[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 33 (Monday, August 21, 2000)]
[Pages 1881-1887]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California

August 14, 2000

    Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Isn't it great to be 
here in California together? [Applause] Forty years ago the great city 
of Los Angeles launched John Kennedy and the New Frontier. Now Los 
Angeles is launching the first President of the new century, Al Gore.
    I come here tonight, above all, to say a heartfelt thank you. Thank 
you. Thank you for giving me the chance to serve. Thank you for being so 
good to Hillary and Chelsea. I am so proud of them. And didn't she give 
a good talk? [Applause] I thought it was great. I thank you for 
supporting the New Democratic agenda that has taken our country to new 
heights of prosperity, peace, and progress. As always, of course, the 
lion's share of credit goes to the American people, who do the work, 
raise the kids, and dream the dreams.
    Now, at this moment of unprecedented good fortune, our people face a 
fundamental choice: Are we going to keep this progress and prosperity 
going? Yes, we are.
    But my friends, we can't take our future for granted. We cannot take 
it for granted. So let's just remember how we got here.
    Eight years ago, when our party met in New York, it was in a far 
different time for America. Our economy was in trouble. Our society was 
divided. Our political system was paralyzed. Ten million of our fellow 
citizens were out of work. Interest rates were high. The deficit was 
$290 billion and rising. After 12 years of Republican rule, the Federal 
debt had quadrupled, imposing a crushing burden on our economy and on 
our children. Welfare rolls, crime, teen pregnancy, income inequality--
all had been skyrocketing. And our

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Government was part of the problem, not part of the solution.
    I saw all this in a very personal way in 1992, out there in the real 
America with many of you. I remember a child telling me her father broke 
down at the dinner table because he lost his job. I remember an older 
couple crying in front of me because they had to choose between filling 
their shopping carts and filling their prescriptions. I remember a hard-
working immigrant in a hotel kitchen who said his son was not really 
free because it wasn't safe for him to play in the neighborhood park.
    I ran for President to change the future for those people. And I 
asked you to embrace new ideas rooted in enduring values: opportunity 
for all, responsibility from all, and a community of all Americans. You 
gave me the chance to turn those ideas and values into action after I 
made one of the very best decisions of my entire life, asking Al Gore to 
be my partner.
    Now, first we proposed a new economic strategy: Get rid of the 
deficit to reduce interest rates; invest more in our people; sell more 
American products abroad. We sent our plan to Congress. It passed by a 
single vote in both Houses. In a deadlocked Senate, Al Gore cast the 
tie-breaking vote. Not a single Republican supported it.
    Here's what their leaders said. Their leaders said our plan would 
increase the deficit, kill jobs, and give us a one-way ticket to 
recession. Time has not been kind to their predictions.
    Remember, our Republican friends said then they would absolutely not 
be held responsible for our economic policies. I hope the American 
people take them at their word. [Applause] Thank you.
    Today, after 7\1/2\ years of hard effort, we're in the midst of the 
longest economic expansion in history, more than 22 million new jobs, 
the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the lowest female unemployment in 
40 years, the lowest Hispanic and African-American unemployment rate 
ever recorded, and the highest homeownership in history.
    Now, along the way, in 1995 we turned back the largest cuts in 
history in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment. And just 
2 years later we proved that we could find a way to balance the budget 
and protect our values. Today, we have gone from the largest deficits in 
history to the largest surpluses in history. And if, but only if, we 
stay on course, we can make America debt-free for the first time since 
Andy Jackson was President in 1835.
    For the first time in decades, wages are rising at all income 
levels. We have the lowest child poverty in 20 years, the lowest poverty 
rate for single mothers ever recorded. The average family's income has 
gone up more than $5,000, and for African-American families, even more. 
The number of families who own stock, in our country, has grown by 40 
percent.
    You know, Harry Truman's old saying has never been more true, ``If 
you want to live like a Republican, you better vote for the Democrats.'' 
[Applause] Thank you.
    But our progress is about far more than economics. America is also 
more hopeful, more secure, and more free. We're more hopeful because 
we're turning our schools around with higher standards, more 
accountability, more investment. We have doubled funding for Head Start 
and provided after-school and mentoring to more than a million more 
young people. We're putting 100,000 well-trained teachers in the early 
grades to lower class size. Ninety-five percent of our schools are 
already connected to the Internet. Reading, math, and SAT scores are up, 
and more students than ever are going on to college, thanks to the 
biggest expansion of college aid since the GI bill 50 years ago. Now, 
don't let anybody tell you that all children can't learn or that our 
public schools can't make the grade. Yes, they can. Yes, they can.
    We're also more hopeful because we ended welfare as we knew it. Now, 
those who can work, must work. On that, we and the Republicans agreed. 
But we Democrats also insisted on support for good parenting, so that 
poor children don't go hungry or lose their health care, unmarried teens 
stay in school, and people get the job training, child care, and 
transportation they need. It has worked. Today, there are more than 7\1/
2\ million people who have moved from welfare to work, and the welfare 
rolls in our administration have been cut in half.

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    We're more hopeful because of the way we cut taxes to help Americans 
meet the challenges of work and childrearing. This year alone our HOPE 
scholarship and lifelong learning tax credits will help 10 million 
families pay for college. Our earned-income tax credit will help 15 
million families work their way into the middle class. Twenty-five 
million families will get a $500 child tax credit. Our empowerment zone 
tax credits are bringing new business and new jobs to our hardest 
pressed communities, from the inner cities to Appalachia to the 
Mississippi Delta to our Native American reservations. And the typical 
American family today is paying a lower share of its income in Federal 
income taxes than at any time during the past 35 years.
    We are a more hopeful because of the Family and Medical Leave Act, a 
bill that the previous administration vetoed. They said it would cost 
jobs. It's the first bill I signed, and we now have a test. Twenty-two 
million new jobs later, over 20 million Americans have been able to take 
a little time off to care for a newborn child or sick relative. That's 
what it means--that's what it really means to be pro-family. [Applause] 
Thank you.
    We are more secure country because we cut crime with tougher 
enforcement, more than 100,000 new community police officers, a ban on 
assault weapons, and the Brady law, which has kept guns out of the hands 
of half a million felons, fugitives, and stalkers. Today, crime in 
America is at a 25-year low.
    And we're more secure because of advances in health care. We've 
extended the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by 26 years, added coverage 
for cancer screening and cutting-edge clinical trials. We're coming 
closer to cures for dreaded diseases. We made sure that people with 
disabilities could go to work without losing their health care and that 
people could switch jobs without losing their coverage. We dramatically 
improved diabetes care. We provided health coverage under the Children's 
Health Insurance Program to 2 million previously uninsured children. And 
for the first time in our history, more than 90 percent of our kids have 
been immunized against serious childhood diseases. You can be proud of 
that Democratic record.
    We are more secure because our environment is cleaner. We've set 
aside more land in the lower 48 States than any administration since 
Teddy Roosevelt, saving national treasures like Yellowstone, the great 
California redwoods, the Florida Everglades. Moreover, our air is 
cleaner; our water is cleaner; our food is safer; and our economy is 
stronger. You can grow the economy and protect the environment at the 
same time.
    Now, we're more free because we are closer today to the one America 
of our dreams, celebrating our diversity, affirming our common humanity, 
opposing all forms of bigotry, from church burnings to racial profiling 
to murderous hate crimes. We're fighting for employment 
nondiscrimination legislation and for equal pay for women. [Applause] 
Thank you.
    We found ways to mend, not end, affirmative action. We have given 
America the most diverse administration in history. It really looks like 
America. You know, if I could just get my administration up here, it 
would be just as good a picture as anything you saw a couple of weeks 
ago in Philadelphia--the real people loving it. And we created 
AmeriCorps, which already has given more than 150,000 of our young 
people a chance to earn some money for college by serving in our 
communities.
    We are more secure, and we're more free because of our leadership in 
the world for peace, freedom, and prosperity, helping to end a 
generation of conflict in Northern Ireland, stopping the brutal ethnic 
cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, and bringing the Middle East closer than 
ever to a comprehensive peace.
    We built stronger ties to Africa, Asia, and our Latin American and 
Caribbean neighbors. We brought Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic 
into NATO. We are working with Russia to destroy nuclear weapons and 
materials. We are fighting head-on the new threats and injustices of the 
global age, terrorism, narcotrafficking, biological and chemical 
warfare, the trafficking in women and young girls, and the deadly spread 
of AIDS. And in the great tradition of President Jimmy Carter, who is 
here tonight, we are still the world's leading force for human

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rights around the world. Thank you, President Carter.
    The American military is the best trained, best equipped, most 
effective fighting force in the world. Our men and women have shown that 
time and again in Bosnia, in Kosovo, in Haiti, and Iraq. I can tell you 
that their strength, their spirit, their courage, and their commitment 
to freedom have never been greater. Any adversary who believes those who 
say otherwise is making a grave mistake.
    Now, my fellow Americans, that's the record, or as that very famous 
Los Angeles detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, used to say, ``Just the 
facts, ma'am.'' [Laughter] I ask you, let's remember the standard our 
Republican friends used to have for whether a party should continue in 
office: My fellow Americans, are we better off today than we were 8 
years ago?
    You bet we are. You bet we are. [Applause] Thank you. Yes, we are. 
Yes, we are.
    But--yes, we are--we're not just better off; we're also a better 
country. We are today more tolerant, more decent, more humane, and more 
united. Now, that's the purpose of prosperity.
    Since 1992, America has grown not just economically but as a 
community. Yes, jobs are up but so are adoptions. Yes, the debt is down 
but so is teen pregnancy. We are becoming both more diverse and more 
united.
    My fellow Americans, tonight we can say with gratitude and humility: 
We built our bridge to the 21st century. We crossed that bridge 
together. And we're not going back. [Applause] Thank you.
    To those who say--and I'm sure you heard this somewhere in the last 
few days--to those who say the progress of these last 8 years was just 
some sort of accident, that we just kind of coasted along, let me be 
clear. America's success was not a matter of chance; it was a matter of 
choice.
    And today, America faces another choice. It's every bit as momentous 
as the one we faced 8 years ago. For what a nation does with its good 
fortune is just as stern a test of its character, values, and judgment 
as how it deals with adversity.
    My fellow Americans, this is a big election with great consequences 
for every American, because the differences, the honest differences, 
between our candidates and their visions are so profound. We can a have 
good, old-fashioned election here. We should posit that our opponents 
are good, honorable, patriotic people, and that we have honest 
differences. But the differences are there.
    Consider this, just this. We in America would already have, this 
year, a real Patients' Bill of Rights, a minimum wage increase, stronger 
equal pay laws for women, and middle class tax cuts for college tuition 
and long-term care if the Democratic Party were in the majority in 
Congress with Dick Gephardt as Speaker and Tom Daschle as majority 
leader. And come November, they will be. That has to be clear to people. 
And that's why every House and every Senate seat is important. But if 
you'll give me one moment of personal privilege, I'd like to say a word 
about Hillary.
    When I first met her 30 years ago, she already had an abiding 
passion to help children. And she's pursued it ever since. Her very 
first job out of law school was with the Children's Defense Fund. Every 
year I was Governor she took lots of time away from her law practice to 
work for better schools or better children's health or jobs for parents 
who lived in poor areas. Then when I became President, she became a 
full-time advocate for her lifetime cause, and what a job she has done. 
She championed the family leave law, children's health insurance, 
increased support for foster children and adoptions. She wrote a best-
selling book about caring for our children, and then she took care of 
them by giving all the profits to children's charities. For 30 years--30 
years--from the first day I met her, she has always been there for all 
our kids. She's been a great First Lady. She's always been there for our 
family. And she'll always be there for the families of New York and 
America. [Applause] Thank you.
    Of course, we all know that the biggest choice that the American 
people have to make this year is in the Presidential race. Now, you all 
know how I feel. [Laughter] But it's not my decision to make. That 
belongs to the American people. I just want to tell all of you here in 
this great arena and

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all of the folks watching and listening at home a few things that I know 
about Al Gore.
    We've worked closely together for 8 years now, in the most 
challenging moments. When we faced the most difficult issues of war and 
peace, of whether to take on some powerful interests, he was always 
there. And he always told me exactly what he thought was right.
    Everybody knows he is thoughtful and hard working. But I can tell 
you personally, he is one strong leader. In 1993 there was nobody around 
the table more willing to make the tough choices to balance the budget 
the right way and take this tough stance against balancing the budget on 
the backs of the poor and working people of America. I have seen this 
kind of positioning and this kind of strength time and again, whether it 
was in how we reform welfare or in protecting the environment or in 
closing the digital divide or bringing jobs to rural and urban America 
through the empowerment zone program. The greatest champion of ordinary 
Americans has always been Al Gore.
    I'll tell you something else about him. More than anybody else I've 
known in public life, Al Gore understands the future and how sweeping 
changes and scientific breakthroughs will affect ordinary Americans' 
lives. And I think we need somebody in the White House at the dawn of 
the 21st century who really understands the future.
    Finally, I want to say something more personal. Virtually every week 
for the last 7\1/2\ years, until he became occupied with more important 
matters, Al Gore and I had lunch. And we talked about the business 
between us and the business of America. But we'd also often talk about 
our families, what our kids were doing, how school was going, what was 
going on in their lives. I know him. He is a profoundly good man. He 
loves his children more than life. And he has a perfectly wonderful wife 
who has fought against homelessness and who has done something for me 
and all Americans in bringing the cause of mental health into the broad 
sunlight of our national public life. We owe Tipper Gore our thanks.
    Al has picked a great partner in Joe Lieberman. [Applause] There's 
the Connecticut crowd. Hillary and I have known Joe for 30 years, since 
we were in Connecticut in law school. I supported him in his first race 
for public office in 1970, when I learned he had been a freedom rider, 
going into danger to register black voters in the then-segregated South. 
It should not be a surprise to anyone that Al Gore picked the leader of 
the New Democrats to be his Vice President, because Joe Lieberman has 
supported all our efforts to reform welfare, reduce crime, protect the 
environment, protect civil rights, and a woman's right to choose and to 
keep this economy going--all of them. And he has shown time and time 
again that he will work with President Gore to keep putting people and 
progress over partisanship.
    Now, it's up, frankly, to the Presidential nominee and the Vice 
Presidential nominee to engage in this debate and to point out the 
differences. But there are two issues I care a lot about, and I want to 
make brief comments on them, and I hope I've earned the right to make 
comments on them. One is the economy--I know a little something about 
that--and the other is our efforts to build one America.
    First, on the economy, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman will keep our 
prosperity going by paying down the debt, investing in education and 
health care, moving more people from welfare to work, and providing 
family tax cuts we can afford. That stands in stark contrast to the 
position of our Republican friends.
    Here is their position. They say we have a big projected 10 year 
surplus, and they want to spend every dime of it and then some on tax 
cuts right now. That would leave nothing for education or Medicare, 
prescription drugs; nothing to extend the life of Medicare and Social 
Security for the baby boomers; nothing in case the projected surpluses 
don't come in.
    Now, think about your own family's budget for a minute or your own 
business budget. Would you sign a binding contract today to spend all 
your projected income for a decade, leaving nothing for your families' 
basic needs, nothing for emergencies, nothing for a cushion in case you 
didn't get the raise you thought you were going to get? Of course you 
wouldn't do that, and America shouldn't do it either. We should stick 
with what works.

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    Let me say something to you that's even more important than the 
economy to me. When Al Gore picked Joe Lieberman, the first Jewish-
American to join a national ticket, to be his partner, and he joined 
with our Presidential nominee, who has, along with his great mother and 
late father, a lifetime commitment to civil rights and equal opportunity 
for all, even when it was not popular down home in the South, when they 
did that, we had a ticket that embodies the Democratic commitment to one 
America. They believe in civil rights and equal opportunity for 
everybody. They believe in a woman's right to choose. And this may be 
the most important of all, they believe the folks that you're buying 
your soft drinks and popcorn from here at the Staples Center should have 
the exact same chance they do to send their kids to college and give 
them a good life and a good future.
    My fellow Americans, I am very proud of our leaders. And I want you 
to know that the opportunity I have had to serve as President at the 
dawn of a new era in human history has been an honor, a privilege, and a 
joy. I have done everything I knew how to do to empower the American 
people, to unleash their amazing optimism and imagination and hard work, 
to turn our country around from where it was in 1992, and to get us 
moving forward together.
    Now, what I want you to understand tonight is that the best is still 
out there. The best is yet to come if we make the right choices in this 
election year.
    But the choices will make all the difference. In February the 
American people achieved the longest economic expansion in our history. 
When that happened, I asked our folks at the White House when the 
previous longest economic expansion was. You know when it was? It was 
from 1961 through 1969. Now, I want the young people especially to 
listen to this. I remember this well.
    I graduated from high school in 1964. Our country was still very sad 
because of President Kennedy's death, but full of hope under the 
leadership of President Johnson. And I assumed then, like most 
Americans, that our economy was on absolutely on automatic, that nothing 
could derail it. I also believe then that our civil rights problems 
would all be solved in Congress and the courts. And in 1964, when we 
were enjoying the longest economic expansion in history, we never 
dreamed that Vietnam would so divide and wound our America.
    So we took it for granted. And then, before we knew it, there were 
riots in the streets, even here. The leaders that I adored as a young 
man, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, were killed. Lyndon Johnson, 
a President from my part of the country I admired so much for all he did 
for civil rights, for the elderly and the poor, said he would not run 
again because our Nation was so divided. And then we had an election in 
1968 that took America on a far different and more divisive course. And 
you know, within months after that election, the last longest economic 
expansion in history was, itself, history.
    Why am I telling you this tonight? Not to take you down but to keep 
you looking up. I have waited, not as President but as your fellow 
citizen, for over 30 years to see my country once again in the position 
to build the future of our dreams for our children. We are a great and 
good people. And we have an even better chance this time than we did 
then, with no great internal crisis and no great external threat. Still, 
I have lived long enough to know that opportunities must be seized or 
they will be lost.
    My friends, 54 years ago this week I was born in a summer storm to a 
young widow in a small Southern town. America gave me the chance to live 
my dreams. And I have tried as hard as I knew how to give you a better 
chance to live yours. Now, my hair is a little grayer, my wrinkles are a 
little deeper, but with the same optimism and hope I brought to the work 
I loved so 8 years ago, I want you to know my heart is filled with 
gratitude.
    My fellow Americans, the future of our country is now in your hands. 
You must think hard, feel deeply, and choose wisely. And remember, 
whenever you think about me, keep putting people first. Keep building 
those bridges. And don't stop thinking about tomorrow.

 Note:  The President spoke at 7:52 p.m. at the Staples Center. In his 
remarks, he referred to Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator

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Joseph I. Lieberman. A portion of these remarks could not be verified 
because the tape was incomplete.