[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.