[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 44 (Monday, November 2, 1998)]
[Pages 2134-2139]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon Honoring Senator Barbara Boxer in San Francisco, 
California

October 25, 1998

    Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your 
wonderful welcome, I'm delighted to be here with so many great 
supporters of Barbara Boxer. I want to thank Mark and Susie and my 
longtime friend Dick Fredericks, all the others who are responsible for 
this event today.
    I am delighted to see Senator Cranston here, and thank you, sir. And 
I'm so glad that Gray Davis was able to come--another way station on his 
way to victory in a few days.
    You know, I have had a great time at this event listening to other 
people speak, first of all because, believe it or not, I'm a little 
afraid to speak today because I still haven't had much sleep since the 
end of those peace talks. And I gave a couple speeches for Barbara 
yesterday in southern California, and I told everyone that before I got 
off the plane--my staff gives me these typewritten things, see, like 
this, and I always ignore them; I just stand up there and talk. So 
because I was up for 39 hours in a row at the end of the Middle East 
peace talks, and then

[[Page 2135]]

had to come out here, and my system is a little--you know, I mean, I'm 
52 years old. [Laughter] And I didn't even do that in college. So my 
staff said, ``Please read the cards today.'' [Laughter]
    And then Hillary called me to tell me to tell Barbara hello and to 
say how sorry she was she wasn't here. And she said, ``Better read those 
cards today.'' [Laughter] So I've got these cards up here; I'll do my 
best to do it.
    So the first thing is I'm tired. But secondly, you know the people 
who spoke before me, in image and in substance, to me represent the best 
of the party that I'm proud to belong to, the State that has been so 
good to me that I have seen come back from the doldrums once again to 
lead America and the world toward the future, and the country that we 
all love so much.
    I want to thank Art Torres for his leadership of this party. I want 
to thank Dianne Feinstein for her strong leadership, for standing up for 
the assault weapons ban and helping us to protect the Mojave and doing a 
dozen other things of great value to this country. I want to thank Nancy 
Pelosi for her steadfast support for education and health care, for 
women's rights, for human rights around the world, and for her wonderful 
friendship to me. And then Barbara gave this marvelous speech. I mean, 
weren't you proud of all of them? Didn't you feel better just listening 
to them all speak? I mean, it was great, wasn't it? [Applause]
    I sort of feel like that old saw that everything that needs to be 
said has already been said, but not everyone has said it yet. [Laughter] 
And so you have to endure one more speech. But I'd like to, if I might, 
put the stakes of this election into some larger perspective for you. 
That's one of my jobs as your President, to try to tell you where I 
think the big picture is.
    When I came to California first in 1991 as a candidate and I asked 
the people here to support me, I did it because I felt that our country 
was not doing what we should to prepare for the 21st century. And I 
said, I want you to vote for me, even though I come from one of those 
little places Dianne Feinstein was talking about. I spent 12 years as a 
Governor trying to keep money from going to California, you know? 
[Laughter] And I spent 6 years as President trying to make it up to you, 
and I think you're net ahead on the deal, I think. [Laughter]
    But anyway, I said, look, this is the America I dream of. I want us 
to go into this new era, where every person--every person--without 
regard to the circumstances of his or her birth, has a chance to live up 
to their God-given abilities. I want to live in a country that is still 
the world's strongest force for peace and freedom and prosperity, not 
just for ourselves but for others as well. I want America not just to 
become more diverse in the census statistics but in the daily lives of 
our people. I want us to relish the differences between us and still 
grow closer together as a genuine community.
    And for 6 years I've worked for this. And I believe we're closer to 
those goals than we were 6 years ago. And one of the reasons is that I 
have had people who would help pursue these goals, people like the three 
Members of Congress who spoke here today. If any one of them--any one of 
them--had been replaced in Congress in 1993 by a member of the opposite 
party, if we'd had one less vote for our economic program, it would not 
have passed. That economic program reduced the deficit by 93 percent 
before the bipartisan balanced budget bill passed in 1997. It sparked a 
huge boom in investment, a big drop in interest rates. It also had more 
money for everything from education to the environment to research. And 
they were there.
    Barbara Boxer was there. She had a tough race in '92; she could have 
taken a dive. But if she had taken a dive, then California would not 
have been able to rise. She didn't take a dive, and California ought to 
stick with her on November 3d.
    We have worked to prove you can grow the economy and improve the 
environment. We've worked for cleaner air, cleaner water, safer food, 
fewer toxic waste dumps. Barbara worked especially for special safety 
standards for children. And it's worked. But every year it's a battle. 
We still, every year, have to fight people who believe that the only way 
to grow the economy is to, alas, damage the environment more, when all 
the evidence is that with the new technologies available today we can

[[Page 2136]]

actually accelerate economic growth if we make an intelligent commitment 
to the preservation and improvement of the environment. That's a huge 
issue for California.
    This is not some casual thing. If you want 33 million, 35 million, 
40 million people to be able to live here, all different kinds of people 
elbow-to-elbow, with all the diversity you have--you want the people who 
serve this meal to have their children grow up without asthma, just as 
well as those who paid the full ticket price to come today--then 
California has to lead the way on the environment. Barbara Boxer has 
stood up for the environment and for the health of California's 
children, and California should stand up for Barbara Boxer on election 
day.
    I could give you a lot of other examples, but let me just say, in 
this budget negotiation that we just went through, it is the time of 
maximum opportunity for the members of our party, because even though 
we're in the minority in the House and Senate now--I hope only for a few 
more days--and we have the White House, we don't have enough numbers to 
pass bills unless Republicans join with us.
    And in a funny way that's as it should be. We ought to have, 
basically, people in both parties who are willing to work with each 
other in good faith. We had a few who would work with us to protect our 
children from the dangers of tobacco, but they had enough to beat us. We 
had a few who would work with us to raise the minimum wage, but they had 
enough to beat us. We had a few who would work with us to reform the 
campaign finance reform laws, but they had enough to beat us. We had a 
handful, even, who stood up to the health insurance lobby and wanted to 
help us with the Patients' Bill of Rights, but they had enough to beat 
us.
    But when we got to the budget, as long as they stood with me, then 
if they wanted a budget and they wanted the Government to go on, and 
they wanted to be able go home and campaign and take advantage of the 
fact that they had defeated campaign finance reform, they defeated the 
effort to protect our kids from the dangers of tobacco and did what the 
health insurance companies wanted on the Patients' Bill of Rights, then 
they had to listen to us.
    And so for the first time in history, in a Congress where the 
majority really did not want to do it, we got 100,000 teachers in the 
early grades to lower class size to an average of 18. We got that after-
school money Barbara Boxer talked about, and she brought it to the 
Congress. She did it. And it will mean that 250,000 more kids who live 
on mean streets in tough neighborhoods with parents that don't get off 
work until 7 or 8 o'clock at night will be able to stay after school.
    I have seen what this can do with my own eyes. In Chicago, where I 
was the other day, there are now 40,000 children who get 3 square meals 
a day in the schools. And guess what? Learning levels have gone up, and 
juvenile crime has done down. This is not rocket science. These children 
need support; they need something positive to do. And they can learn, 
and they can grow, and they can flourish.
    And because of Barbara Boxer, that's a part of our budget. She stood 
up for the poorest of California's children, so they could make the 
richest contribution to California's future, and you ought to stand up 
for her on election day because of that as well.
    We also had the best legislative session for the high-tech industry 
in California, I believe, ever in history. They had six or seven bills 
up there; we passed them all at the end. And she supported them, and 
they shouldn't forget it.
    I could go on and on and on. She's talking about going to the 
Central Valley. Farmers have been hurt worse than anybody else in 
America so far by the Asian economic crisis. So we declared an emergency 
and went in to provide some help for people who don't deserve to go out 
of business because the financial system's gone haywire half a world 
away. And she helped me do that.
    The Congress took 8 months to do it, but finally, when the budget 
time came, we finally got America's contribution to the International 
Monetary Fund, which is essential if you want me to help lead the world 
away from the financial crisis in Asia, if you don't want it to spread 
to Latin America, if you want America's economic growth to keep going.
    So for all those reasons, she deserves to be reelected. But more 
important is what

[[Page 2137]]

we're going to do in the future. What is our message in this election? 
Our message is that Washington ought to be about the business of America 
and its future and its children. Our message is, okay, we've got 100,000 
teachers; now let's provide the tax incentives within our balanced 
budget to build or repair 5,000 schools so we'll have the classrooms for 
the teachers to teach in. Our message is, okay, we beat back the ill-
advised election year tax cut to squander the surplus this year and for 
all years to come; but next year we have to actually save Social 
Security for the 21st century. And we have to do it in a way that 
protects the universal coverage of Social Security that has lifted half 
the seniors in this country out of poverty. But we have to do it in a 
way that does not overly burden our children and our grandchildren when 
the baby boomers retire. This is a huge decision. Voters should focus on 
this.
    Why were we trying to save the surplus to save Social Security? 
Because we know if we make modest changes now we can preserve Social 
Security in the 21st century. And we know that we can do it in a way 
that brings our country together. Now, if we don't do it and we wait 
until people like me retire--and we know not everybody will have as good 
a pension as I do. [Laughter] You laugh about it; it's a serious thing. 
We've done a lot, by the way--and Barbara and Dianne and Nancy voted for 
every single initiative--we have done a lot to make it easier for people 
of modest means to save for their own retirement. It's very important. 
But half the seniors in the country today would be in poverty were it 
not for Social Security.
    Now, when the baby boomers retire, there will be two people working 
for every one person drawing. We have basically three choices. We can 
deal with this now when we've got a projected surplus for many years to 
come, make some modest changes, not be afraid of the political heat, 
join together, and do what's right. Or we can wait until the wheel 
starts to run off, in which case we will have one of two choices, both 
bad. We can simply lower the standard of living of our seniors if they 
don't have good pensions and say, ``I'm sorry.'' Or if that bothers our 
conscience too much, we can, by that time, have a whopping tax increase 
to maintain a system that is unsustainable in ways that lower the 
standard of living of our children and their ability to raise our 
grandchildren.
    So Barbara Boxer stood up for me to save that surplus. And that's 
why we did it, because we waited 29 years to go from red ink to black, 
and we wanted to use the money first to take care of this enormous 
problem that defines who we are as a people. So she has voted to save 
Social Security first. She deserves a chance to be voting on how to save 
it. And we're going to do that next year, and that's another reason she 
should be elected.
    So building the classrooms for the kids to be in smaller classes in, 
saving Social Security, the Patients' Bill of Rights--you've heard us 
talking about it, but let me remind you what it says. It says, if you're 
in an HMO, that's good. Care ought to be managed. But the doctor, not 
the accountant, ought to make the health care decision. You ought to be 
able to see a specialist if the doctor says you should. If you get hurt 
in an accident, you ought to go to the nearest emergency room, not one 
clear across town. If your employer changes health care providers while 
you're in the middle of a treatment, chemotherapy, or you're pregnant, 
or there is some other extended treatment, you should be able to finish 
the treatment before you have to be forced to change doctors. And your 
medical records ought to be kept private.
    This is a big deal. I am telling you, we have tried for one year to 
pass this. And I need a few more folks like Barbara Boxer in the United 
States Congress, not fewer, if you want the Patients' Bill of Rights, if 
you want the schoolrooms, and if you want Social Security saved.
    We also have got to figure out what to do to deal with the 
challenges of the global financial system now, and I intend to spend--
I've already been up working on that this morning. We need people, in 
short, who care about every individual citizen in every community, in 
every neighborhood in this State, but also understand we can only 
fulfill our responsibilities to them unless we do right in the larger 
world.
    No State has benefited as much as California from our growing 
involvement in the global economy. No State should understand

[[Page 2138]]

more clearly, with the diversity of your own population, how essential 
it is on the one hand to give every child a hand up and to reward the 
labor of every person, but also to reach out to the rest of the world.
    And I'll leave you with this one final thought. I want you to ask 
yourself this question: Why did you clap so much when the speakers said 
the nice things they did about the Middle East peace accord? And my role 
in it was really your role in it, because I'm just your hired hand, your 
elected representative. Why did you feel so good? You may think it's 
self-evident. Ask yourself--what is your answer? Why?
    Because you know how much trouble there has been there. You know how 
these people and their leaders have been at odds. You've read and seen 
the continuing tensions in the region. And after all the hope of peace 
in '93 and '94 and '95, the tragic killing of Prime Minister Rabin, the 
elections, the upheaval, then stalling, and there in the middle of the 
place where the world's three great religions--Islam, Judaism and 
Christianity--believe in one God were born--all of a sudden people were 
able to lay down their mistrust and lay down their hatred and grit their 
teeth and come together and say we're going to try again to reaffirm our 
commitment to peace. We're going to try together to live on this little 
piece of land. We're going to try to find a way to live together so that 
we, together, fight terrorists, who are the enemies of all of us. We're 
going to try to find a way to live together so that we don't have to put 
you down to lift ourselves up. And when something like that happens, we 
just feel big. It gives us energy. It gives us hope.
    You know, I'm Irish. To have played a role in this Irish peace 
process is a great thing for me. To believe that the bedeviled land of 
my ancestors could finally be walking away from hundreds of years of 
absolute madness so that all the Irish writers and poets and musicians 
of the future will have to find some new subject to sing and write 
about--[laughter]--some new reason that justifies spending all night at 
the pub with a Guinness. [Laughter] You laugh, but it's a great joy. 
Why? Because in the end, we all know down deep inside that the things 
that make us happiest are those things which reaffirm our common 
humanity.
    Now, what's the most troubling event that's happened in America in 
the last 2 weeks? I would argue that it's the tragic murder of that 
young man, Mr. Shepard, in Wyoming. You know, I saw his picture on 
television, and I talked to his parents and his brother. And I thought, 
that boy could have been my son. And I listened to his friends talk 
about him, how he always tried to help people and he was always trying 
to do things for people. And it looks like, pure and simple, someone 
took him out because he was gay, so they thought, well, he really is not 
a part of our deal here. But I think he is part of our deal here.
    Now, what's all this got to do with this election? Because every 
fundamental decision in the end is about whether you have a unifying 
view of America and your own life and the future you want for your 
children; whether you really believe that there is such a thing as our 
common humanity and there is a way for us to advance it as citizens. And 
that has been America's mission from the beginning, since our Founding 
Fathers declared, when they knew it was not true, in fact, that we were 
all created equal, and that in order to further our objectives of life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness we were going to bind together and 
try to form a more perfect Union.
    Now, they said that and they knew we weren't all equal in fact. And 
they knew we were a long way from the ideals we wanted. But they knew 
what we should be doing and the direction in which we should be going. 
Now, when you strip it all away, that's what's at stake in this 
election. And because these issues are so big--this is like an election 
for President in some ways. We have the message, we have the candidates, 
we have the unifying vision. Don't let the fact that this is a midterm 
election let the voter turnout be so low that we wind up disappointing 
ourselves on the day after the election.
    So I tell you all, I'm grateful for the money that we have given to 
Senator Boxer, and she'll spend it well. But you are not off the hook--
[laughter]--because there are still several days between now and this 
election.

[[Page 2139]]

You look at this crowd here. How many people do you believe that all of 
you will see who never come to a political event like this between now 
and Tuesday, November the 3d--tens of thousands? A hundred thousand? All 
the people you work with, the people you socialize with, the people you 
worship with, the people you bump into at a coffee shop--how many people 
will you see?
    I'm telling you, we are about the business of defining our country 
and what it will be like. If you were heartbroken when that young man 
was killed, if you were elated by the fact that these two people--Prime 
Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat--were able to reach across this 
great divide and say, hey, we don't exactly know what's out there, but 
we're going to jump off this high diving board together--and I might 
say, they deserve the credit, not me. It was an honor for me, every 
minute of it. But if you felt that, that means you know that we can't 
define our future by putting down people who are different from us, and 
we can't get ahead by pushing people behind. You know that.
    You may think this is easy enough for me to say because I have no 
more elections in me. But I promise you, I believe this--the greatest 
victories we all win in life are not the victories we win over other 
people. It's the victories we win for our common humanity.
    A day after this election, the great joy of Barbara Boxer's life 
will not be that she defeated Mr. Fong. He has been a worthy opponent. 
They have had a good race. The great joy will be that she's been given 6 
more years by you to reaffirm our common humanity. And we have ample 
evidence that that is what our country desperately needs.
    So don't you pass a person between now and November 3d--don't pass a 
one, and Barbara Boxer will go back to Washington.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:58 p.m. in the Peacock Room at the Mark 
Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to dinner 
hosts Mark Buell and his wife, Susie Thompkins Buell; former Senator 
Alan Cranston; gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Gray Davis of 
California; Art Torres, State Democratic chair; Prime Minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu of Israel; and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian 
Authority.