[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 4 (Monday, January 27, 1997)]
[Pages 59-60]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Brunch

January 19, 1997

    Thank you very much. Thank you. When I see all of you here with your 
enthusiasm--this is actually the first event I have attended--and I see 
the pictures of all the thousands and thousands of people in the 
shivering cold who were out on The Mall yesterday, all the children 
taking in the exhibits, and I sense the freedom and the feeling and the 
enthusiasm on the streets as I--maybe this will be better the second 
time around. It's pretty good. I like this.
    I want to thank my friend Alan Solomont for taking on this immense 
responsibility. And obviously, I'm indebted to my longtime friend 
Governor Roy Romer and to Steve Grossman and to Carol Pensky. I'll have 
more to say about all that the day after tomorrow. I thank Don Fowler 
and Chris Dodd and Marvin and Scott and everybody else that helped us so 
much in the last 4 years. And I ask you only to think about this--I have 
to be very careful because I've been thinking about nothing but my 
Inaugural Address; if I'm not careful I'll give you half of it right 
here. [Laughter] How can I say this differently?
    I actually, in the darkest days of 1994 and '95, always believed 
that we would be doing this on this day. But it didn't have so much to 
do with me or even our wonderful Vice President, but what I think about 
the American people, what makes us tick, where we are in history, and 
where we have to go. And I ask you to think about that, because we've 
come a long way here in building a party that is true to the internal 
principles of the Democratic Party but geared to the challenges of the 
present and the future.
    And I've run my last race, but we haven't done all the work we need 
to do for our country for the 21st century. And we have to maintain both 
the commitment to progress and a commitment to community. That's what's 
unique about us, we believe that we'll all do better if we all do 
better. That's what's unique about the Democratic Party.
    And so, with a heart full of gratitude for all that has been done 
for me, I ask you to redouble your efforts and to renew your commitment 
and not to grow exhausted from doing so in the next few years. Because 
we've only begun to scratch the surface of what can be done to mobilize 
younger people, what can be done to mobilize people who have never been 
active in political affairs before

[[Page 60]]

to participate, financially and as citizens, in our common endeavors. 
And we have to do that. We have to leave here with a system, with a 
structure for ordinary citizens to participate more in the affairs and 
the life of this party in order to have really been successful.
    In that regard, I would like to mention just two other people. First 
of all, I would like to thank Reverend Jackson, who is over here to my 
left, appropriately enough, who has never flagged in his belief in our 
country and his determination to get more people involved in it, to get 
people to register to vote, to vote, to participate. We all need to do 
more of what he has been doing.
    The second thing I'd like to ask all of you to do on this Sunday, 
each in your own way, is to say a prayer of gratitude for the life of 
Senator Paul Tsongas. You know, we had an interesting campaign in 1992. 
I had read both the books that he had written by that time. We went all 
over New Hampshire, in that wonderful atmosphere that only New Hampshire 
has, where you're supposed to meet every voter 3 times before they take 
you seriously. [Laughter] And we had--he and I had these crazy ideas 
that people might actually not object to policy wonks running for 
President. It might be a good thing if the President actually knew 
something about the problems of the country. [Laughter] And it was 
really quite an interesting phenomenon, the town meetings that the two 
of us had and the crowds that would show up just to hear people talk 
about the issues.
    And my admiration for him and for his sense of commitment to our 
future, to the integrity of the political process, and to the ultimate 
ability of America always to renew itself, only grew with all of our 
contacts. Our country is deeply indebted to him for having had the 
courage to stay active in public life and to battle through his own 
illness and his own pain and his own disappointment to continue to fight 
for America's well-being. That is citizenship in the best sense. So I 
ask you to say a prayer of gratitude for the life and the soul and the 
family of Paul Tsongas.
    Finally, let me encourage you to have a wonderful time. This is 
supposed to be fun in the best sense. I hope you enjoy it. And I hope 
every day for the next 4 years you will always be immensely proud of 
what you did to make this day come about.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:44 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel. In his 
remarks, he referred to the following Democratic National Committee 
officials: Alan Solomont, incoming national finance chair; Governor Roy 
Romer of Colorado, incoming general chair; Steve Grossman, incoming 
national chair; Carol Pensky, incoming treasurer; Donald L. Fowler, 
outgoing national chair; Senator Christopher J. Dodd, outgoing general 
chair; Marvin Rosen, outgoing finance chair; and Scott Pastrick, 
outgoing treasurer; and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.