    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2000)]
    [Pages 1449-1452]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate Susan Davis in San
    Diego, California

     June 22, 2000

         Thank you. I'm sorry Susan couldn't be here today, but I'm glad
    she's doing her job. [Laughter] That's what Democrats do. And I feel
    really comfortable having Steve here, because we're both campaigning for
    positions in the congressional spouses' club. [Laughter]
         I want to thank Congressman Bob Filner for that rousing speech and
    for the wonderful service he gives to you, to California, and to our
    Nation every day in the United States Congress.
         Somewhere in this crowd we have two other Democratic candidates for
    Congress--George Barraza and Craig Barkacs. Where are they? They're here
    somewhere. Give them a hand. There they are. [Applause] On my way in,
    the first lady of California, Sharon Davis, met me. I want to thank her
    for being here.
         And I want to say to all of you, thanks. I think all of you know
    the role that this State played in our campaign in '92 and in '96; the
    unbelievable vote we got here against all the odds in 1992, when I
    became the first Democrat since Harry Truman to carry San Diego, and I
    thank you.
         I just want to say one or two words. You know, I can speak with a
    certain freedom about this election because it's the first time in 26
    years I haven't been on the ballot. [Laughter] Most days, I'm okay about
    it. [Laughter] I know it's hot in here, and I want to get out and shake
    hands and all that, but I want you to just listen for a minute. Somebody
    might ask you why you came here, and I want you to be able to give a
    good answer.
         Now, we have worked hard to turn this country around. And where I
    could--where I could in good faith, I have worked with the Republicans.
    But they opposed our economic policy and said it would bankrupt the
    country. Instead, it gave us the longest economic expansion and the
    biggest surpluses in our history. They opposed our social policies. They
    were against the family and medical leave law. They said it would hurt
    the economy. Instead, we've had over 20 million people take advantage of
    it when a baby was born or a parent was sick. And we've got over 22
    million new jobs. Basically, they opposed us on the Brady bill, the
    assault weapons ban, putting 100,000 police on the street, putting
    50,000 more on the street. They said it wouldn't put a dent in crime.
    Instead, it gave us the lowest crime rate in 25 years and a 35 percent
    drop in crime.
         They kept trying to put these riders to weaken our environmental
    protection on all the bills that I passed, ever since 1995. They opposed
    it when I tried to set aside national monuments, when I set aside over
    40 million acres for roadless areas in the national forests. They said
    all of our efforts to have cleaner air, cleaner water, were going to
    hurt the economy. Instead, we've got the strongest economy and the
    cleanest environment in history.
         Now, what's the point of all this? We have had a contest of ideas.
    And that's what you have to remind the voters of this November, the
    people who aren't here, the people who don't follow this so closely, but
    the people who love our country and love this State and want to do right
    by America when they go into the voting booth. We have had a contest

    [[Page 1450]]

    of ideas. Ours have been tested in the crucible of experience, and guess
    what? They worked. They worked.
         I recommend you go out all across this community and to your
    friends all across the State and throughout the Nation and say the
    following: Number one, this is a really important election. It is just
    as important as the election of 1992 or the election of 1996. And the
    danger is that people may not understand it. In '92 California was
    hurting; the economy was hurting; the open wounds of society were laid
    bare. We knew what the election was about. We knew we had to change. In
    1996 the election was clear: Were you going to ratify what we were doing
    or reject it and build our bridge to the 21st century?
         What is the election of 2000 about? It is about, what do we propose
    to do with our prosperity, with our surplus, with our good fortune, with
    our social progress, with our confidence? That's what it's about. I
    believe with all my heart, if the American people believe that's what
    this election about, we'll win. I believe Al Gore will win. I believe
    Susan Davis will win. I believe Hillary Clinton will win. I believe--
    [inaudible].
         Here's the good news. You don't have to go out and say anything
    bad. All you've got to do is tell the truth about the differences. I'm
    sick and tired of elections--for 20 years, I have watched elections--
    mostly driven by the far right in this country--where, in the end,
    people were so angry and upset with each other, both sides were
    essentially trying to convince the voters that their opponents were just
    one notch above a car thief. [Laughter]
         Now, you don't have to do it, and you shouldn't. What you ought to
    say, number one, this is a big election; we've got the chance to build
    the future of our dreams for our children. Number two, there are real
    differences and they are profound, and you should assume that people on
    both sides are honorable, and they will continue to do what they have
    done, and they will do exactly what they say they will do. And number
    three, only the Democrats want you to know what the real differences are
    in this election.
         You watch--I'll tell you, I love watching these Republicans now,
    butter wouldn't melt in their mouth. They want you to forget all about
    the fact that they even had a Presidential primary campaign. And they
    certainly want you to forget the commitments they made in their primary
    campaign. And you watch a lot of them voting this year--they want you to
    forget all about how they voted from 1995 until they figured out where
    the voters were. And they figured they could just get by this election
    and they could go back to being the way it was.
         Now look, there are real differences. On economic policy, they want
    to take all this marvelous projected--the operative word is projected--
    surplus and spend it on their plan for a tax cut, $1.3 to $1.5 trillion;
    on their plan to partially privatize Social Security, which would cost
    about $800 billion. They want to spend more for their missile defense
    system and their other defense ideas and for their school voucher
    program. In other words, they want to spend it all now because they know
    it's going to materialize.
        Now, I ought to say that it will because it's self-serving for me.
    We turned this deficit around, and we got a projected, huge surplus. But
    I say again, it is projected.
         Now, what Al Gore and the Democrats want to do is to, first of all,
    say it's projected; we don't have this money yet. How in the world can
    we give it all away before we've got it? Let's save 20 percent on the
    front end by taking all the taxes you pay for Medicare and putting it
    over here so it can't be spent on anything else, and keep paying down
    the debt. Let's give the people a tax cut but one they really need to
    help educate our children, send them to college, pay for child care, pay
    for long-term care for the elderly, pay to give people incentives to
    invest in the poor areas that have been left behind. But let's make sure
    it's something we can afford, even if what is projected doesn't
    materialize. And let's save some back to invest in the education of our
    children and cleaning up the environment and extending health care
    coverage to people who need it.
         Now, folks, this is a huge deal. Do you want the main benefits of
    this surplus we worked so hard for to go to just a few, and do you want
    to risk the fact that we'll be back in deficits before you know it? Or
    do you want to keep paying the national debt

    [[Page 1451]]

    down and investing in the future of our children and our families?
         You know, now that I've just got about 7 months to go, all these
    people come up to me all the time and say, ``What was the secret of your
    economic policy? What did you bring back to Washington? What new idea
    did you introduce?'' And I give them a one-word answer--arithmetic. We
    tried their way for 12 years; we tried it our way for 8 years. Does
    anybody seriously doubt which way works best? Let's don't go back to
    that old way. Let's go forward.
         Now, what about building one America? We're for a minimum wage
    increase, they're not. Only now they feel bad about it when they're not.
    [Laughter] We're for a Patients' Bill of Rights, and they're not. Only
    now they act like they feel bad about it when they're not. [Laughter]
    We're for a Medicare voluntary prescription drug program so that all of
    our seniors have access to prescription drugs, they're not. Only now
    they have posters to tell them what words they're supposed to say so
    you'll think they're for it. [Laughter]
         Now, I'm not the most partisan person we ever had in the White
    House. I like working with Republicans. I will work with Republicans
    every day until I leave if they'll work with me. But I'm not going to
    paper over the differences, and you shouldn't either. There are real
    differences here--on economic policy, on Medicare and prescription
    drugs, on the Patients' Bill of Rights, on the minimum wage, on whether
    we're going to protect the environment or weaken our environmental
    protections, on whether the next Supreme Court will protect a right to
    choose or get rid of it.
         So I'm here for Susan Davis because I think she's on the right side
    of those issues, and because she has worked hard at a public job and
    represented you well. And she's doing her duty today, which is what she
    ought to be doing. And that's what we need more of in this country.
         And I'm here for Al Gore because I know he will have an economic
    policy that will keep the prosperity going. You ought to ask--I just
    want you to ask your friends in California and throughout the country if
    they really want to go back to that economic policy or wouldn't they
    like to build on what we've done and go forward? That's the first thing.
         Second thing, I'm for him because I know he will try to extend the
    benefits of this prosperity to the families of people in the places that
    have been left behind, which is a passion of mine. If we can't take
    economic opportunity to the poor neighborhoods, the poor people, and the
    poor places that have been left behind now; if we can't close the
    digital divide; if we can't raise educational opportunity--if we can't
    do this now, when will we ever get around to it? Now is not the time to
    change our commitment to spreading the benefits of this new economy.
         And the final thing, the third reason I'm for him is that he
    understands the future. And we need somebody in Office who understands
    the future. There will be all kinds of new issues. The children in this
    audience will spend the next 30 years worrying about global warming if
    we don't take action now. And Al Gore was the first public figure in
    American life to understand that. When everybody else was saying it was
    some sort of conspiracy to undermine the American economy, he said,
    ``No, the climate is getting warmer, and it's going to wreck a lot of
    what we do and a lot of how we live, and we can still grow our economy
    and improve our environment.''
         When we rewrote the telecommunications law in a way that created
    hundreds of thousands of jobs, all the big monopolists moved in on
    Congress, and Al Gore said, ``No, we're going to have competition here;
    we're going to let small entrepreneurs and little guys get in here and
    take advantage of this technological revolution. And we're going to have
    the E-rate so that every school and every library can afford to log onto
    the Internet, and none of our kids will be left behind.''
        And now, when all of our health records and all of our financial
    records are on somebody's computer somewhere, and a lot of big economic
    interests want to get their hands on it--for obvious reasons. Al Gore is
    up there in Washington saying, ``No, Americans should have the right to
    privacy. And unless they say you can have their information, you
    shouldn't get their health or their financial information.''
         So I want you to take that message out of here. I want you to work
    for Susan Davis,

    [[Page 1452]]

    not just when the President comes to town but every day between now and
    November. I want you to work for Al Gore and the other Democrats. I want
    you to remind the people of California what it was like in 1992 and what
    it's like today. And I want you to say, ``Look, we need somebody who
    will keep the prosperity going, who will spread it to more families and
    people who have been left behind, and who understands the future.''
         And remember, it's a big election; there are real differences and
    only the Democrats want you to know what they are.
         Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:30 p.m. at the El Cortez Hotel. In his
    remarks, he referred to Ms. Davis' husband, Steve; and George (Jorge)
    Barraza and Craig Barkacs, candidates for California's 51st and 52d
    Congressional Districts, respectively. Ms. Davis is a candidate for
    California's 49th Congressional District.