[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 43 (Monday, October 31, 1994)]
[Pages 2109-2113]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Kennedy-King Dinner in Alexandria, Virginia

October 21, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much, Governor Wilder, especially for 
that introduction. You know, you mentioned the PLO-Israel signing. It 
put me in mind of Arafat and Rabin when you and Chuck were shaking hands 
then. Peace is breaking out all over. [Laughter]
    Let me thank Margo Horner and Mame Reiley and Mark Warner for their 
leadership and for having us here, thank my good friend Jim Moran for 
that magnificent speech from the heart. Leslie Byrne had to go and win 
her debate, but I ask you to help her come back. She is a fine woman and 
wonderful Congresswoman. And Don Beyer, thanks for reminding everybody 
how we're doing in auto sales and--[laughter]--how well we are doing in 
our heart. You were great tonight, and I thank you for that. He can 
really give a talk.
    You know, I want to say a few words about two friends of mine, 
people I serve with, Governor Wilder and then-Governor Robb. And I want 
to try to get you to think about this election beyond the cheerers here. 
First, let me say that I thank Doug Wilder for what he said about our 
administration and our efforts. I thank him for being a longtime friend 
and colleague and a worthy adversary when we were campaigning in the 
snows of New Hampshire. I thank him for being an example to a lot of 
young people in this country, that you really can get there if you have 
real big dreams and you work hard and you do what you ought to do. Maybe 
that's the most important thing of all. And I thank him for being here 
tonight, because what he said here tonight is a genuine expression of 
love and concern for the future of the people he had served for so many 
years in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
    Let me say to Chuck and Linda Robb, I am really sorry they've had to 
take so many licks for being friends of mine. [Laughter] That goes with 
the territory, I guess, but I'd never have believed it if you'd told me 
a year or 2 ago that it would have happened. I can tell you that I have 
known them a long time. We served together. We've been overseas 
together. We've been up and down together before. And I have watched 
Chuck Robb go through this campaign. I have watched him attacked, 
vilified. I've seen his record distorted and outright falsified. I've 
seen him labor on in good cheer in the face of the richest campaign in 
the history of the United States to buy the hearts and minds of the 
people in any State. He had a magnificent record as a marine officer in 
Vietnam. He was a terrific Lieutenant Governor and a wonderful Governor 
of this State. Under Republican Presidents, he was telling people of 
both parties we had to do something about this awful Government deficit 
that was robbing our children of their future. But this is his finest 
hour.
    Anybody can run and do well in the good times. Anybody can keep on 
going when you know you are solidly anchored in the spirit of the 
people. But when a tidal wave comes along, venom and anger and 
misrepresentation fueled by unlimited money, to stand strong, to not cut 
and run, to be brave

[[Page 2110]]

enough to defend what you know is right, to risk it all for the people 
you really love, those of you who are voting for him and the people who 
ought to be voting for him who aren't yet, that is his finest hour.
    You know, I've been giving a little bit of thought about this 
election that's going to come up and all the stuff's being said and how 
I have become the poster boy for Mr. Gingrich and his crowd. [Laughter] 
Now they don't even sort of sneak around about it, you know. The other 
day after they killed the lobbying bill and one of their number walked 
off the floor of the Senate and was cheered by the throngs of lobbyists 
for killing the lobbying bill on a Saturday--on Monday they met with the 
lobbyists and said, ``Okay, we share your values and you better give us 
money, and don't give the Democrats money, or else.'' And then the next 
day, the House leader, Mr. Gingrich, said that their goal, the 
Republican goal, was to convince the American people that I was the 
enemy of normal Americans. I always thought my problem was I was too 
normal, you know. [Laughter]
    I know Virginia is modernizing and growing and diversifying and all 
of that stuff. And it's magnificent. When I was a Governor and I served 
with Doug and Chuck, I used to resent how rich Virginia was getting. 
[Laughter] But I applaud your successes, and I have now contributed to 
them with some of the defense decisions that have been made in this 
administration.
    But to get right down to it, this is a Southern race, this whole 
deal. You think about it. Most of us remember--going back to what Jimmy 
said--where we were on April 4, 1968, and June 6, 1968, when Martin 
Luther King and Robert Kennedy were killed. It was like somebody tearing 
a big piece out of our heart because they made us better than we would 
otherwise have been, not because they were, as they are now painted by 
our adversaries, the apostles of some liberal, insensitive big 
Government. Quite the contrary. Read what they said. Both of them wanted 
Government's power to be used to help ordinary people without regard to 
their race. But both of them preached the gospel of personal 
responsibility and cautioned against overreliance on Government.
    Robert Kennedy went into Indiana and talked to blue-collar workers 
who thought they were for George Wallace and got them to be for him 
because he was both tough on crime and compassionate on civil rights.
    Martin Luther King didn't say, ``No matter who you are, you're 
entitled to a handout.'' He said, ``No matter who you are, you have to 
do your job as well as you can. And if your job is to be a street 
sweeper, you ought to sweep the streets like Michael-Angelo painted the 
Sistine Chapel,'' not an apostle of some sort of over-weaning 
Government, but to use the power of the people to help ordinary folks 
without regard to their race to live up to the fullest of their God-
given potential. And each of them confronted people who tried to 
demonize them.
    Now, let's face it folks, I'm a son of the South, and they have 
tried to demonize me in the South. And they've done a pretty good job of 
it, haven't they? [Laughter] They've done a pretty good job of it.
    Let's think tonight about the next 17 days and who is not for Chuck 
Robb for the Senate, and why. What is it that they object to that we 
have done together that is not normal? Let's talk about it. Let's talk 
about it. And I want you to think about it, because it's not enough for 
you to stand up here and shout hallelujah. You've got to go out and get 
some other folks when you leave here. So you talk about it.
    Now, I want you to think about this. I came to Washington to revive 
the American dream, to do three things: to put the Government back on 
the side of ordinary Americans, to bring the economy back, and to make 
the world more peaceful and prosperous for Americans to live and work 
in. Now, what is it that they object to that is not normal? Is it that 
we honored work in family with the family and medical leave law? Is it 
that we're going to immunize all the kids in this country under the age 
of 2 by 1996? Is it because another 200,000 kids are going into the Head 
Start program over this period? Is that what they don't think is right? 
Is it the fact that we gave tax cuts to 15 million working families 
because they're working 40 hours a week and they've got kids in the 
house and they still live on modest wages and we don't think that 
anybody that works full-time and

[[Page 2111]]

is raising kids should live in poverty? Is that not normal? What is it 
that they object to about that? Well, their leaders opposed every single 
one of those initiatives. And I think that is not normal. Most normal 
Americans want it.
    This is Virginia. Do you know what's on Thomas Jefferson's 
tombstone? ``Author of the Declaration of Independence, the Statutes of 
Religious Freedom for the State of Virginia, founder of the University 
of Virginia.''
    Now, were we abnormal to totally revamp the expensive and 
inefficient college loan program, saving over $4 billion in tax money, 
saving students $2 billion in excessive fees so that we could loan 
college money to more students, to middle class students at better terms 
and lower interest rates, so that by the time we're done we will have 20 
million more Americans eligible for lower interest college loans? In the 
State of Virginia I say to you, that is normal, and every single one of 
them opposed it.
    Is it abnormal to recoil in fear and disgust and horror at the crime 
and violence that is gripping our people and to say, You folks have been 
talking about a crime bill for 6 years. Why don't we do something 
strange and surprise the American people and actually pass one instead 
of talking about it, to put the police on the street--and we've already 
started in Northern Virginia putting police on the street--to build more 
prison cells, to have those prevention funds to give the kids something 
to say yes to, to have tougher penalties. Is that abnormal? I think that 
was normal.
    What is abnormal is that you could convince the people that it 
wasn't normal in this strange time. Tell the truth. This was a good 
thing for the people of Virginia.
    What about the way we ran the Government? They say that we're too 
liberal and they're so conservative. They quadrupled the debt in 12 
years. For them, two and two was always five. [Laughter] They railed 
against the Government, and they railed against the deficit, but they 
could not afford to do anything about it because it required a decision 
instead of tough talk.
    So was that abnormal that we're bringing the deficit down, that 
we're actually reducing the size of the Federal Government they always 
complained about but never did anything about? Was it abnormal when we 
passed the procurement bill that changes the way we buy goods and 
services and will save billions of dollars--the end of the $500 hammer 
and the $50 ashtray--a Democratic initiative, not a Republican 
initiative? I think that is normal, and we should be for it.
    This State is supposed to be probusiness. You ask any business 
person that's dealt with the Federal Government over the last 20 years, 
and they will tell you that this administration has done more to help 
people sell their goods and services all around the world, done more to 
expand trade, done more to create jobs, done more to revitalize 
manufacturing, done more to help defense conversion than any 
administration in recent history. That's why we have 4.6 million new 
jobs. I don't think that's abnormal; I think that is normal and good and 
right for America.
    Let me ask you this: If Chuck Robb were a Republican--now, listen. 
No, don't boo; think. [Laughter] Remember, you've got to leave here and 
reach somebody that's not for him yet. Now, listen to this: If Chuck 
Robb were a Republican and he had voted to shrink the Federal Government 
to its smallest size since Kennedy, to get rid of the $500 hammers and 
the $50 ashtrays, to reduce the Federal deficit to its smallest size in 
a long time and to do it 3 years in a row for the first time since 
Truman, to support economic policies that created 4.6 million new jobs, 
to pass a crime bill that had the toughest penalties in the history of 
the United States, the Republicans in Virginia would be erecting a 
statue to him tonight.
    So what is their beef? Why are we too liberal? Because we have more 
minorities on the Federal bench and in the Cabinet, more women on the 
Federal bench and in the Cabinet? Because we have--look at the world. Is 
it abnormal that for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age 
Russian missiles are no longer pointing at American children at night? I 
think that is normal, not abnormal. Is it abnormal that we have worked 
so hard to get North Korea to now commit to be inspected, to say we're 
going to freeze our nuclear program, we're going to give it up, here's 
one thing our kids won't have to worry

[[Page 2112]]

about if we implement the agreement that was signed today? I think that 
is normal and good and wholesome, and I think we ought to be supporting 
it. Were we abnormal by proving that Mr. North was wrong and the 
American military could, yes, lickety-split, get into the Gulf and stand 
up to Saddam Hussein and stop aggression again? I don't think so.
    What is going on? I'll tell you what's going on. I am a Southerner. 
I love this part of the country. I love my roots. I love my family. I 
can take you into every county in my State and to every country 
crossroads and show you something that I know personally. I like to hunt 
ducks in duck season, in spite of what the NRA thinks. [Laughter] I like 
to ride horses and go to rodeos. I like country music. I am a 
Southerner. But I know one thing. You look at our past, the past that 
Doug Wilder had to overcome. How have we lived through these 
contradictions all this time? Sometimes we were like Thomas Jefferson, 
we faced the truth and we moved forward. Sometimes we had to go into a 
shell because we couldn't live with the challenges of the moment. And 
the way we did it was by finding somebody to demonize. And a lot of the 
time, before it became unfashionable, we demonized black people. Now, we 
elect them Governor.
    What are we demonizing? We're demonizing liberals. Never mind if it 
doesn't fit. Never mind if the facts aren't right. The people are upset; 
they are exercised. They're anxiety-ridden; they're cynical and 
skeptical about the Government. So spend $17 million and tell it to them 
anyway. If it's not true, who cares? That is what is going on, isn't it?
    Audience members. Yes.
    The President. That is what is going on. They say they are strong 
and we are weak. They say they are for conservative principles and we 
are liberal. But we reduced the Government. We reduced the deficit. We 
made your money go further. We stuck up for ordinary working people. We 
began to grow this economy again and to bring this country together 
again.
    Now what they want to do is to put in this contract--oh, but it 
sounds so sweet. In all the crossroads where they think we are not 
normal, they say, ``Here is what is normal: I'll give everybody a tax 
cut. I will raise defense spending. I will bring back Star Wars. And I 
will balance the budget. But it costs a trillion dollars.'' How will you 
pay for it? ``I'll tell you about that after the election.'' [Laughter] 
You know how they'll pay for it, don't you? The same way they paid for 
it before. We will explode the deficit and put it right on our kids and 
lower their standard of living. We will cut Medicare. We will cut 
veterans benefits. We will never fund the police in this crime bill. We 
will start shipping jobs overseas again. We will put this economy in the 
ditch. But they won't care. They'll have the election.
    You know, it's 17 days until the election. Chuck Robb's in a tough 
fight. I'd love to be able to stand up here with him here and make you a 
trillion dollars worth of promises. If I could write you a trillion 
dollars worth of hot checks, I could show everybody in this room a good 
time. [Laughter] But it is not the responsible thing to do. It is wrong, 
and you know it's wrong. It is wrong to treat voters like they are 
children and make them promises that will undermine their own lives and 
the future of their children. That is not right just because it sounds 
good. And it is wrong to say that your opponents are not normal 
Americans just because they've done things you wish you'd done when you 
had the chance and you can't think of any way to get around it. 
[Laughter]
    Now, I'm going to tell you what I really think is going to happen in 
this election. What I really think is going to happen is that sometime 
in the next 17 days the psychological balance inside the heart and 
spirit of the people of Virginia will be set, either by the spirit we 
come here to honor tonight that animated the lives and the sacrifice of 
the lives of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, or by that old, dark 
spirit that often grabs us in the history of those of us who are 
Southerners, where we are compelled to identify ourselves against 
someone else, to see other people as our enemies, aliens, not normal.
    Folks, that's what this is all about. And what you have to do is not 
just shout here. We've all got our good lines against Oliver North. And 
I do think it's more important--

[[Page 2113]]

more important that he doesn't consider me his commander in chief was 
that he didn't act like President Reagan was his commander in chief. 
That is more important.
    But what is really at stake in this election is what is in the heart 
of the people of Virginia. Are we going to go forward? Are we going to 
go back to trickle-down economics of the eighties? Are we going to 
empower people and challenge them to assume responsibility, or are we 
going to make them a bunch of cheap promises in a power grab? Are we 
going to bring out the best in each other, or are we going to keep right 
on dividing people and letting them vote their fears? That is what is at 
issue.
    This is a period of profound historic change for America. You cannot 
blame people for being upset and angry and confused. And frankly, it's 
hard for them to get the facts about what's going on half the time.
    And what you have to do in the next 17 days is not so much to bash 
your adversaries, although, goodness knows, you need to answer them 
back. You need to turn the light on in Virginia and let the light shine. 
And let people feel the future flowing through their veins, in their 
hearts, in their minds, and their spirits.
    If you will give the people of Virginia the vision of the future 
that is symbolized by the lives of the people we come here to honor 
tonight, Chuck Robb will win, Jim Moran will win, Leslie Byrne will win. 
But that's not what's really important: the Commonwealth of Virginia 
will win.
    Go do it. Don't leave a stone unturned. Don't leave a person 
untouched.
    God bless you, and goodnight.

Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel. In his 
remarks, he referred to Yasser Arafat, Chairman, Palestine Liberation 
Organization; Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel; Margo Horner, 
chair of the 8th congressional district, Democratic National Committee; 
Mame Reily, chief of staff and campaign manager for Congressman Jim 
Moran; Mark Warner, chairman, Virginia Democratic Party, and Lieutenant 
Governor of Virginia Don Beyer. This item was not received in time for 
publication in the appropriate issue.