[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 43 (Monday, October 28, 1996)]
[Pages 2126-2128]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Expansion of the Detroit 
Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Michigan

October 21, 1996

    Thank you. Thank you very much. When Al Checchi started telling that 
story about Herb Kelleher, who is a mutual friend of ours, meeting the 
head of Wild Turkey whiskey company, I couldn't tell whether he was 
comparing Ed McNamara to God, to whiskey, or to a wild turkey. 
[Laughter] But I have--I will pay for that at a later point. [Laughter]
    Ladies and gentlemen, many people have been thanked today, but I 
want to say a special word of thanks to the Members of Congress who have 
personally lobbied me in behalf of this project and, in particular, your 
friend Senator Carl Levin, Congressman John Dingell, who has a way of 
being insistent himself--[laughter]--Congressman John Conyers and 
Congressman David Bonior who are here and one who is not here, 
Congresswoman Lynn Rivers. I thank them very much for the work they did 
personally with me in Washington.
    I want to thank Alfred Checchi for the brilliant job he has done in 
turning Northwest Airlines around, along with John Dasburg and others, 
and the work they did to make this possible. It's a real tribute to the 
ability of American enterprise to compete in the areas that will 
dominate the 21st century.
    I want to thank Secretary Pena for the work that he has done to make 
sure that even in a time when we reduced the deficit in all 4 years for 
the first time in the 20th century, at a time when we were permitting 
Government spending to grow more slowly than it has in the last 12 
years, we still were able to invest more in the

infrastructure of America, in no small measure because of the innovation 
and the partnerships that Federico Pena did a lot to help to design and 
carry out. And since he was the mayor of Denver before he became Secretary 
of Transportation, we all know that he believes in building modern 
airports. [Laughter]

    I'd also like to thank Mayor Archer for so many things. But the last 
time I checked, the unemployment rate in the city of Detroit was half 
what it was 4 years ago, thanks in no small measure to the work that 
Detroit did in securing the empowerment zone, to the $2 billion in 
private sector capital that were committed to it, and to the genuine 
spirit of partnership and cooperation which Dennis Archer has fostered. 
And I thank him for that.
    But most important, I want to thank my friend Ed McNamara. I'll tell 
you a story about Ed. Not so very long ago when the question of the last 
$150 million was hanging fire, he put his big old arm around me and he 
looked at me with those big sort of half happy, half sad eyes of his, 
and I thought,

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I'm going to get another one of this Irish bull that's coming up--
[inaudible]. [Laughter] And he said, ``Have I always been your friend?'' 
[Laughter] I said, ``Yes.'' He said, ``Was I there before almost 
everyone else?'' [Laughter] I said, ``Yes.'' He said, ``Didn't Jim 
Blanchard bring you to me first?'' I said, ``Yes.'' He said, ``Have I 
ever asked you for anything, anything?'' I said, ``No.'' He said, ``I 
want that airport--now.'' [Laughter] Senator Blanchard was nodding his 
head up and down; he knows that's true.
    So this is a great day for Wayne County; it's a great day for the 
State of Michigan. The idea that we could invest here from all sources 
$1.6 billion to generate an annual impact of $2.7 billion says more than 
I ever could about the importance of creating a modern economy that will 
generate high-wage jobs, that is tied to the rest of America and the 
rest of the world.
    Senator Levin said that together all of us working hard in the 
United States have produced 10\1/2\ million more jobs over the last 4 
years. The thing that I'm proudest of is that the typical family income 
has gone up $1,600 after inflation in the last few years, in part 
because more than half of these jobs are in high-wage industries. We 
have to keep that trend going. For 20 years, Americans worked harder and 
harder and harder just to keep up, just to hold on. The average American 
family today is spending more hours at work and less time with their 
kids than they did in 1969. We have begun to turn that trend around.
    So this is not only going to be exciting, it will not only

change the life and the face of Wayne County and Michigan forever in 
creating more new jobs, it will create better jobs, and it will enable more 
and more people in Michigan not only to have access to that exciting world 
that's out there but also to build more successful family lives, to succeed 
at work and at home. So that this project today, yes, it will advance the 
pocketbooks and the incomes of the people whose jobs will come into being 
as a result of it, but it will also improve the quality of life for 
virtually every person in this entire region who is affected in any way by 
the way the economy is changing, so that change will be working for not 
only the working people but the families and the children of Michigan in 
the future instead of undermining those family values and what we all want. 
And that is, to me, perhaps the best news of this announcement today. And I 
thank all of you who worked on it to make it possible.

    The unemployment in this State has dropped from about 7\1/2\ to 
about 4\1/2\ percent over the last 4 years. We now have to focus on the 
long term, on investing in our future and building that bridge to the 
21st century I talk so much about. Air travel is an important part of 
it.
    One of the things Mr. Checchi did not say because he was perhaps too 
modest, but I want to emphasize that one of the areas that America 
enjoys an unquestionable global lead in, where no other nation can come 
close, is in the quality and competitiveness and price of air service in 
the United States. Whether it is commercial service or people on tourist 
ventures and trips or carrying cargo, there is no one in the world to 
compete with the competitive airlines of the United States.
    People were writing our airline industry off when I became 
President. We had a special commission to talk about what we could do to 
rebuild the airlines. I believe it is accurate to say that last year and 
this year, every major airline company in America will turn a profit and 
is helping to forge the kind of partnerships we need to build that 21st 
century economy, where every single person will have a chance to live up 
to the fullest of his or her own abilities and where people really will 
have a chance to build successful careers and strong families in good 
communities. That's what turning this dirt means today. It is a very 
great day. And all of you should be very grateful to the leaders here 
who have worked so hard to make it happen.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 4:40 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Alfred A. Checchi, cochairman, and John Dasburg, president and CEO, 
Northwest Airlines; Herb Kelleher, chairman and president, Southwest 
Airlines; and Edward H. McNamara, Wayne County executive.

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