    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 36 (Monday, September 9, 1996)]
    [Pages 1623-1625]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at a Reception for Harold Ford, Jr., in Memphis

    August 31, 1996

        The President. Thank you. First of all, I'd like to--let me say to
    all of you who are here--Bishop, the pastors, Bill Farris, John, the
    political leaders who are here--I could sit over there with Hillary all
    night long and watch this. I mean, I've known Harold Ford a long time,
    and I saw him get up, and he did his little thing. And then his son got
    up and he sort of turned it up a notch. [Laughter] And then Al Gore got
    up and talked about how dynasties were a good thing in Tennessee.
    [Laughter] And I sort of felt like I was watching the three greatest
    ballet dancers of all time do the Tennessee waltz.
        The Vice President. Or the macarena.
        The President. Or the macarena, he said. If you'd indulge me just
    one thing, I'd like to introduce one other person. I introduced him at
    our rally, but my candidate for Congress in the Mississippi Delta of
    eastern Arkansas is here, my longtime friend and former official at the
    Department of Agriculture in our administration, Marion Berry, and his
    wife, Carolyn. Will you please make them welcome here. [Applause] Thank
    you. And over there next to them is the man I hope will be your next
    Senator from Tennessee, Houston Gordon. Thank you, Houston.
        Now, folks, let me say a special word of thanks, too, as President,
    to Harold Ford, Sr., who as--he does not look old enough to me to be
    retiring from Congress. [Laughter] But his son has so much talent, it
    may just be like baseball, you know, it's just time to go and do
    something else. [Laughter] But I can tell you that I had a chance to
    begin working with Harold Ford nearly 10 years ago when I was a
    Governor, and we were trying to find a humane way to make it possible
    for more people to move from work to welfare. And I was impressed then
    by his keen intellect and his enormous energy.
        I've also learned something in years since about his determination
    and never-say-die attitude. Something that I have had to have a little
    bit of myself from time to time. [Laughter] I see the pride in his eyes
    about his son, and I have been able to observe Har-

    [[Page 1624]]

    old Ford, Jr., speak and campaign, and I empathize with what Al Gore
    said about his own career: Our country is better off that both Gores
    served, and our country will be better off that both Fords served.
        And you know, I just turned 50, and Al never lets me forget about
    it. And I got my AARP card, you know. I'm a certified old guy now.
    [Laughter] And I was looking at Harold, Jr., up here thinking I was
    about his age when I first ran for Congress. I got beat. But I got over
    it. [Laughter] He's not going to get beat. You're going to send him to
    Congress.
        Let me just make one final, highly personal remark. There is
    underlying all great elections a big idea. Sometimes it's clear, and
    sometimes it's not. And in this election we said that the big idea was
    whether we're going to build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the
    past. But that may not be quite as explicit as I'd like to be, thinking
    about this young man starting his career in Congress, listening to the
    conviction, passion, and eloquence of his words tonight.
        When I was a boy growing up in Arkansas, the year I was born our per
    capita income was 56 percent of the national average. Only Mississippi
    was poorer; it was like 48 percent of the national average. We spent the
    first 30 years of my life, most of us in this delta region, just
    struggling to try to pull ourselves up so we could all make sure our
    kids got educated and everybody had a decent job, and we could try to
    join the mainstream of America, and trying to overcome the awful burden
    of our racist past. But no one ever thought there was a dichotomy
    between working hard and doing your best to raise your children and
    build strong families and trying to help your neighbors, trying to help
    your neighbors directly, and trying to help your neighbors indirectly by
    having Government not give us anything but to give us the chance to make
    more of our own lives.
        Since the election in 1994, the American people have finally had a
    chance to see explicitly the debate that's really been going on in our
    country now for 15 or 20 years, which is: Is Government the enemy, the
    problem; would we be all better off being on our own out there in this
    new global economy which is moving fast and is far less bureaucratic; or
    is Government just another part of our village, if I could use Hillary's
    term. Is it just another part, a reflection of ourselves, and are there
    some things that should be done by our Government simply because it's
    either not convenient, not efficient, or not even possible for us to do
    those things in any other way?
        I have always believed that the role of Government was not to
    undermine self-reliance but to reinforce it; not to weaken families but
    to help them grow stronger; not to do what could be done at the
    grassroots community level or at the State level but to empower States
    and communities to do what they ought to do. And now the American people
    have had 4 years of our administration, and they saw about a year and a
    half of the alternative, and they're in a position to make up their
    minds.
        But when candidate Harold Ford was up there speaking tonight, I
    said, ``Thank goodness that there's a young person and a young
    generation who believes that, yes, he got where he did partly because he
    worked hard, partly because God gave him a good mind, partly because God
    made him an attractive person, partly because he grew up in a family
    where he could learn about politics. But he doesn't want this job just
    to sit and warm the seat or for the privilege of having power. He thinks
    he's there to help other people live out their dreams, too.''
        So when I was a little boy living with my granddaddy, I don't
    believe he ever did work a 5-day week in his life, I think he always
    worked a 6-day week, full time. I don't believe he ever worked an 8-hour
    day. I don't believe--but he never thought that that meant he wasn't
    supposed to be for all of us working together to try to give every child
    a good education or to try to grow the economy to where it benefited
    everybody.
        And I've been mystified these last several years at this debate. And
    I think one of the reasons that the other fellows had so much success is
    they never had a chance to show people what they meant. And then they
    gave us that budget that did what it did to Medicare and Medicaid and
    education and the environment. And then we showed you could balance the
    budget without doing all that, that we could do the responsible, tough,
    dis-

    [[Page 1625]]

    ciplined thing and still go forward and go forward together.
        So that's really the great question. That's why I talked about
    building a bridge to the future, a strong bridge and one that's wide
    enough for us all to walk across. This is the greatest country in
    history. This is the greatest country in history. We started out not
    even living up to the Constitution. We nearly tore the country apart to
    get rid of slavery. We spent another hundred years trying to get rid of
    the vestiges of it. We worked hard to give women more opportunities. Now
    we're dealing with such diversity that your wonderful Olympic Gold Medal
    winner who is over here was part of an Olympics--I want you all to think
    about this--was part of an Olympics that had 197 different nations
    represented. In the biggest county in America, Los Angeles County, there
    are representatives from 150 of those places. In your country, in one
    county.
        So I say to you, if you believe that we can go forward and that our
    best days are still ahead, it's really worth investing in the life and
    career and growth and the spirit of a young man like Harold Ford, Jr.,
    because he is basically carrying out what I think has always been
    America's best sense of itself. And I think now we understand that
    Government is neither the problem nor the solution, it's just a
    reflection of who we are at any given moment in time. And we've got to
    make it work to do what it can do so that we can make the most of our
    own lives.
        Thank you. God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:15 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza.
    In his remarks, he referred to John Farris, son of Bill Farris. A tape
    was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.