[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[August 22, 2000]
[Pages 1677-1680]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Dinner for Senatorial Candidate Representative Debbie
Stabenow in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
August 22, 2000
Thank you. Well, first I'd like to thank Bill and Michelle for letting
us come into their home while it's still new. [Laughter] It might have
been built for this event, who knows? [Laughter] It's a really beautiful
place, and they're really good people. They've been so good to me and
Hillary and the Vice President and Tipper. And thank you for helping
Debbie, and thanks for being my friend all these long years. I'm very
grateful to you.
I want to thank all your officeholders who are here--Jennifer
Granholm, whose husband was giving me some tips on how to be the spouse of a
candidate. [Laughter] And I listened very carefully. I don't want to
blow this. [Laughter] I thank Dale Kildee for
being my friend and for working with us for 8 years for the interests of
the families of Michigan and the United States. It's been really great.
And I can't say enough about Carl Levin. He
and Barbara rode over here with us, and we
were talking about the last 8 years, and I was thinking about all the
things that he has educated me on. But I can tell you that he is one of
the handful of people that is universally respected in the Senate by
everybody, and when he talks, everybody listens.
I want to thank all of you who worked on this event. I see Peter
Buttenweiser back there. Thank you,
sir, and all the rest of you who helped to make this successful. And I'd
like to say my special word of appreciation to Jane Hart for being here tonight. You know, when I was a young man
in college, I worked for Senator Bill Fulbright, who was then the
chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and it was a very long time
ago. But I remember vividly when I was there, one of the most tumultuous
times in modern American history. We had big struggles over civil
rights, big struggles over riots in the streets, big struggles over
Vietnam. And I remember very vividly how Senator Phil Hart conducted
himself, how he spoke, what he said, and how other people respected him.
And one of the reasons that Debbie Stabenow ought to go to the
Senate, apart from the fact that she will vote more like Phil Hart would
have voted and speak more like he would have spoken, is that we in the
Democratic Party have tried our best to work in good faith with the
Republicans, and we have tried to end the politics of personal hostility
and negativism. And I think almost as important as anything else, Debbie
will restore, along with Hillary and
President Gore and Vice President
Lieberman, a sense of real humanity to
our national political life. The American people will say one more time,
``We don't like that stuff. We sent you up there to do a job. We want
you to treat each other with respect, and we want you to show up for
work every day.'' That is the legacy of Phil Hart that I remember and
one I will always remember. And I'm very honored that you're here
tonight, Jane, and I thank you very much.
I'd also like to say at the last meeting--I don't even know if he's
here tonight but--if he came over here--but I saw Matt Frumin, who was one of the original cochairs of my Saxophone
Club who is now running for Congress in the 11th district. [Laughter]
And he's really doing a good job, and I hope you'll help him as well.
Now, if you heard what I said in Los Angeles, I don't know that I
have much more to say about--[laughter]--about what I think this
election is all about. But I will try to be briefer and more colloquial.
First of all, I am profoundly grateful to the people of Michigan for
[[Page 1678]]
voting for me twice, by big margins, the last time by almost twice the
margin by which we prevailed in the country. The people of this State
have been good to me and have come to reflect the diversity and the
success that has been the hallmark of America in these last 8 years. And
I'm very, very grateful.
Secondly, this is the first time in 26 years they've held an
election when I wasn't on the ballot. [Laughter] I used to have to run
every 2 years. And as I've often joked, most days I'm okay about it,
because I feel--my heart is full of gratitude, and I'm really rather
looking forward to trying to figure out what to do in the next chapter
of my life and how to be a good citizen. I have 5 months, and I intend
to do a great deal in these last 5 months as President. But I speak
today also as someone who for most of his political life was a citizen
activist.
I was 8 years old handing out cards for my uncle who was running for
the legislature. I spent 20 years working for other people before I
spent 24 years scurrying around on my own behalf and also working for
other people. And what I would like to say to you is, I have now lived
long enough to know that sometimes you're most in trouble in political
life when you think you're least in trouble. You're most vulnerable as a
people when we think we're least vulnerable. And the big danger when
things are going well is that you think you can go to sleep.
There are a lot of young people here. Bill
and Michelle and their wonderful kids are
here. A lot of the rest of you brought your kids here. And they, most of
them, don't know this, but anybody who is over 30 years old has lived
long enough to have made at least one whopper of a mistake in your life,
not when times are going real poorly but when times were going so well
you thought there was simply no consequence to the failure to
concentrate. If you live long enough, you'll make one of those mistakes.
And so what I want to say is, if the people of Michigan understand
the difference in Debbie's voting record and her opponent, if they
understand the difference in her positions on the issues that are
hanging fire today and her opponent's, if they understand the general
difference in her approach to how America should go into the 21st
century and her opponent's, she will win the election. I don't think any
of you doubt that.
So wouldn't it be ironic if the big adversary of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman
and the new candidate in my family,
Hillary--and some of you have already helped, and for that I am very
grateful--and Debbie was the very success that all of us have worked so
hard to help the American people create. Now, that is what I want you to
think about.
And I don't want you to just think about it tonight; I want you to
think about it every day between now and the election. Because, as much
as I appreciate the money you have contributed to her campaign and as
much as I hope you'll keep trying to help her and all the rest of our
crowd's races, it's not enough, because America has to be thinking about
this election in order for us to prevail. We can't sleepwalk through it.
We can't sort of sidle into it. We've got to actually think, ``Oh, my
goodness, there's an election, the only time in my lifetime we've had
this much prosperity with the absence of domestic crisis and foreign
threat. We have the chance to build the future of our dreams for our
kids. What is this about?''
And every one of you know lots and lots of people who are far less
involved in politics than you are, people who are your relatives, people
who are your friends, people with whom you work, people with whom you
worship, people with whom you play golf or bowl or whatever you do. You
know a lot of people that you really like and care about who aren't
nearly as into this as you are. But they're good people, and they're
good citizens, and they're going to show up on election day. They're
going to vote, sure as the world. If they have to walk through the ice,
they'll go vote. Don't you want them to know what this is about, and
don't you want them to have at least the same framework you do?
This is the whole shooting match, folks. We have the chance to build
the future of our dreams for our children. It's a big election. We will
never forgive ourselves if we sleepwalk through it. It may not come
around again in your lifetime.
If you heard my convention speech, you heard me talking about the
late sixties. That's the last time we had an economic run this long. And
I'm telling you, I finished high school in the middle of it, and if
anybody had told me that within 2 years we'd have riots in the streets
and within 4 years Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy would be dead and the
President that I admired so much, Lyndon Johnson, wouldn't run for
reelection and the country would be
[[Page 1679]]
split in two and then we'd have a divisive Presidential election, and
then the economic expansion would be over, I would never have believed
it. I would never have believed it.
Now, we're more fortunate this time. We don't have that level of
internal crisis or external threat right now, but we have to
concentrate. And you've got to go out and tell everybody you know that
this is an important election with the opportunity of a lifetime to
build the future of our dreams.
Then you've got to tell people, ``Hey, there are real differences
here that are big and have practical consequences for the lives of the
families in Michigan--huge difference in economic policy.'' Do you
really believe that right now we should say, ``We've got a $2 trillion
projected surplus, and we ought to give it all away in a tax cut right
now?'' Right now, give it all away for the next 10 years, before the
money comes in, before we see about the emergencies, before we set aside
anything for education or health care or do anything to lengthen the
life of Social Security and Medicare or give up trying to get the
country out of debt to keep interest rates down, the stock market high,
and growth going and jobs coming in?
This is huge. I promise you, most people don't know yet what the
difference is in the economic policies of Debbie Stabenow and her
opponent, and Al Gore and Joe
Lieberman and their adversaries. They
don't know. You can tell them. It's a huge deal.
I got a report last month that said that interest rates--best case
for the Republican plan--that is, if all this money actually comes in,
interest rates would be a point lower every year for a decade under our
plan. That's worth for most folks, totaled, $250 billion in lower home
mortgages, $30 billion in lower car payments, and for those of you with
kids in college, $15 billion in lower student loan payments. This is a
huge deal.
And never mind what happens if the money doesn't come in. We don't
have to spend it if it doesn't come in, but I promise you, if they have
a tax cut next year and give it all away, they're not going to turn
around and raise taxes if it doesn't come in, and we'll be right back in
the soup again. And a lot of you have heard my little joke, but it
really does remind me--their position is like getting one of those
letters in the mail from Ed McMahon--[laughter]--you know, the
Publishers Clearing House, the sweepstakes letter. ``You may have won
$10 million.'' Wow! If you ran out and spent the money the next day, you
should seriously consider supporting her opponent in this election.
[Laughter] But if you didn't, I hope you'll stick with her and with Al
Gore and Joe Lieberman and all the people that have been a part of the enormous
effort to give you the chance to build the America we enjoy today.
There are huge differences in the environment. We believe you can
improve the environment and grow the economy. I think we've got lots of
evidence, don't you? We have 22 million jobs, cleaner air, cleaner
water, safer food, 3 times as many toxic waste dumps cleaned up, 43
million more Americans breathing air that meets Federal air standards,
and the best economy in history. If you do it right, you can do it. Now,
they've got a commitment to weaken that. This is a serious choice. You
have to make a choice.
And this Medicare drug issue, it's a big deal. The average 65-year-
old in America has a life expectancy of 83. People over 65 in America
have the highest life expectancy of any group of seniors in the world.
But if you want people to live longer and live well, they have to have
access to medicine. Our plan would give everybody that needs it access
to it. It clearly can be paid for, notwithstanding her opponent's
attacked her over this because it costs so much. Let me just tell you
something; they have the Congressional Budget Office; they give us the
cost estimates. By their estimates--by their estimates, not ours--we can
pay for the drug plan she wants to vote for; we can have a sizable tax
cut to help people with education, long-term care, marriage penalty
relief, retirement savings; we can invest in education; and we can still
get the country out of debt because we have a cushion in case the money
doesn't come in.
Now, those are the facts. There's a huge difference here, big
difference in the Patients' Bill of Rights. There's a big difference in
gun safety legislation. You know, the previous administration, they
vetoed the Brady bill. This crowd is against closing the gun show
loophole. The congressional leadership was against putting 100,000
police on the street and another 50,000--this ticket says they'll get
rid of the program that I've worked so hard for.
I mean, it's not like you don't have a test here. Crime is at a 25-
year low. If you put
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more police on the street, they stop people from committing crimes, if
they're smart and they do it right. If you keep more guns out of the
hands of criminals and children, you don't have as many people dying.
It's not like there's no test here. There's a big difference. You've got
to make sure people understand this.
They're committed to repealing Roe v. Wade. Al Gore is committed to continuing it. Debbie Stabenow will have
to vote on who gets appointed to the Supreme Court. It's a big deal. You
have to decide what you believe.
So I just want to say, I'm not trying to make you--everybody wants
to be happy now because things are going so well, and I'm happy they're
going well. But I'm telling you--and I'd like to sort of ride off into
the sunset singing ``Happy Trails''--[laughter]--but life doesn't work
that way. Just because somebody's term is over, everything that needs to
be done doesn't go away.
We've got a chance to go out and reach these--the Native American
reservations, these inner-city neighborhoods, these poor rural towns
that don't have any kind of economic recovery, and give them jobs and
businesses. It will help all the rest of us. We've got all kinds of
opportunities out there, but I'm telling you, there are huge choices.
You just remember what I said. If somebody asks you what's the
difference in Stabenow-Abraham, Gore-Bush on economic policy, can you
answer? What's the difference on the Patients' Bill of Rights? What's
the difference on Medicare drugs? What's the difference on the
environment? What's the difference on gun safety, closing the gun show
loophole? What's the difference on choice? Can you answer?
You have got to be able to talk to other people between now and
November and tell them it may be 50 years before we have a time like
this again, and we can't blow it. And I want to tell you something. I
worked with this woman for years now. She is special. She is strong. She
has a good heart, a good mind, and she's a good politician in the best
sense. And you'll be very, very proud of her when you put her in the
Senate.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 8:53 p.m. at a private residence. In his
remarks, he referred to dinner hosts Bill and Michelle O'Reilly; State
Attorney General Jennifer M. Granholm and her husband, Dan Mulhern;
Senator Carl Levin and his wife, Barbara; philanthropist Peter L.
Buttenweiser; and Jane Hart, widow of former Senator Philip A. Hart.