[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[August 18, 2000]
[Pages 1668-1670]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Picnic for the Democratic Parties of Franklin, Essex, and 
Clinton Counties in Saranac Lake, New York
August 18, 2000

    Thank you. Well, let me thank all of you for coming out tonight. I 
thank the mayor and all of our chairs. And 
Phil Lalande and Anne Tubby, thank you for being with us tonight.
    I think Hillary just about said 
it all, don't you? I thought that was great.
    I want to say a few things and then ask you something from a little 
different perspective. First of all, I want to thank all the people of 
New York State for voting twice in 1992 and 1996 for Bill Clinton and Al 
Gore, and I'm very grateful to you. And I want to say a special word of 
thanks to you for 1996, when we carried 52 of the State's counties, 
including Franklin, Essex, and Clinton Counties, by big margins, and I 
thank you. Now that we know you can do it, I hope you'll do the same 
thing for Hillary and Al Gore and Joe Lieberman 
this year.
    I was thinking, when Chelsea and I were 
sitting there listening to Hillary 
talk, two things. First of all, I thought she was giving a great talk. 
[Laughter] And I thought she gave a great speech at the convention 
Monday night. And I want to echo what she said about the Vice 
President's speech last night. It was an 
extraordinary speech and a great roadmap for the country's future, and 
I'm grateful for that.

[[Page 1669]]

    But I want to talk to you from a unique perspective, because my 
family has a new candidate and my party, as of last night, has a new 
leader. And so in this election, though I will be President and I have a 
lot I'm going to try to get done for you in the next 5 months, I am 
moving back to where I spent the first 20 years of my active life in 
politics, from the time I was 8 years old and my uncle was running for 
the State legislature at home, and I was passing out cards for him at 
the polling place. That is, I'm coming back to where you are. I'm going 
to be a citizen activist, and I'm going to try to be a good one. But 
I've had a unique opportunity to see what makes a country change and 
grow, and also to understand clearly the consequences of elections and 
the decisions made by the people whom we elect.
    So I can't begin to add anything to what I said last Monday about 
what happened the last 8 years, what Hillary and Al Gore said about what 
ought to happen in the next 4 years. But I can tell you this: What the 
election rides on is whether the people of this country, the people of 
this State, and the people of this part of New York believe it's a big 
election, not a little election, and understand that there are 
differences and know what the differences are.
    So as somebody who's sort of coming back your way, to citizen 
activism, I thank you for coming here tonight; I thank you for your 
support for all your local candidates. And Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here; and all the other local 
officials, I thank you for your support for Hillary. It means so much to me, and it will be good for New 
York.
    But I want to ask you to leave here remembering what I said. I tried 
to make the argument last Monday night that for all the progress we have 
made in the last 8 years, the best stuff is still out there, because 
that's what I believe. That's what I believe.
    If you just think about it, we had to work so hard to turn the 
economy around and get rid of the deficit. Now we can bring prosperity 
to the people and places left behind. We had to work so hard to get the 
crime rate going down instead of going up. Now we can focus on making 
America the safest big country in the world. We had to work so hard in 
getting in place the things that work in education. Now we can focus on 
making sure every child in this country can get a world-class education 
from kindergarten through college.
    We are in a position to take advantage of all these scientific 
discoveries and all these technological developments in a way that has 
never been possible in this country and, as Hillary said, could bring 
great economic opportunity to upstate New York. But the people have to 
choose wisely.
    And I can just tell you, as somebody who spent the first 20 years of 
my life working to try to persuade other people to vote for folks I 
thought ought to be elected; and then who spent 22 of the last 24 years 
as a public official trying to convince people I ought to be elected and 
reelected and what I was doing made sense; as someone who's looking 
forward to an election where I can support a man I believe in for 
President, a man I believe in for Vice 
President, and a woman I think would be 
one of the great United States Senators of our time for the Senate, I can tell you, not 
everybody thinks about this as much as you do.
    Isn't that right? Whether they're Democrats, independents, or 
Republicans, not everybody sits around and thinks about this as much as 
you do. This is a massive crowd tonight. But there are more people from 
this area who aren't here than people who are, right? By definition. 
That's not a criticism. This is a huge crowd. It blew me away when I 
walked in here. But the point I'm trying to make is that between now and 
election day, each one of you will have a chance every day to say, 
``Look, this is a big deal here. You've got to take this seriously.'' 
The people you work with, the people you're in civic clubs with, the 
people you worship with, the people you run into on the street or drink 
coffee with, you can say, ``Look, this is a big election. You remember 
where this country was 8 years ago?''
    And those of you who are over 30 can make this point to younger 
people. You know, you get a time like this in a country's life maybe 
once in a lifetime, where you get the chance to build a future of your 
dreams for your kids. So once you convince people it's a big election 
and they have to take it seriously, you're halfway home in terms of 
persuading them to vote for our people.
    And then the second thing you have to convince them of is that there 
are significant differences that will affect their lives, their 
children's lives, and the future of New York and the United States.
    So as someone who is profoundly grateful to all of you--there's 
hardly a place in America

[[Page 1670]]

that's been more generous to me more consistently than New York has--I 
want you to know that the best thing I can give back to you is to do my 
dead-level best to get everything I can do done for America in the 5 
months I've got left to be President and to persuade the American people 
that a chance like this comes along once in a lifetime.
    I've worked hard to turn the country around, but all the best stuff 
is still out there. But the American people have to believe it's a big 
election, and there are big consequences because there are big 
differences. If you can take some time every day between now and 
November to talk to your friends, without regard to their parties, in a 
calm and open way--[laughter]--making those two points--making those two 
points, say, ``Hey, we're not mad at these other guys. We don't have 
anything bad to say about them. But look, it's a big election, and there 
are big differences, and here's what the differences are, and they'll 
have consequences for your lives and your children and your future.''
    If you will take some time to do that, then we'll have a great night 
on November 7th, because Al Gore and 
Joe Lieberman and Hillary will be elected, and America will be better 
off.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:17 p.m. at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. 
In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Thomas Catillaz of Saranac Lake; 
Saranac Lake Civic Center patron Philip Lalande; and Saranac Lake 
resident Anne Tubby.