[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[January 7, 2001]
[Pages 2836-2838]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Tribute to Senator Hillary Clinton in New York City
January 7, 2001

    The President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. First, let 
me say what a wonderful thing it is for Hillary and Chelsea and me to be 
here with Al and Tipper and with all of you.
    I want to be brief today because this is Hillary's day, and it's 
also a day when she very much wanted the Vice President and Mrs. Gore to come here and 
receive from you the kind of welcome that I knew you'd give them and 
that they deserved. I'm so proud of them.
    You know, I'm kind of tickled about living in New York. I feel the 
way Garrison Keillor does about Lake Wobegon. [Laughter] I was up here 
listening to that great church choir, and then our friends Jessye 
Norman and Toni Morrison and Billy Joel, and how 
magnificent they were. Then we got the score in the ball game, and I 
thought, here I am in New York, where all the artists, writers, and 
athletic teams are above average--[laughter]--and all the voters get 
their votes counted. [Laughter]
    So I thank you. I thank Judith Hope for her 
strong leadership. I thank Charlie Rangel 
for 8 years of wonderful partnership. I thank Chuck Schumer for taking me into his home in 1992, when I was 
running the first time, with his wonderful wife; and then for taking me through Queens, letting me see 
people and places I might never have otherwise seen, and for running in 
1998, which everybody thought would be a bad year. It turned out to be a 
pretty good one, thanks to Chuck Schumer's guts and drive, and he is 
great.
    I'm looking forward--I hate it that I've got to wait 2 more years, 
but I'm looking forward to Charlie Rangel 
being the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. When that happens, 
you mark my words, it'll be the best show in America off Broadway. 
[Laughter]
    I do want to say just very briefly a serious word of appreciation to 
the Vice President and to Mrs. Gore. I thank her for--from the time of the first bus ride 
that, as Al said, we took here--keeping the rest of us in a good humor, 
always seeing the glass as half full, always caring about our families 
as well as our politics, and always sticking up for people who others 
had forgotten, whether they were people with mental illnesses or 
homeless people or others, reminding me always that I had to be their 
President, too. I am grateful to her.

[[Page 2837]]

    And as I've said many times, and as has already been said here 
today, there's no question that in the history of the Republic, no 
person has had such a positive impact on the American people from the 
Office of Vice President that Al Gore has 
had. It's not even close--not even close.
    I told somebody, he had more influence 
and did more things--whether it was manage our technology policy, our 
environmental policy, giving all the poor schools the opportunity to 
hook up to the Internet, helping to supervise our reorganization of the 
space program, trying to do something about all the terrible congestion 
at the airports, dealing with big chunks of our foreign policy--nobody 
ever had so much responsibility before. And I was showing up for work 
every day, too. [Laughter] I'm really proud of him in ways that you will 
never know.
    He has shown us all, in the last 2 
months, under circumstances which have never before existed in our 
country--and I pray to God never will again--how we should all behave as 
Americans and patriots. I honor him for my friendship, for his advice, 
for his leadership, for what he's done for America for 8 years. But in 
the last 8 weeks, he's shown us the strength of character that very few 
of us could emulate if we were in the same circumstances.
    Now, I would also like to thank the people of New York who helped 
Hillary to win this race. She did, as Chuck Schumer said, win it the 
old-fashioned way: She earned it. But she wouldn't have earned it if you 
hadn't helped her, if you had shut her out and shut her down and turned 
away from her. I'd like to thank the people who helped her on Long 
Island, where the going was toughest. I'd like to thank the people who 
helped her in upstate New York and proved it wasn't so Republican, after 
all. I'd like to thank those of you who had me to your counties in 
upstate New York. I had a lot of fun being there, and I hope we all did 
some good together.
    I want to thank the people in this magnificent city for how good you 
have been to Hillary and to all of us. I want to thank you for making 
Chelsea feel welcome. She did a pretty good 
job for her mother, too, up here campaigning, I think--made a lot of 
votes, I think.
    And I want to thank you for making it possible for me to give my 
wife good advice about how to run in New York. Everybody said how mean 
it was going to be. Do you remember what you did to me in the Democratic 
primary here in 1992? [Laughter] I said, ``Hillary, look, these people 
are really good, but they just want to see how bad you can take a 
beating.'' [Laughter] ``And they will beat you up and beat you up and 
beat you up and take off your shoes and make you walk on coals''--
[laughter]--``make you lie down on a bed of pins and needles. But if you 
just keep smiling, they'll know you got it, and they will come.''
    I'm so proud of her, because she not only laid out a vision for what 
she wanted to do; she did it in a way that was consistently big and 
generous, that didn't descend to the level of her attackers. And when 
New York did to her what New York does and she passed, then you came. 
And I told her all along--she can tell you--I told her for 16 months, I 
said, ``Trust me. If you are just even on the weekend before the 
election, you're going to win big. They will come to you in droves, if 
you just be big and stay right.'' And you proved that I was right about 
you, and I am grateful. [Laughter]
    But I had that awful primary experience to shore up my gratitude and 
know what was going to happen. [Laughter]
    Now, the last thing I'd like to say is this: In 13 days, at high 
noon, I'm going to give up being President.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Wait a minute, hey. You can ``boo'' about the nature 
of the transfer, but not about me giving it up. I've had my time--
[laughter]--and I had a very good time.
    And what I want to remind you of is that politics is not about the 
politicians; it's about the people. And I am honored to become a citizen 
of New York. I will do my best to be a good one. And if you need to, 
call me sort of a de facto caseworker for your Senator here. [Laughter] 
I want to get around the State and go upstate and do what I can to help 
Hillary fulfill the commitments that she and Chuck have made to help the upstate economy and to help the 
neighborhoods here.
    And I want to thank Senator Schumer 
and Congressman Rangel for passing the new 
markets initiative Al Gore and I worked so hard on, to build on the 
empowerment zone proposal that Al ran so well for nearly 8 years, to 
keep the economy going.
    So we want to work. I want to be a good citizen to you. But I want 
you to remember that Hillary ran and won because of you--not

[[Page 2838]]

because of her--because of your children and your future and what we 
want to do together.
    So the last thing I want to ask you to do is, I want you to keep 
your heart burning for 2 years to make Charlie the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. I want you 
to remember, not only for 4 years but for the rest of your life, what 
happened in the elections 2000 and what Al Gore did in the 8 weeks afterwards.
    But I want most of all for you to remember that America's work and 
New York's work is never done. And I want you to help my wife do a good 
job at what she ran for, which was to give people like you, and people 
outside this hall who will never be in a meeting like this, the chance 
to make the most of their lives and their children's lives. That's what 
I want to ask you more. You've given her a great gift. Now help her use 
it for the purpose it was intended.
    Last Wednesday, when Hillary was sworn into the Senate, I believe 
that Chelsea and I were the two happiest people on the planet: 
Chelsea, because she loves her mother and 
she's proud of her; me, for the same reasons, but also because when I 
met Hillary nearly 30 years ago now--2 more months, 30 years ago--I 
thought that she had more capacity and more heart for public service 
than anybody I had ever met. And I worried when we started our lives 
together that somehow I would limit her service.
    Your giving her this chance, in my mind, has reaffirmed the wisdom 
she made in moving to be with me so long ago and all the many roles 
she's played in giving to others and never asking for anything for 
herself until she made this race. And I can tell you this: You will not 
be disappointed, because I was right about her 30 years ago.
    Thank you. God bless you.
    Now, Mr. Vice President, please reenact 
the ceremony.

Note: The President spoke at 4:50 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. In his 
remarks, he referred to Garrison Keillor, host of ``Prairie Home 
Companion''; soprano Jessye Norman; author Toni Morrison; musician Billy 
Joel; Judith Hope, chair, New York State Democratic Party; and Senator 
Schumer's wife, Iris Weinshall. The transcript released by the Office of 
the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Senator Hillary Clinton 
and Vice President Al Gore.