
    act and all of that--but we have an opportunity to create the world of
    our dreams.
        That's why I was upset about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and
    I'm mad that we're not paying our U.N. dues, and why I think we ought to
    pay off the debt of the world's poorest countries: because we can create
    the world of our dreams, at home and beyond our borders. And there is
    nobody better qualified to be the conscience and the heart and the
    tactical leader of that struggle than Senator Kennedy. Nobody. This is a
    big deal.
        So I'm telling you, I want you to feel this. I am grateful for
    having had the chance to serve. I am grateful that all these numbers I
    can reel off, and they sound so good. But the truth is, nobody thinks we
    have given everyone opportunity. No one thinks we have really built one
    America. No one believes this country is a safe as it can be. No one
    believes we've met all our obligations to the environment. No one
    believes that we have met our obligations or seized our opportunities in
    the world toward which we're moving.
        So beyond all the issues, you just have to keep this simple idea in
    mind: This country is in good shape, and it is moving in the right
    direction. And for the only time in my lifetime,

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    as a people, we have a chance to shape the future of our dreams. It will
    only happen if we elect the right dreamers.
        Thank you for being here.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:52 p.m. in the a private residence. In
    his remarks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of
    Maryland; Vicki Kennedy, wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy; R. Sargent
    Shriver, first Director of the Peace Corps; and former Representative
    Joseph P. Kennedy II.