[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[October 7, 2000]
[Pages 2075-2077]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Telephone Remarks to a Reception for Representative Julia Carson
October 7, 2000

    Well, first of all, I want to thank Jeff 
for hosting this event tonight and for the many years of friendship I've 
enjoyed with him. I've been told that Evan and 
Susan Bayh are there and Frank and Judy O'Bannon and your 
other State officials. I heard you talking about Mayor

[[Page 2076]]

Peterson. And Joe 
Andrew--I want to say again what I said this afternoon--he's really done 
Indiana proud here at the DNC. I'm really proud of him.
    If you've been following the news today, you know why I couldn't 
come. I've been up for virtually 2 days now trying to stop the violence 
in the Middle East and get the peace process back on track. It's a 
difficult situation. We're down to all the hard issues now, and it's 
just something I couldn't leave. I can't get away from the phone because 
of what's going on there and in the U.N. and in other countries. I have 
to be available here 100 percent of the time.
    I'm really, really sorry to miss this because I had looked forward 
to coming back to Indiana, and I wanted to do anything I could to help 
Julia Carson. She's one of my favorite people in American politics. 
She's a real treasure for you. She's done a great job, and she is so 
effective.
    You know, she's got a style that reminds me of all these big, white 
country judges I used to deal with in Arkansas. [Laughter] She kind of 
eases up to you and talks to you, and then, before you know it, your 
billfold is gone. [Laughter] We have learned in the White House just to 
go on and give her what she wants the first time she asks, because we 
know we're going to give in sooner or later. [Laughter]
    Seriously, she's acquired an unusual amount of influence here in a 
short time because she is so good at what she does and because everybody 
likes and respects her, and I'm at the head of that list. So I'm very 
grateful to you for helping her.
    The only other thing I'd like to say tonight is that perhaps more 
than anyone in America, after these last 8 years, I know how important 
every Senate seat, every House seat is, and I know how important this 
election is. The resurgence of the Democratic Party in Indiana is 
perhaps the best example anywhere in America of what can happen if you 
take good Democratic values and common sense and get things done and 
produce results. And that's what we've tried to do. I just hope that all 
of you will take every opportunity you can between now and the election 
to remind people of where we were 8 years ago and where we are now and 
why we ought to keep changing in the same direction and not turn around 
and go back.
    The consequences of this election are very profound, and sometimes I 
get a little concerned that people may not believe that because times 
are so good. But it's often more difficult to make a good decision in 
good times than it is in hard times. We have a clear difference here 
between the two parties, between the candidates for Congress and for the 
Senate and certainly for the White House.
    We've worked hard nationally to do what Evan Bayh and Frank O'Bannon have done 
in Indiana, to prove that you can be fiscally responsible, balance your 
budgets, and still take care of people. And that is, in some ways, maybe 
the biggest difference between the Democratic and Republican approaches 
today. If Al Gore's plan is adopted, tax 
cuts will be smaller, and some of you will get less money, but we'll pay 
the debt off, and interest rates will be lower. And over the next 10 
years, the estimates are that, under his plan, interest rates will be a 
percent lower, and that's $390 billion in home mortgages, $30 billion in 
lower car loans, $15 billion in lower student loans, lower credit card 
payments, lower business loans, more jobs, higher incomes, and a better 
stock market. It's not very complicated.
    You simply cannot get this country back into deficit, which is what 
would happen if the Republican plans for the huge tax cut, the 
privatization of Social Security, and their spending promises go into 
effect. We'll be right back where we were, and we can't afford to do it. 
It's a big difference.
    And I just want to ask all of you to make sure that people 
understand that the choice is real and the consequences will be real, 
too. And I think the choice is clear. We have a different economic 
policy, a different health care policy, a different education policy, a 
different environmental policy, and a different foreign policy. And I 
think the results speak for themselves.
    You can cite Indiana as an example, and you can cite the record of 
our administration in the last 8 years. Nothing I have done, however, 
would have been possible without people in Congress like Senator 
Bayh and Representative Carson. I am just 
profoundly grateful.
    And I want to say a special word of thanks because it's still hard 
for a Democrat running for national office in Indiana. And for those of 
you who stood up for me, you deserve some sort of Purple Heart, and I 
want to thank you for that, as well. [Laughter]
    But now you have something you didn't have so much of--you didn't 
have any of in '92 and

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not so much of in '96. You have evidence. Some of our Republican 
friends, I've got to hand it to them. When it comes to the budget or how 
we ought to pay for prescription drugs, evidence doesn't faze them. They 
don't care about the evidence. They just know what they think.
    But most people, I think, in Indiana and the States bordering 
Indiana--a lot of you have friends there, in States that could go either 
way--really care about whether what we're doing is consistent with our 
values and will actually work. That's one of the reasons that I wanted 
so badly to be there for Julia today, because she works and she gets 
things done. Again, I just can't thank you enough for helping her.
    And thank you, Jeff, for indirectly 
having me in your home. I hope I can have a raincheck. I've been trying 
to visit you for a lot longer than I've been President. So maybe some 
day we'll get it done.
    Thank you all very, very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:02 p.m. from the Residence at the White 
House to the reception at a private residence in Indianapolis, IN. In 
his remarks, he referred to reception host Jeffrey Smulyan; Gov. Frank 
O'Bannon of Indiana and his wife, Judy; Senator Bayh's wife, Susan; 
Mayor Bart Peterson of Indianapolis; and Joseph J. Andrew, national 
chair, Democratic National Committee. Representative Carson was a 
candidate for reelection in Indiana's 10th Congressional District.