    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 24, 2000]
    [Pages 1253-1257]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Brunch for Senator Dianne Feinstein in Los Angeles
    June 24, 2000

        Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here. I always try to show
    up on Dianne's birthday. [Laughter] I was just thinking, one time in
    1994 I made an appearance in northern California for Senator Feinstein,
    and she didn't come--[laughter]--because she had to stay back and vote
    in the Senate. So I was sort of her surrogate. And I was talking about
    that the other day, and Hillary said, ``Well, if you did it for her, you
    can do it for me.'' [Laughter] So now I've started--now we're actually
    doing it on purpose in her election, so we'll see. [Laughter] I hope the
    results are just as good, and I'm inclined to think they will be.
    [Applause] Thank you.

    [[Page 1254]]

        I want to thank our friend Ron Burkle for
    giving us this beautiful home to have this event. And I'd like to
    recognize Joe Andrew, the chairman of the
    Democratic committee, and Terry McAuliffe,
    the chairman of our convention. Thank you both for being here.
        I want to thank Governor Davis for many
    things, two in particular: Number one, the extraordinary example he has
    set in pushing for reforms in education and criminal justice and other
    things; and secondly, I want to thank you for being so loyal and helpful
    to Vice President Gore. And when we win, we
    will never forget that you were there, and I appreciate that.
        Sharon Davis is here, and I want to thank
    her for going down and being with me in San Diego the other night. We
    had a great time down there. We're actually swelling the ranks of the
    Democrats in San Diego.
        And we have a lot of mayors here: Mayor Vicki Reynolds of Beverly Hills; Mayor Miguel Pulido of Santa Ana; Mayor Bill Bogaard of Pasadena; and my great friend Mayor Beverly
    O'Neill of Long Beach. Thank you all for
    being here.
        I want to introduce one other person and ask him to stand, because I
    believe he is one of the reasons that Dick Gephardt will be the new Speaker of the House, State Senator Adam
    Schiff, candidate for--[inaudible]--Adam, stand
    up here. Thank you. [Applause] You ought to help him. He deserves to be
    elected to Congress. He did a great job.
        Now, I want to be brief. Gray has already
    talked about Dianne's remarkable record. I have said many times, but I
    will say again, I can't think of any first-term Member of the United
    States Senate, particularly one who had to labor in the minority--and I
    know she got the short straw, she's actually sort of in her second term
    because she was elected in '92 and '94. But if you think about what she
    did with the Headwater Forest, the Mojave Desert National Park, the
    other national monuments we set aside in California--with the assault
    weapons ban, with the water agreement, it's really, truly astonishing.
    And I literally can't think of anybody else who accomplished so much in
    such a short time.
        I think one reason is her extraordinary ability, her persuasiveness,
    and her persistence. I remember one time 4 or 5 years ago, somebody
    called and said Senator Feinstein had called and asked us to do
    something in the White House, and what did I think. I said, ``Well,
    there's only one decision to make, are we going to do it now or
    later''--[laughter]--``because I can tell you, no will not be an
    option.'' [Laughter] When she makes up her mind, no is not an option.
        I think also the fact that she was a mayor had something to do with
    her success, that she was willing to approach people with different
    views in good faith and try to work things through.
        One of the reasons I ran for President in 1992 is, I was just--
    Washington drove me crazy. They had--the basic mode of operation in the
    Congress was, ``I've got an idea. You've got an idea. Let's fight. Maybe
    we'll both get on the evening news.'' [Laughter] And it worked pretty
    well, I guess, to get on the evening news. It didn't have much to do
    with what was happening in America, and we weren't very well off as a
    result of it.
        So I'd like to tell you, I am very grateful for the chance I've had
    to serve as President. I am very grateful for the opportunity I've had
    to work with people like Dianne Feinstein. I'm glad the results have
    been good for California and good for America.
        But I think the most important thing that we should be thinking
    about is, what do we plan to make of this moment, and what is this
    election about anyway? And I want you to know three things. I think
    Dianne's going to be reelected, overwhelmingly, because she's done such
    a great job and because people will agree with her. It will be better
    for her and she'll do more for you if we pick up a dozen or 15 House
    seats, if we pick up 5 or 6 Senate seats, and if the Vice President is
    elected President. And I believe that whether those things happen depend
    in large measure on what the American people believe this election is
    about. Sometimes the answer you get depends on the question you ask.
        And there are three things I want you to know about this election.
    And you know, I'm not running for anything. [Laughter] Most days I'm
    okay about it. [Laughter] I got a call--this is the first time in 26
    years they've had an election roll around, and I can't go ask somebody
    to vote for me. [Laughter] Sometimes I have, you know, kind of DT's
    about it, but most days I'm okay. [Laughter]
        A distinguished citizen of the world called me last week and said
    that for a lame duck, I was quacking rather loudly. [Laughter] And

    [[Page 1255]]

    I'm trying to do that. We're trying to get things done.
        Oh, I want to tell you one other thing, one other Californian I want
    to brag on. You should be very proud of Henry Waxman, because this week he got a bipartisan majority in the
    House to vote to let us proceed with the tobacco litigation. And he beat
    the tobacco interests and the Republican leadership, and I'm really
    proud of him. It was great.
        So what is this election about? When you leave here and you go
    around and you talk to people and they ask you, why did you show up at
    this, what are you going to say? ``Burkle's got a
    pretty spread.'' ``Dianne makes a great speech.'' ``I want to see
    Clinton one more time before he withers away.'' [Laughter] What are you
    going to say?
        You're laughing, but I'm serious. I want you to laugh, but I want
    you to think, because I'm telling you--here are the things you need to
    know about this election. It's really important. It's just as important
    as the '92 and '96 elections were. I mean, to be fair, you didn't have
    to be a rocket scientist to know that '92 was important. I mean,
    California was in the dumps. We had riots in the streets. The economy
    was bad. The political environment was rancorous. It was obvious that we
    needed a new economic policy, a new social policy, and a new political
    approach. We knew that.
        And in '96 it was obvious, I think, to the people that we had to
    keep working on this. A lot of stuff was in transit. So now I've worked
    as hard as I could to help turn this country around. And what's the
    election about? It's about, what are you going to do with this magic
    moment? And it is not self-evident yet that the American people
    understand or accept that that is what this election is about.
        Once in maybe 50 years a country gets a chance to have a set of
    circumstances like this, where you really can build a future of your
    dreams for your children. So, I think what the election ought to be
    about is, how are we going to meet the big challenges; how are we going
    to seize the big opportunities? What is it going to be like when all of
    us baby boomers retire and there are only two people working for every
    one person going on Social Security and Medicare? How are we preparing
    for it?
        We have the largest group of schoolchildren in history, and the most
    diverse one, racially, ethnically, religiously. How are we going to give
    them all a world-class education? And are we prepared to live with the
    consequences if we fail to do so?
        What about all the people that aren't part of this prosperity, all
    the people in places that have been left behind? If we don't bring them
    into the circle of opportunity now, when will we ever get around to
    doing it? What about all the people who have jobs and have children and
    have a really tough time balancing work and family? Because our country
    is still way behind most others in giving support to working parents.
        What about global warming and these big new environmental
    challenges? Are we going to prove we can grow the economy and improve
    the environment, or are we going to keep our heads stuck in the sand and
    say it's going to be unfortunate when the sugar cane fields in Louisiana
    flood and the Florida Everglades flood and we can't grow crops on part
    of our land anymore, but we just aren't going to do anything about this?
        What about the fact that there is still manifest hatred in our
    country against people just because of their race or their religion or
    just because they're gay? What are we going to do about that? I mean,
    here in Los Angeles, one of the most diverse places, one of the most
    exciting places, and often, one of the most tolerant places in the
    country, you had those kids shot at that Jewish community school--shot
    at; you had that Filipino postal worker murdered by a person who
    apparently thought he got a two-fer, he got an Asian and a Federal
    employee; Matthew Shepard killed because he was gay; James Byrd dragged
    to death because he as black. In the Middle West, we had a young Korean
    Christian shot, walking out of his church, and an African-American
    former basketball coach at Northwestern shot, walking in his
    neighborhood, by a guy who said he belonged to a church that didn't
    believe in God but believed in white supremacy. We still have these
    things in our country. We have less grievous manifestations of it.
        How are we going to build one America? And if we want to build a
    human face on the global economy and we want to be a force for peace and
    freedom and decency, from the Balkans to the Middle East and Northern
    Ireland to the African tribal conflicts, we have to be good at home if
    we want to do good around the world. How do we propose to deal with

    [[Page 1256]]

    this? Now, that's what I think this election is about. These are big
    things.
        You know, when I got elected it was, how are we going to pay the
    bills and get out of debt and get interest rates down, so people can go
    back to work; what are we going to do to make the streets safer so
    people can walk down the streets? Now we have these big questions. You
    can get America out of debt if you want to. I think you ought to want
    to. I think the liberals ought to want America to pay off its debt. Why?
    Because it means lower interest rates, more jobs, more money for
    ordinary working people. The people that serve our food today will be
    better off if America is not borrowing money that they can then borrow
    for lower costs to send their kids to college or to get an education
    themselves or make a car payment.
        Yes, the crime rate is down to a 30-year low. So what? Anybody think
    America is safe enough? What are we going to do to make America the
    safest country in the world? Yes, we have a Children's Health Insurance
    Program, and 2 million kids are now getting insurance, but just like
    Hillary warned in 1994, the number of
    people uninsured has gone up. One Democratic Member of Congress told me
    the other day, he said, ``You know, they told me if I voted for
    Hillary's health care program, the number of uninsured Americans would
    go up, and I voted for it, and that's exactly what happened.'' Think
    about it. [Laughter]
        So what are we going to do about this? So that's the first thing. If
    the American people believe that this is a moment that we cannot afford
    to squander, her election is a cinch, and I believe the Vice
    President will win; I think
    Hillary will win; I think we will
    definitely win the House and probably win the Senate--if that's what
    people really believe. So it's a big election.
        The second thing I want to tell you is there are huge differences.
        And I'll just go to the third point now. There are three points you
    need to remember--big election, big differences. The third point, only
    the Democrats want you to know what the differences are. [Laughter] Now,
    you laugh, but it's true. Can you believe this Republican campaign?
    They've tried to get you to develop amnesia about the primary they had.
    [Laughter] And their nominee did not go to
    his own State party convention this year because he didn't want to have
    to answer questions about the Texas Republican platform.
        I urge you to get a copy of that. [Laughter] I mean, you can get rid
    of every other reactionary tract in your library, if you just got a copy
    of the Texas Republican platform. [Laughter] You would never have to do
    any research again for the rest of your life about what the most
    reactionary position is on any issue; just that one little document,
    you'll have it forever.
        There are differences. I'll just give you a few. We think we ought
    to be spreading this benefit to everybody. We think we ought to raise
    the minimum wage, and they don't. We believe in managed care, but we
    don't think people should be abused in managed care, so we favor a
    Patients' Bill of Rights. And if people get hurt, we think they ought to
    be able to sue for redress, and they don't. We favor a Medicare
    prescription drug program that every senior that needs it can buy into
    on a voluntary basis, and they don't. We favor continued aggressive
    efforts to improve the environment, even as we grow the economy. They
    won't fund our initiatives for global warming. They never want to fund
    our initiatives to develop alternative sources of fuel on more efficient
    cars, even though you see what's happening to gas prices in the Middle
    West today and why we need to diversify our energy sources.
        Al Gore says, ``If I get elected President, I'm going to build on
    President Clinton's order setting aside 43 million roadless acres in the
    national forests,'' something the Audubon Society said was the most
    significant conservation move in the last 50 years. [Applause] I don't
    want you to clap for the self-serving part. [Laughter] So Gore says,
    ``Clinton did a good thing. I'll build on it.'' His opponent says,
    ``Vote for me, and I'll reverse it. It is an unconscionable land grab.''
        We believe that we should build on Senator Feinstein's assault
    weapons ban and ban the importation of large capacity ammunition clips,
    which allow people to evade the assault weapons ban. We think we should
    mandate child trigger locks. We think we should close the gun show
    loophole, and they don't. They don't.
        We know that in the next election, there will be--we'll produce a
    President who will get to make at least two and maybe four appointments
    to the United States Supreme Court--at least two and maybe four. And we
    have a candidate who is committed to support a whole range of

    [[Page 1257]]

    personal liberties, including a woman's right to choose, and they have
    one who is committed to do what he can to do away with it.
        Now, they don't want to talk about that anymore. That was all stuff
    that happened in the primaries. But my view is, we ought to run this
    election not in a hateful way, not in a negative way. I hate these
    campaigns the last 20 years where you get these forces in opposition,
    they're running down their opponents, and they want you to believe that
    whoever they're running against is just a step above a car thief. I
    don't believe that. I don't like that. I think we should assume that
    from top to bottom, the people running are honorable and intend to do
    exactly what they say they will do. But let's not have a shaded
    definition of what they have said. Let's get it all out there and let
    people see the choices and let them make their decision.
        So, big differences. Only we want you to know what they are. You've
    got to go out and tell people. There are consequences here.
        Their position is, ``Hey, this economy is on automatic now. You
    couldn't mess it up if you tried. Their fraternity had it for 8 years.
    Give our side a chance.'' Their position is, ``Hey, we're going to have
    all this money in the surplus. We want to give you way over half of it
    in a tax cut, spend more than the rest of it that's left in our Social
    Security privatization plan, spend a little more on our national missile
    defense or whatever other commitments we've made, and it will all be
    there, even though it's just projected.''
        Al Gore stands up and says, ``Look, I
    know I'm running for President, and I'd like to have all the votes I
    can, but we don't know if we're going to have all this money that we're
    projecting.'' What's your projected income over the next 10 years? Would
    you go spend it all today? [Laughter] Anybody here that's sitting down
    right now and projecting your income for the next 10 years and is
    willing to make an ironclad commitment that will land you in the
    poorhouse if you don't do it--spend every nickel of it--you ought to
    vote for them. The rest of you ought to vote for us.
        And you need to tell people that. I mean, Gore says, ``Look, let's
    take at least 20 percent of this money that is being produced only
    because you're paying more in Medicare taxes than we're spending now,
    and set it aside and not spend it, not fool with it, use it to pay down
    the debt, and take the interest savings and put it into Medicare so it
    will be there when the baby boomers retire. And we don't have to
    bankrupt our kids. Let's do for that what we're doing for Social
    Security. And then if the money doesn't materialize, we haven't spent
    it, and we won't go back to deficits and interest rates. And let's have
    a tax cut, but let's use it to help people like the folks that are
    working here establish their own savings account, create a little
    wealth, prepare for the future; help families with child care, with
    long-term care for their parents and their disabled family members; open
    the doors of college to everybody and still have some money to invest in
    education and the environment and making a safer world.''
        Now, I think that that's more likely to keep this economy going.
    People ask me all the time, ``Well, what great new innovation did you
    bring to Washington? How did you do this economic magic? What did you
    bring?'' And I always say, ``Arithmetic.'' [Laughter] We brought
    arithmetic back to national policymaking.
        So I want you to think about this, folks. We've got to have
    California. California can influence Oregon, Washington, Arizona,
    Nevada, people all over the country you've got friends with. You need to
    tell people when you leave here, ``I'm glad I went there yesterday
    because I understand clearly now that this is a really important
    election. I understand clearly that there are real differences with real
    consequences. I'm for Dianne Feinstein because I agree with her, and she
    has gotten more done in less time than anybody I ever saw. And I'm for
    Al Gore because he's had more impact for
    the good as Vice President than anybody in history, because he will keep
    the prosperity going, because he cares about people that too often get
    forgotten in our society, and because he understands the future and he
    can lead us there.'' Now, if people think that's what the election is
    about, we win.
        Thank you very much.

     Note:  The President spoke at 12:37 p.m. at a private residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to brunch host Ron Burkle; Gov. Gray Davis of
    California and his wife, Sharon; and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.