[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.