[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[January 9, 2001]
[Pages 2875-2876]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to an Overflow Crowd in Chicago
January 9, 2001

    Let me ask you a question. Did you hear what went on upstairs? This 
is troubling. Half are saying yes; half are saying no. Let me say to all 
of you, I'll give you a brief version of what I said there.
    First, I want to thank Chicago and the State of Illinois for being 
so good to me. I thank Mayor Daley for his 
leadership and partnership and for making it possible to prove that our 
crime policies and our welfare policies and our economic policies would 
all work, because they worked here in Chicago.
    I thank Bobby Rush for helping me in '92. 
I thank Bobby and Dick Durbin and the entire crowd in your congressional 
delegation who have been so good to me. But Senator Durbin, I especially thank you for all the things you've 
done. Thank you.
    I thank Bill Daley for being a superb 
Secretary of Commerce and a brilliant campaign manager. What I told them 
upstairs was, Bill Daley ran the first Presidential campaign in history 
that was so clearly winning, a court had to stop the vote in order to 
change the outcome. It was brilliant.
    Now, I want to say two other things. Upstairs, I said that this 
hotel was very important in my life. I spoke to the Democratic chairs 
here in December of '91. I had my party here on Saint Patrick's Day in 
1992 when we won the primary.

[[Page 2876]]

Were you there? Some of you were there. And I still have a picture in my 
little office off the Oval Office of Hillary and me standing here in 
this lobby with the confetti coming down on Saint Patrick's Day. I've 
had it there every single day for 8 years to remind me that Chicago and 
Illinois made me President.
    I thank you for voting for us overwhelmingly in '92, in '96. I thank 
you for a fabulous convention in 1996, which was a joy. And I thank you 
for sticking with us in the year 2000, which you did. I thank you for 
that.
    I thought--it was really important to me to come here before I leave 
office to say thank you. And I also want to bring you greetings from the 
new Senator from the State of New 
York. Hillary said to tell you hello. And I told Senator Durbin that you should just sort of consider that 
Illinois also has two Democratic Senators again.
    I am honored to have been President at a time when a lot of changes 
were going on in America and in the world. And as I look back, I am 
profoundly grateful that our country is so much stronger and more united 
and more successful and so much more future-oriented and self-confident 
today than it was 8 years ago when we started. And you had a lot to do 
with that.
    I believe politics and public service is a team sport. And you can 
have a great quarterback; you can have a great captain; but if you don't 
have a team, you're going to lose every time. So you were my team, and 
we won for America together.
    So when you think about the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years or 
the lowest minority unemployment rate ever recorded or 22.5 million new 
jobs or 25 million people taking advantage of the family leave law or 13 
million more people getting college tax aid through the HOPE scholarship 
tax credit or over 3 million more kids with health insurance or 90 
percent of our little kids with immunization against serious diseases 
for the first time or more land set aside for protection for all time 
than any time in 100 years--when you say all those things--that wasn't 
just me; it wasn't just us with the Democrats and the Congress; it was 
you, too. We did it together. We were a team, and I thank you for that.
    The last thing I want to say is this. I want you to keep fighting 
for the future. And I'll be there with you. I'll just be a citizen, but 
I can serve well. I've still got a voice. I've still got a heart, and 
I've got a mind to spend the rest of my life trying to pay America back 
for all the good things the American people gave me these last 25 years.
    So don't get discouraged; don't be frustrated by what happened in 
November. But don't be passive. Just take a breath and keep looking 
forward and keep doing what will come naturally, to fight for the things 
we believe in, to build the future we want for all of our children 
together.
    I can honestly tell you that in 11 days at high noon, when I walk 
out of the White House for the last time as President, I will leave more 
optimistic and more idealistic about the people of this country and 
their potential, and especially about the young people of this country, 
than I was the day I took the oath of office in 1993.
    I love you. Thank you. God bless you. Goodbye.

Note: The President spoke at 7:37 p.m. in the lobby of the Palmer House 
Hyatt Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Richard M. Daley of 
Chicago and Gore 2000 campaign director William M. Daley. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.