[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 30 (Monday, July 27, 1998)]
[Pages 1439-1440]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon for Representative William J. Jefferson in New 
Orleans

July 20, 1998

    Thank you so much, Congressman. Senator Landrieu, Mr. Mayor, 
Lieutenant Governor Blanco, members of the city council, the Jefferson 
Parish Council, and let me thank all of you for coming. If Al Gore were 
giving this speech, he would say thank you for the standing ovation. 
[Laughter] I think it's a pretty good joke, too, but I can never bear to 
give it without giving him some credit for it. [Laughter]
    I want to say also to Andrea and to the Jefferson daughters and to 
their vast families over there, they could even elect Bill to Congress, 
they have so many in their families. [Laughter]
    Let me thank all of you for coming. Let me once again not miss an 
opportunity to thank the people of Louisiana for supporting Hillary and 
me and the Vice President and our team, twice, for dramatically 
increasing our margin in 1996, and for electing Mary Landrieu to the 
Senate. I thank you for all that.
    I have so many rich and wonderful memories of this city. I first 
came here when I was about 4 years old, and I still remember at least 
one thing that happened then, when my mother was in nurse's training 
here--I maybe even was younger. I must have been younger; I must have 
been about 2\1/2\. But I still remember leaving on the train, and I 
still remember being on the top floor of the Jung Hotel. And I don't 
remember much else, but whatever happened, I was bit, and I've been 
coming back ever since.
    I want to tell you that I am honored to be here for your 
Congressman. I remember when Bill and Andrea had me in their home early 
in 1992. I remember well the meeting that John Lewis and Mike Espy and 
he had with me, and their early commitment, which meant a great deal. I 
remember in the Democratic primary in Louisiana, 69 percent of the 
voters voted for me against a rather wide array of choices that they 
had. You don't forget things like that, and I'll always be grateful.
    But I also want you to know that Mr. Jefferson here, while we rag 
each other a lot and make a lot of fun of each other and have had an 
enormously good time knowing each other, is a truly gifted and 
extraordinary public servant. He has the necessary blend of education 
and intelligence and practical sense. He is a visionary who wants to get 
things done. He knows what to be serious about and not to take himself 
too seriously. And I can tell you that once he makes up his mind to do 
something, he is absolutely dogged.
    I don't know how many people there are in this audience that he has 
personally talked to me about some issue or another that you were 
interested in and involved in, committed to. But I am especially 
grateful to him for his support for education and the education 
initiatives that we have put before the American people--his family is 
the living embodiment of that commitment--and for support for economic 
expansion through

[[Page 1440]]

trade. I think the people of New Orleans understand, without regard to 
party, that if we're going to keep growing our economy and lifting 
incomes and finding more for more people to do, since we're only 4 
percent of the world's people and we enjoy 20 percent of the world's 
wealth, we have to sell some more to the other 96 percent of the world 
out there. And I am very grateful for his support on those issues.
    I can also tell you he's done a great job with this Africa trade 
bill, which I think represents an enormous opportunity for America in 
the years ahead, both in economic opportunity and in opportunity to 
build friendships and partnerships in a part of the world that too many 
of our people have ignored for too long, which is very, very important 
to the future of the globe.
    Hillary and I had a wonderful trip to Africa not very long ago, and 
Bill went on the trip, and he did you proud. You would have been very, 
very proud of that.
    So for all those reasons, I am here for my old friend, for a gifted 
public servant, for a supporter of the things that I believe in are 
right for America in the 21st century. I'm glad you're taking good care 
of him, and I hope you always will, because he sure takes good care of 
you.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:43 p.m. in the Imperial Ballroom at the 
Fairmont Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Marc H. Morial of 
New Orleans; Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana; Representative 
Jefferson's wife, Andrea; and former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy.