[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[June 13, 2000]
[Pages 1141-1142]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
June 13, 2000

    Thank you. Well, if I had any sense, I wouldn't say a word. 
[Laughter] Thank you.
    Let me say, first of all, I want to thank Vernon and Ann for once again proving 
one of their most endearing and enduring virtues: They stick with their 
friends. And Eleanor is their friend. We have all been friends a long 
time, and Hillary and I have known Vernon for a long time. When I was a 
32-year-old Governor, I went to Vernon Jordan's Urban League banquet 
speech in Little Rock, stayed up half the night talking to him. 
Hillary had already known him for 
years. In fact, she never lets me forget. [Laughter]
    And I would be less charitable, however, than Eleanor was. I think 
Ann actually saved Vernon's life. [Laughter] I was delighted when they got married 
because I needed him around for the rest of my life. [Laughter] And they 
have been so wonderful to all of us who are their friends, and I thank 
them for doing this.
    Mr. Mayor, I'm glad to see you. And 
Councilwoman, I'm glad to see you. And 
Secretary Herman, I'm glad to see you. 
Secretary Herman and Eleanor and I, we sort of, in our different ways, 
tried to help the administration of Jimmy Carter. So we go back a long, 
long time.
    I just want to say a few words tonight about Washington. First of 
all, I'm very proud of our Mayor, who was, in his previous life, a 
member of my administration. I have always loved Washington. You know, 
I've had a lot of homes in my life. I grew up in Arkansas, and I went to 
law school in Connecticut. Everybody knows now I've got a home in New 
York, which I'm very proud of. It's getting better every day. [Laughter] 
Fixing a 111-year-old farmhouse is almost as challenging as winning a 
Senate seat. [Laughter] But I hope and pray we'll be successful at both.
    But when I was a young man, I went to college in Washington. And I 
worked on the Hill every day. I lived in the District all 4 years I was 
in college. I love this city. I saw it burn after Dr. King was killed. I 
used to drive up and down those avenues, and I saw those empty 
storefronts. You know, I didn't know then, obviously, I would ever be 
President. Eleanor says she knew a long time ago. I really think when I 
announced for President my mother was the only person who thought I 
could win. [Laughter]
    But I always promised myself, if I could ever do anything for this 
city I would, because it was plainly, in some ways, the most beautiful 
capital in the entire world. It was full of people from all over the 
world. It had a rich and textured history that deserved to be nourished, 
a lot of things people don't even know about. You know, we have a 
national historic site here in Anacostia that is Frederick Douglass' 
home, that he lived in from after the Civil War until he died, that I 
urge all of you to go see, if you haven't. I'll flack for the National 
Park Service a little.
    So when I became President, before I was inaugurated, I took a walk 
down Georgia Avenue. And I talked to the merchants there, and I talked 
to the people on the street. I was always looking for things I could do. 
Eleanor and I were joking today--she went jogging in a campaign event 
for me in 1992. In the pouring rain, we were running up Pennsylvania 
Avenue together. I never will forget that. And because she's been where 
she's been, it's been possible for me, I think, to be a pretty good 
friend and a pretty good citizen of Washington, DC.

[[Page 1142]]

But if she hadn't been there, if she didn't have the enormous 
credibility she has in the Congress, among both Republicans and 
Democrats, and if she didn't have an idea a minute--[laughter]--then all 
these things that I have been able to do, I could not have done. Someone 
could write a whole chapter on my service as President to Washington, 
DC, in two words: Yes, Eleanor. [Laughter] And if it were to be four 
words, it would have to be: Yes, Eleanor; yes, Eleanor. [Laughter]
    We had a great time together, and it's been a joy. Now we've got 
this great Mayor who is inspiring so 
much confidence and broadening the base of support for the city, and 
there's so much more to be done. But I would hope that every American 
would want the United States Congress and the private sector and 
everybody else to do whatever we can for Washington. It ought to be the 
greatest city in America. It ought to be the greatest capital in the 
world. It's full of wonderful people and wonderful neighborhoods and 
wonderful possibilities, and we have really just begun to do what we 
ought to do.
    I hope someday that she'll actually have a real vote in the 
Congress, too, and that we'll have representation in the other House of 
the Congress. I hope that will happen.
    But I just want all of you to know that I'm grateful to you for 
helping her, but I know, I think I know that your presence here means 
you're also committed to helping make DC an even greater city, an even 
better place to live, an even more admirable National Capital. And 
believe me, for those of you who were here, like me, in the early and 
mid-sixties, it's stunning, the difference. But if you know the city, if 
you know all its neighborhoods, if you know all its schools, if you know 
every little nook and cranny of it, you know we've only scratched the 
surface of what we can do to make this the city it ought to be.
    I keep telling the American people, as I travel around the country 
now, that in so many ways the election of 2000 is as important as the 
elections of '92 and '96, and in some ways, a sterner test of our 
judgment and character. Because when I got elected, the country was 
against a wall, and it didn't take too much for them to take a chance on 
me. You remember me; President Bush referred to me as the Governor of a 
small southern State. [Laughter] And I was so dumb, I thought it was a 
compliment. [Laughter] And I still do. [Laughter]
    But anyway, we knew we had to do some things that were different. We 
knew we had to take a chance. We knew we had to kind of break out of the 
mold of the way business was conducted in the city. But now the test is, 
what is it that we propose as a nation to do with this prosperity of 
ours? Anybody that's over 30 years old has got sense enough to know that 
nothing goes on forever. And anybody over 30 years old can remember at 
least one time in your life when you made a mistake not because things 
were so bad but because things were so good you thought there were no 
consequences to the failure to concentrate.
    So I hope one of the things that we will think about--those of us in 
this room, at least--in this election season, is how important it is to 
use this moment to finish the job for Washington, DC, and to make it the 
greatest city of any national capital in the world. We can do this. We 
have the local leadership now. We have the idea machine--[laughter]--
beloved of all Members of Congress. If as many Republicans liked me as 
liked her, they'd repeal the 22d amendment. [Laughter]
    We can do this. But remember, you don't want to be sitting around in 
somebody's living room 10 years from now and thinking, ``Gosh, I wish I 
had done this, that, or the other thing for Washington.'' So let's make 
sure we truly honor Eleanor by having no regrets about how we use this 
magic moment.
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 9:40 p.m. at a private residence. In his 
remarks, he referred to reception hosts Vernon and Ann Jordan; Mayor 
Anthony A. Williams of Washington, DC; and Linda W. Cropp, chair, 
Council of the District of Columbia.