[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[June 27, 2000]
[Pages 1313-1315]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]




[[Page 1313]]


Remarks on the Unveiling of a Portrait of Former Secretary of the 
Treasury Robert E. Rubin
June 27, 2000

    The President.  Secretary Summers, 
you pulled that off without a hitch. [Laughter] If that won't keep 
interest rates down, I don't know what will. [Laughter] In 7\1/2\ years, 
that's the first public comment I ever made--[laughter]--and I only did 
it to see which one of them would faint first. [Laughter]
    Let me say--if I can't have a little fun now, when can I, right? 
[Laughter] Judy and Gretchen, thank you for being here today. Secretary 
Daley, Jack Lew, 
Gene Sperling, all the members of the economic 
team in the White House, and all of our former administration members 
who are here, including Mickey Kantor and your old buddy Ken Brody back there, Mr. Strauss, we're 
delighted to see you here today. We thank you for coming.
    I'd like to acknowledge one person who can't be here today, who had 
a lot to do with our early days together, Bob, and that is your 
predecessor, Lloyd Bentsen. I'm glad that your 
portraits will hang together, because you certainly hung together in the 
early years of this administration and helped us get off to a good 
start.
    I thought it was kind of cruel the way Larry made fun of Bob not knowing about ``The X Files.'' 
[Laughter] ``The X Files''--Bob Rubin didn't know who B.B. King was. 
[Laughter] He thought he made air guns. [Laughter] He thought Jimmy 
Buffett was a caterer. [Laughter] Really, this man did not know who B.B. 
King and Jimmy Buffett were when he came to work for us. [Laughter] And 
so, yes, he gave us a good economy, but we've broadened his horizons in 
return. [Laughter]
    Unlike me, Rubin got mostly good press here. [Laughter] But he did 
get the occasional dire assessment. Listen to this headline by one 
prescient pundit--no offense, Andrea. Listen to this: ``Rubin is fading 
from power and will resign from fatigue. He won't be around past March 
of next year.'' That was written in December of 1993. [Laughter]
    Well----
    Robert E. Rubin.  I think Judy wrote that. [Laughter]
    The President.  Yes. [Laughter] Actually, Judy didn't write it, but she does wish it had been true. 
[Laughter] Well, anyway, you outlasted that prediction by more than 5 
years, through impossibly long hours, a terribly tough commute, almost 7 
years without a house and only a hotel room. We probably should hang a 
second portrait of you in the lobby of the Jefferson Hotel. [Laughter] 
You certainly did a lot to make sure their cash flow was steady. 
[Laughter]
    You know, Bob joined our team in 1992, and I never will forget the 
first conversation I had with him in early '92, and the conversations 
since. And I want to say just a few serious words. Here was a guy who 
had done reasonably well on Wall Street. [Laughter] I used to joke that 
Bob Rubin came to Washington to help me save the middle class, and by 
the time he left, he'd be one of them. [Laughter] But he didn't think it 
was very funny. [Laughter] The longer he stayed, the less money he got. 
[Laughter]
    But I wanted him because I knew he was committed at turning the 
economy around; I knew he wanted the economy to work for ordinary 
Americans; and I knew he cared very much about poor people in poor 
places that are too often forgotten here in Washington. You all know 
that he played a pivotal role in developing our initial economic 
strategy of fiscal discipline, expanded trade, and investment in our 
people and our future. Perhaps equally important, he made it possible to 
implement that strategy by putting together the National Economic 
Council, which we modeled on the National Security Council, and by being 
its first leader.
    He had the skills to build a genuine team, to be an honest broker, 
to give every good idea and not so good idea a fair hearing, to bring 
out the best in other people and make them feel secure in stating their 
own opinions, and

[[Page 1314]]

in every instance, to work for what was best for all the American 
people.
    One measure of his success, I think, is it's so easy to forget now 
the feuds that divided previous administrations, the pitched, public 
battles that were once an inescapable part of making economic policy in 
Washington. But Bob changed all that. And that team produced the 1993 
economic plan which was highly contentious but, clearly, struck a major 
blow in bringing the deficit down and reversing the budgetary and fiscal 
fortunes of this Government.
    Five and a half years ago I asked him to be Secretary of the 
Treasury, not only because he would be a worthy successor to Lloyd 
Bentsen but because he would also be a worthy 
successor to Alexander Hamilton. I might say, his portrait is right back 
here. We walked out, and I said, ``Bob, look at Hamilton. He was a fine 
looking fellow, wasn't he?'' He said, ``Yes, but they wouldn't let me 
wear that outfit for my portrait.'' [Laughter]
    Hamilton also insisted that the United States pay its debts and 
practice prudence. Bob Rubin has established, both as our National 
Economic Adviser and as a Secretary of Treasury, a standard of public 
service that is the envy of every American who loves his or her country 
and would like to serve.
    I thank Larry Summers for carrying 
it on today and for the work that he did. Bob used to say that Larry 
thought up what they were going to do, and Bob presented it better. But 
they were a great team. [Laughter] And Larry does a pretty good job of 
presenting himself now.
    We've had a wonderful run here because of your service. You know, 
yesterday we announced that the budget surplus this year was going to be 
$211 billion. When we leave office, we will have paid down nearly $400 
billion of national debt. Over the next 10 years, we think the on-budget 
surplus will be $1.9 trillion and that we'll be debt-free by 2012, 
giving America, for a generation, lower interest rates, mortgage rates, 
college loan rates, more businesses, and more jobs. It's a pretty good 
legacy, Mr. Secretary, and we thank you.
    Now, before you come up, I just want to say one other thing. Larry 
said this, but it is true. We were having this meeting about the Mexican 
debt crisis on your first night. And we had already checked Chairman 
Greenspan's temperature about this. 
[Laughter] And so in comes Rubin with this, you know, ``Gee, shucks, 
golly. I mean, what do I know? I just made a gazillion dollars on Wall 
Street, and you were some Governor of a small southern State. I mean, 
what do I know?'' [Laughter] ``And I mean, so what if it's 81-15 against 
us. You know, every now and then you've just got to step up.''
    Actually, it was a no-brainer. We made the decision collectively in 
about 5 minutes. And then we talked for another half hour to make it 
look good, so it would be respectable when we had to write about it 
later on in our memoirs. [Laughter] But it worked out okay. And then we 
had, in a way, a more complex job when the financial contagion struck in 
Asia in '97 and '98. But you worked really hard to make that work right. 
And it did. So I'm very grateful for that, as well.
    The last thing I'd like to say is, I think the important way we can 
honor you is not to squander but to make the most of this moment. We 
didn't get here by accident. We got here, in no small measure, because 
of the strategy you devised. And I hope we can continue to honor it. I 
think we ought to take the Medicare taxes off budget. I think we ought 
to keep paying down the debt. I hope that we can make an agreement with 
the Congress now for a good prescription drug program and appropriate 
tax relief that leaves plenty of money left so they can debate it in 
this campaign but nothing that will in any way affect our overall 
commitment to fiscal discipline and paying down the debt.
    And you have left us a legacy, Bob, that keeps on giving, just like 
you keep on giving. We all love you, and we thank you.

 Note:  The President spoke at 10:54 a.m. at the U.S. Department of the 
Treasury. In his remarks, he referred to Judy and Gretchen Rubin, wife 
and daughter-in-law, respectively, of Mr. Rubin; former U.S. Trade 
Representative and former Secretary of Commerce Michael (Mickey) Kantor; 
former President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank Kenneth D. 
Brody; former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Robert Strauss; former Secretary 
of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen; and musicians B.B. King and Jimmy 
Buffett. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
also included the remarks of Mr. Rubin.

[[Page 1315]]