[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 11 (Monday, March 16, 1998)]
[Pages 424-426]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Dinner

March 12, 1998

    Thank you very much. Thank you, Steve, and thank you all for being 
here. I would just like to briefly make a few points. I've seen almost 
everybody around this table in the last few weeks, and I wouldn't think 
of putting you through another speech. [Laughter] But I would like to 
say a couple of things.
    First of all, I want to thank you for your extraordinary labors on 
behalf of our party. Second, I want to say that I believe the upcoming 
150th anniversary of our party is a great opportunity for us to send a 
signal to America that we expect to be around for another 150 years by 
continuing to press our country forward into the future together.
    I spent a lot of time in the last few weeks reading about the 
beginning of the Democratic Party and Andrew Jackson's Presidency and 
all the things he did right--and one or two things he probably did wrong 
in the light of history. [Laughter] But I have very strong convictions 
now that are stronger than they were when I came here even, that our 
party has shed a lot of the baggage that was holding us back in public 
perception. We have proved that together we can take the country into 
the future with a strong economy, a declining crime rate, a mending 
social fabric, a strong position in the world, and that we have a great 
obligation at this good time for our country to bear down and press 
forward. And I hope we can all do that around the 150th celebration.
    Steve mentioned the victory of Lois Capps in California in the 
remarkable special election for Congress. Let me say it was a truly 
remarkable victory because I think that that seat, which was previously 
occupied by her husband, was one of only three Democratic seats in the 
country where Al Gore and I did not win in '96. I think we lost by a 
point because of the Ralph Nader vote, but nonetheless, we didn't quite 
win it.
    The overwhelming lion's share of credit goes to Lois Capps, who is a 
remarkable person. Many of you know that her daughter, Laura, works for 
me and has for some time. A lot of the credit goes to the feelings that 
the voters in that district have about her late husband, Walter, who was 
also an astonishing human being. But I think that she ran the race in 
the way that I think that the Democrats ought to run their races. She 
ran a grassroots campaign, a local campaign. She did not ask for it, nor 
seek any outside politician to come in and tell the people of her 
district how to vote.
    In so doing, she did exactly what I did when I was Governor of my 
State. For nearly 12 years, I felt the same way. But she embraced the 
issues that were reflected in my State of the Union Address and that our 
party is advancing this year. And she was able to do it because that's 
what she heard people talking to her about. In political terms in the 
way people write about these races up here, perhaps one of the most 
significant things is that she was able to win with a torrent of so-
called independent third party expenditures against her on any number of 
issues. But she did it with old-fashioned grassroots campaigning, common 
sense, a great heart, and a real fidelity to the kinds of issues that I 
think we have to continue to press, including the Patient's Bill of 
Rights, the whole

[[Page 425]]

range of educational issues, and the resolution of the tobacco 
litigation in a way that helps to protect our children from the dangers 
of tobacco.
    It was a very impressive campaign. It is a mark, if you will, of the 
future of what we could do all over the country this year. But if we 
want to do it, we have to do what she did. We have to have good 
candidates. They have to be closely tied to the people. They have to be 
interested in grassroots work and not ashamed to get out there and 
really hustle and listen to people and work with them. They don't have 
to have more money than their opponents, but they have to have enough 
money to have their message heard and to answer whatever onslaught is 
put against them. And if we do that, I believe we have a good chance to 
win, because I think the tide of public opinion is moving our way 
because of the level of confidence people have in our country and where 
we are, and the sense that they have, notwithstanding that confidence, 
that we have great challenges to face and we need to embrace them.
    So I feel wonderful about this race, both personally because Hillary 
and I care so much for Laura, Lois's daughter, and because I cared so 
much about her husband as well as our new Congresswoman from California. 
But I think it bodes well for the Democrats if we are prepared to 
realize that politics is not about what has been said and done in 
Washington, politics is about what is said and done and felt 
passionately in the neighborhoods of this country.
    Finally, let me say that this is an interesting time for me. We are 
trying to--and for our country now--we are trying very hard to work out 
an agreement that would pass comprehensive tobacco legislation. I know 
you're all seeing the press reports of it. There are obstacles. There 
are differences, but I think we've got a good chance to pass it. And 
there are only 68 days left, work days left in this session of Congress. 
And that doesn't sound like a lot of time, and it isn't. But I think it 
would be unbelievable neglect for the Congress to leave this year 
without passing that tobacco legislation.
    A thousand children a day have their lives shortened because, 
illegally, they began to smoke in response to advertising campaigns and 
other inducements--1,000 a day. That's too high a price to pay to fool 
around and wait until next year just because this is an election year 
and people have other things to do. So that's the first thing I wanted 
to say; we're working on that.
    Secondly, I am about to leave on a trip for Africa, and I'm going to 
countries that no sitting President has ever visited before. No 
President's ever made a serious trip to Africa. And I think it is very 
important for our economy, very important for our foreign policy, very 
important for our efforts to protect the global environment and to deal 
with the spread of disease and other major global issues we'll all be 
facing together. We can build a great partnership there. I'm excited 
about that.
    When I get back, I then have to go on a long-planned trip to South 
America to the second Summit of the Americas. We had the first one in 
Miami 4 years ago, and we are looking forward to continuing to work in 
our hemisphere. Every country but one is a democracy. Our fastest 
growing trading partners are our neighbors in our hemisphere. And the 
fact that the United States has reached out and tried to build economic 
and other partnerships with these good people who share our part of the 
globe is an important thing.
    I'm then going in May to meet with the other leaders of the largest 
seven economies, and our political partnership with Russia, in England. 
And then I just announced that I have moved up my trip to China for late 
June because of the strong recommendations of our people and the 
progress we're making in working with the Chinese on a whole range of 
subjects. And obviously, the welfare of the American people in the 21st 
century will be shaped in large measure by the partnerships we have with 
the largest country in the world.
    So this is a good time. We're working; we're doing remarkably well 
as a country. But I want to say, as I say every time, the Democratic 
Party is not the party of self-congratulation; it is the party of 
forward motion. We have no business engaging in self-congratulation 
except to cite it to the voters as evidence

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that we can be trusted to do more, even better, if we're given the 
chance to do it. We should be worried about the future; that's what 
elections are about. We should be grateful for the conditions that exist 
today. We should recognize there are a whole range of challenges out 
there, and we should be intensely focused on meeting them. Because of 
your help, that's exactly what we're going to be able to do.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:30 p.m. in the Balcony Room at the 
Sheraton Luxury Collection. In his remarks, he referred to Steve 
Grossman, national chair, Democratic National Committee.