    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [May 23, 2000]
    [Pages 1016-1017]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Dinner
    May 23, 2000

        Thank you to the modest Mr. McAuliffe.
    [Laughter] There's one other person I'd like to thank. I'd like to thank
    Abe Pollin for making this place available to us
    tonight. Thank you. And your reward for raising all this money is

    [[Page 1017]]

    that you don't have to listen to me give a long speech tonight. You've
    heard it all.
        But I want you to know that I am profoundly grateful. And when we
    started this campaign year, I was very, very worried that we would be,
    in this period between April the 1st and August the 1st, swamped by the
    Republicans financially. And it didn't work out that way, partly because
    they had a rather competitive primary. And then the idea--and I've been,
    as you know, I've been exerting some modest efforts, with a lot of your
    help, to raise money for our party and for our Senate campaign committee
    and our House campaign committee.
        But this is a truly wonderful thing. You know, we'll still have to
    go out and raise some hard money and do some things. But this really
    puts the Democrats in a competitive position between now and November.
    And the gift you're giving the Vice President is, I think, inestimable, and I'm grateful to you for
    that.
        I just want to say one thing. A lot of you have heard me say this
    before, but I want to say it one more time: The test of a country when
    times are good may be more severe than the test when times are tough. We
    don't know when again in our lifetimes, any of us, we will have at once
    so much economic prosperity and social progress and national self-
    confidence.
        But there are huge, huge questions out there. We saw today, Governor
    Bush outlined one. You know, both candidates
    want to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, but one is not so sure we
    need either the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or the Anti-Ballistic
    Missile Treaty. Most Americans don't know there's a big difference there
    and don't understand what that means for their children's lives. But
    it's huge.
        You know, what does national security mean in the early part of the
    21st century? How are we going to keep the economy going? And should we
    pay down the debt, or risk a tax cut that will put us in debt again?
    What are the consequences of either course? Do you think you can grow
    the economy and make the environment better, or do you think that's some
    sort of a subversive plot to destroy free enterprise? Do you believe
    that we will have to make further efforts, like employment
    nondiscrimination and hate crimes legislation, to be one community in
    the diversity of the 21st century or not? How are we going to put a
    human face on the global economy? What's the best way to deal with the
    aging of America? These are big questions.
        And I say this repeatedly, but anybody over 30 years old can
    remember at least one time in your life when you made a huge mistake,
    personally or professionally, not because times were so bad but because
    they were so good you thought there was no incentive to concentrate and
    no consequence to the failure to do so.
        This is a major election. I'm grateful for this dinner. I'm grateful
    that you're honoring me. I'm grateful for your extraordinary efforts and
    for Terry's indefatigable energy. But the
    purpose of all this is to build the future of our dreams for our kids.
    So I want us to have a huge, good time tomorrow night. And then I want
    us to go out and spend this money in the wisest possible way to make
    sure that all the work we've done in the last 8 years is not squandered
    but instead built upon.
        And I thank you for helping the Vice President. I believe he is going to win, and I believe he's going to
    be a wonderful President. But it's going to be a lot more likely after
    tomorrow night.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:55 p.m. in the Capital Club at the MCI
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Terence McAuliffe, former finance
    chair, Democratic National Committee; Abe Pollin, owner, National
    Basketball Association Washington Wizards and MCI Center; and Gov.
    George W. Bush of Texas.