[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[October 29, 1999]
[Pages 1918-1921]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1918]]


Remarks at a Rally for Mayoral Candidate John F. Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
October 29, 1999

    The President. Thank you.

[At this point, there was a disruption in the audience.]

    The President. I'll make you a deal. I'll ignore them if you will. 
We observed their free speech rights. Do you think they will observe 
ours?
    Now, let me say, first, to all of you----

[The disruption continued.]

    The President. Come on. Now, wait a minute, folks. I know something 
about this. You all relax here. I know something about this. They got 
their say. Now you give me mine, and you all think about where we are. 
Come on, let's go. That's actually----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Let me say this. That's actually a very--don't boo 
them. That's actually a very serious issue. That's actually a very 
serious issue that we're working very hard on. Unfortunately, like so 
many serious issues that I have to deal with, it can't be solved by 
emotion at a rally. But it's an important issue that is worthy of the 
concern of the people of Puerto Rico and the people of the United 
States, and therefore, I appreciate their being here.
    Let me say to all of you, I think that you know, every one of you, 
how much I have loved this city and how grateful I am to you and to the 
people of Pennsylvania. In 1992 and 1996 and 1998 and 1999, no place in 
America has been better or kinder to me and our administration and my 
family than the city of Philadelphia. And I will never forget that.
    I want to thank your mayor for his 
leadership and his friendship. I thank the city council 
president. I thank chairman and Congressman 
Brady and Congressman Fattah and Congressman Borski, 
three wonderful people and great Members of the House of 
Representatives. I thank my great friend Senator Ted Kennedy for being here today.
    You know, in a long and richly textured life in public service, I've 
had a lot of wonderful moments. But when Ed Rendell called me and told me that I was the first Democrat to 
equal President Kennedy's victory margin in Philadelphia, I was very 
moved.
    Senator Kennedy's family lost three of its sons to public service, 
the President, Robert Kennedy, his oldest brother Joseph in World War 
II. But I can tell you this: Edward Kennedy has redeemed the sacrifice of his family in service to the 
people of Massachusetts and the people of America. He is one of the 
finest and ablest and most productive people in the history of the 
United States Senate.
    Now, I want to thank all the other people who are here who have done 
so much for John Street, the religious leaders, the labor leaders--
nobody ever says this from a podium--I want to thank the fundraisers, 
the people in the business community and others, who stuck by John 
Street when people said they wouldn't do it and gave him a chance to be 
competitive.
    You know, I remember once when I was running for office in 1984, and 
President Reagan came in to campaign for my 
opponent. And I was--and he was very popular in my State. You remember, 
he was getting reelected by a big margin. And he came in, and he 
campaigned against me, and then he got 62 percent in the election, and 
so did I. And it made me always a little apprehensive. So I want you to 
know I come here not as President to tell you how to vote, but I hope 
you will listen to me as someone who has tried to be a good friend to 
Philadelphia, to talk about why.
    You know, I'm not running for anything anymore. I kind of hate it, 
but I'm not. And I want you to listen to me not about how but why. I 
have the whole rest of my life to try to be a good citizen and give back 
to the American people for all of the chances they've given me to serve. 
And I have some things that I wanted to come to Philadelphia to say to 
all of you in this hall, because the harder you work between now and 
Tuesday, the bigger the margin of victory will be--and to those beyond 
this hall, who may hear or see or read about what we say here today, who 
may be still trying to make up their mind.
    First thing I want to say is, I follow this race very closely in the 
press, and I know something about--I think--the fact that you can't 
always tell what's going on, exactly, from what

[[Page 1919]]

you read, you know? Now, John Street--so I read that there was this 
campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, and the Democrat was a very good 
man, but he didn't have any vision, and he wasn't very charismatic. And 
I don't know who they were talking about, but that guy that introduced 
me had vision and charisma when he was up here speaking a few minutes 
ago.
    But I want you to listen to my argument, because if you think that 
our administration, if you think that Bill Clinton and Al Gore have been 
good for the people of Philadelphia, what I want you to understand is, 
none of it would have been possible if we hadn't had a partnership. And 
when I ran for President in 1992, and the people of this city and this 
State voted for me, I said--and let me say, times have been good for a 
good long while now, so a lot of people don't remember what it was like 
before the Clinton-Gore administration or before Rendell and Street. They don't remember. So let me remind you.
    It was a time of severe economic distress. It was a time of 
deepening social division. It was a time of political drift, and the 
whole enterprise of Government had been discredited in the eyes of many 
people. So I said, ``Give me a chance, and I will pursue some new ideas 
designed to give opportunity to everybody, to challenge every citizen to 
be a responsible citizen, and to create an American community of all 
people, and to give you a Government that is smaller, that actually does 
a good job for you in what we're supposed to do, which is to empower 
people and families and communities to control their own destiny and 
seek the future of their dreams. Now, it was just an argument, just like 
when you voted for Rendell and Street. It was just an argument. You took 
that chance on them. But it's not an argument anymore. The evidence is 
in. And what I want to say to you is, when people say you ought to throw 
all this away, let me remind you of what they're saying.
    In America, we have 19\1/2\ million new jobs, the longest peacetime 
economic expansion in history, the highest homeownership in history, the 
lowest unemployment rate in 29 years, the lowest African-American and 
Hispanic unemployment rates ever recorded, the lowest welfare rolls in 
30 years, the lowest poverty rates in 30 years, the lowest teen 
pregnancy rates in 30 years, the lowest inflation rates in 30 years, the 
first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years, the lowest crime rates 
in 32 years, with the smallest Federal Government in 37 years. You took 
a chance, and you were right in 1992 and 1996.
    Now, in Philadelphia, in Philadelphia, after years of deficit 
spending, under this administration you've got seven balanced budgets in 
a row. You have the first job growth in Philadelphia in 30 years. You 
have declining crime and welfare rolls. You have people working together 
across racial lines. Look around this place today. So I say to you--and 
Ed Rendell has said that John Street's the most qualified person ever to 
run and that he couldn't have done anything he's done as mayor without 
him.
    Now, just because you've done a good job doesn't mean you're 
automatically entitled to an election. I remember I was running for 
Governor for the fifth term, and I'd been in 10 years. And I went out to 
the State fair in my home State, and this old boy in overalls came up to 
me and said, ``You gonna run again?'' [Laughter] And I said, ``Well, if 
I do, will you vote for me?'' He said, ``Yeah, I guess so. I always 
have.'' [Laughter] And I said, ``Well, aren't you sick of me after all 
these years?'' He said, ``No, but nearly everybody else I know is.'' 
[Laughter] And I got hurt, and I said, ``Well, don't you think I've done 
a good job?'' He said, ``Yeah, but you got a paycheck every 2 weeks, 
didn't you?'' [Laughter]
    So it's not enough, but you've got to think about it before you 
throw it away. And one of the things I will say about the job John 
Street has done is, it is evidence of what he can do and where he will 
lead the city. So if he says to you--if he says to you, we ought to 
invest in education; if he says to you, we've got a plan to make our 
streets safer; if he says to you, we ought to take Congressman 
Fattah's mentoring program, his GEAR UP 
program, which says to middle school kids, if you stay in school and you 
learn your lessons, here's the money you can get to go to college, and 
every one of you can go; if he says to you he's going to do these 
things, at least you have some evidence that he will. And it's a whole 
lot of evidence, 8 long years of evidence, success, and progress and 
change in people's lives.
    And let me say, he talked about the tax issue. Well, what he didn't 
say that I want to tell you is, they're lowering taxes. And we've cut 
taxes in Washington. But what we said is, we will cut taxes, all right, 
but we want to make

[[Page 1920]]

sure that tax cuts are fair, that the working poor get the biggest 
break. We want to make sure that we don't get the budget out of balance 
because financial help is critical to social progress. The Democrats 
ought to be the party of fiscal conservatism because when you've got low 
interest rates and balanced books, you have more jobs, higher wages, 
lower mortgage payments, lower car payments, lower college loan 
payments, and a better future.
    Now, John Street understood that before a lot of members of our 
party did, that by making Philadelphia fiscally conservative and paying 
its bills and making sure people knew that they could do business here, 
he was doing something progressive to create jobs and give people a 
chance to build their own lives, to bring some money into the city 
coffers and the State coffers, so we could invest in people and their 
future. So that's the position we're in in Washington.
    They wanted to have a tax cut that could throw away the whole 
surplus that wasn't attributable to your Social Security taxes. And I 
said, ``We can't afford it.'' Now, they can't even pay the bills without 
the tax cut, without getting into the Social Security. You've got the 
same debate here.
    Now, who are you going to believe? I think you can believe the guy 
on tax cuts, number one, John Street has a plan for modest tax cuts, and 
number two, he's balanced the books for 7 years. I don't think it's even 
close. It's not even close, who you're going to believe.
    On the education issue, they say they're for vouchers, because they 
feel bad that a lot of poor kids don't get a good education. Well, I 
feel bad about it, too. And if I had given up on the public schools, I 
might be where they are. But let me tell you something. We know if you 
give parents and children a choice of where their kids go to school, we 
know if you impose high standards and you have accountability, and then 
you help failing schools, we know if you give every kid who needs it an 
after-school program and a summer school program--so, yes, don't just 
promote them whether they know anything or not, but don't blame them if 
the system is failing them. Give them the after-school programs. Give 
them the summer school programs. Give them the opportunities they need.
    We have evidence, evidence that that helps more kids more quickly 
than the voucher program, which takes needed money away from the schools 
when there is not enough in the first place. There is evidence about 
this.
    So if you have evidence on the main issue of education, and you have 
evidence on the main issue of tax cuts and fiscal responsibility and the 
economy, what is the deal here? [Laugher]
    Let me tell you, I read some of these editorial arguments. They say, 
John Street has done a great job; we wouldn't be here without him; give 
him a gold watch and send him home. Well, let me tell you something. 
This is a young, vigorous, brilliant, committed public servant. You 
heard him up here today. You heard him up here today. His heart is on 
fire for the children and the future of this city. He has all the 
experience in the world.
    And I say, remember what it was like before. Remember how far we 
have come. Reward his record because it's in your interest to have 
somebody who can produce that record do what he talked about doing in 
your future from this podium today.
    Now, I'm telling you, there is a difference in the way we approach 
it. Today I signed another continuing resolution to keep the Government 
in Washington open for another week because Congress still can't pass a 
budget because they can't figure out what to do. They want you to 
believe they're for certain things, but they don't want to pay the price 
for being for them. And I'm trying to say, let's put party aside and at 
least pass a budget. John Street's proved he could do that.
    I want them to do that in Washington. I want you to think about 
this. I've, on purpose, not given you a big, whoop-dee-doo political 
speech. I want you to think about the arguments. What will it say to the 
people and the children of Philadelphia if on Tuesday, the message 
coming out of the election is, ``Well, old John did a good job, and boy, 
he had some good ideas about the future, but I had something else to do, 
and I couldn't be bothered to vote, so he lost.'' What will it say?
    You think about this in your churches on Sunday when you're talking 
to people about their responsibilities. What will it say? How will you 
ever say--how will you say to these little kids here, you work hard now 
and you do a good job and you might grow up to be mayor or Governor or 
Senator or President, because you will be judged on the job you do? What 
will it say if you stay home or anybody you know

[[Page 1921]]

stays home, after the job this man has done, and you don't elect him the 
mayor of this great city? Don't you do that.
    And what will it say--what will it say if the message coming out of 
the normally Democratic wards is: Well, he's done a great job, but the 
other fellow sang a good song? [Laughter] And I 
want to give him that. I think he's run an adroit campaign. I compliment 
him. My hat's off to him. And I know something about singing a good 
song. I've sung a few myself over the years. [Laughter] But in the end--
in the end what matters is, can you stand and deliver?
    What message will it send to the children of this city and their 
future if, after the record this man has amassed, the competence he has 
demonstrated, the character he has demonstrated, the leadership he has 
demonstrated, and the program he has outlined--which is plainly in the 
interests of the people of this city--he is not elected?
    I'm telling you, you have a great opportunity here to lift him up on 
Tuesday night and say, ``We are proud of what we have done these last 8 
years. We are proud that we did it together across all racial and 
religious and neighborhood and income lines. We are proud we did it 
together, and we are proudly going into the future with someone we trust 
and we know can lead us to a brighter tomorrow.''
    Thank you, and God bless you. Help him, now.

Note: The President spoke at 12:20 p.m. at LaSalle University. In his 
remarks, he referred to Mayor Edward G. Rendell and city council 
president Anna Verna of Philadelphia; and Republican mayoral candidate 
Sam Katz.