    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 2000)]
    [Pages 784-785]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Following a Performance of ``Messiah 2000'' in Alexandria,
    Louisiana

    April 8, 2000

        Well, I am rarely at a loss for words. I use words for a living. I
    have done reasonably well at it. And I am virtually speechless.
        First, I want to say to my friend Anthony--we were talking, oh,
    maybe 6 months ago, about how much I wanted to come down here one more
    time before I left office and see this ``Messiah'' service as President.
    And it worked out for me to be here. I wish Hillary could be here. I
    wish Chelsea could be here. We came, the three of us, 11 years ago.
    Chelsea and Miquell were just little girls; Gentry was so small he was
    almost invisible. [Laughter] And our friendship goes back long before
    that, to 1977.
        So I just want to say how much this has meant to me. I thank you for
    acknowledging all the people who came down with me, and I'd like to
    thank the people from your church from Arkansas who came: my good
    friends Keith and Janice Sjostrand, and brother Bill Harden, Mrs.
    Harden, and the others who came. Thank you for coming to be with us
    tonight. I love you, and I'm glad to see you.
        We've had an unusual relationship, Anthony and Mickey and Hillary
    and I and our kids. We're sort of an odd couple. I say that so that you
    will not hold him responsible for anything I have ever done you
    disagreed with. But we love each other a lot. I bet I cried through more
    of this tonight than anybody else here.
        I want you to know something about this guy. There for a period of
    time, a day or two at least, there was some question about whether I
    would finish my term. He called me on the phone, and he said, ``Mickey
    and I want to come spend 20 minutes with you. And we won't spend more
    than 20 minutes, because we know you've got a lot to do.'' I said,
    ``You're going to come all the way to Washington, DC, from Alexandria,
    for 20 minutes?'' And he said, ``Yep. And we won't stay long.'' So I
    said, ``Okay, come on.''
        So he shows up. She shows up. First thing they did was give me a
    tape of a song she sang, wrote and sang for me, that I was supposed to
    listen to every day to keep my head in the right place--[laughter]--
    which I dutifully did. Then he gives me about seven pages of points he
    wants me to study up on every day to make sure I know where I want to
    be. [Laughter]
        Then he says, ``I don't know how this is going to come out.'' But he
    said, ``I know you. You are my friend. We have raised our children
    together. I love you. I was here when you were going up. If the ship
    starts to sink and other people start to bail out, you call me; I want
    to go down with you.'' He said, ``I will be there. If not another living
    soul were standing there, I would be there.''
        And I say that not for some personal reason but because that was the
    embodiment of his Christian faith and the witness of the Pentecostal
    Church that I have been blessed by for 23 years now. And I just want you
    to know I'm grateful to you and your wife and kids and both sets of
    parents that are here and your extended family, for what you meant to me
    and Hillary and to our daughter.
        And I'm grateful that you gave me the chance to help your church
    advance the cause of liberty in--last time I counted, three or four
    different countries, now. I would have done it for anybody, but you gave
    me the chance to do it for you.
        And I'm grateful that one more time in my life I got to sit here and
    be bathed in the glorious love of all these singers and actors and all
    the people that put together this ``Messiah'' service. It was a blessing
    that I will have with me for the rest of my life.
        Thank you.

    [[Page 785]]

     Note:  The President spoke at 10:06 p.m. in the sanctuary at The
    Pentecostals of Alexandria. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. Garold
    Anthony Mangun, pastor, The Pentecostals of Alexandria; his daughter,
    Miquell Mangun Hennigan, his son, Gentry, and his wife, Mickey; Rev.
    Keith Sjostrand, pastor, First United Pentecostal Church, Lonoke, AR,
    and his wife, Janice; and Rev. Bill Harden and his wife, Margaret. A
    tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.