[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

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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.