[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 37 (Monday, September 18, 2000)]
[Pages 2040-2041]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Representative Anthony D. Weiner in
New York City
September 11, 2000
Thank you very much. First, I want to thank Richard and Maureen for
their warm welcome here--[laughter]--for opening their home. This is a
beautiful place and a beautiful gathering. And the reason we're all so
warm is that you came out here to support Anthony in record numbers, and
I'm grateful to you. [Laughter] So you should enjoy the temperature; you
generated it by your commitment and your support.
I want to thank you for reminding me that you were in Little Rock on
election night in '92. Hard to believe it was almost 8 years ago. It's
been a good 8 years, and I thank you for being there. I have a
particular interest in this congressional district, because in 1992 I
came to Chuck Schumer's home in Brooklyn, and I drove around this
congressional district with him. I mean, I know we're not in it now, but
I drove around the congressional district.
I drove to the synagogue where a swastika had been painted on the
wall. And we began to see the evidence of the kind of intolerance and
bigotry that we still see manifested from time to time in these terrible
hate crimes around our country. And I thought then that, you know, we
could turn the country around if we had the right ideas, and we
literally changed the economic policy, the education policy, the health
care policy, the crime policy, the environmental policy, and the foreign
policy of America. And I believe that the results have been pretty good.
Now, what I want to say today is, I'm here because, number one, I'm
very grateful for the support that Anthony has given me over the last 2
years, and I appreciate it very much. Secondly, and far more important,
I think he has enormous capacity to serve this district well and to
continue to grow in stature and leadership and impact for the people of
this district, this city, and this State, in the United States Congress.
And that's very important. You know, I've reached a point now where
I was looking at him and thinking how young he was and trying not to
resent it. [Laughter]. I realize, you know, I spent most of my life as
the youngest person who ever did anything, and now I'm the second
youngest person ever to leave the office of the President, the youngest
ever to leave after two full terms. Theodore Roosevelt was a couple of
years younger than me, also of New York, so I decided I'd come to New
York to see if it was in the water and catch it. [Laughter].
But my concern now--this is the first time since 1974 I haven't been
on the ballot, and most days I'm okay about it. [Laughter] My party has
a new leader, whom I admire and support strongly, and his Vice
Presidential candidate has been a friend of mine for 30 years. I was
thrilled about Senator Lieberman's pick. And my family has a new
candidate. So I have become the Cheerleader in Chief of America, and I'm
very happy to do that.
I want to say one thing very, very seriously. A great people are
more vulnerable to making a mistake when times are good than when
they're difficult. The American people and the people of New York took a
chance on me and Al Gore in 1992, but it wasn't much of a chance,
because the country was in the ditch. We were in trouble. We had a bad
economy, worsening social problems, an increasingly divisive political
climate. Now, we have a good economy; all the social indicators are
going in the right direction. We are without severe internal crisis or
external threat. And there is a new sense of harmony in the country, at
least among the strong majority of American people, as evidenced by the
different rhetoric that they have adopted in running this campaign,
except in their mass mails. [Laughter]
That's the good news. The bad news is, it may be harder for people
to tell the difference this year. I think it's quite important, just to
make it clear. Anthony mentioned a few things. This is what you can do
with what we have done in the last 8 years, and how these elections--
whether he is successful, whether Hillary wins, whether Al and Joe win,
depends in large measure on what the American people and the people of
New
[[Page 2041]]
York believe this election is about. And I think you should believe it
is about making the most of a truly magic moment in the history of
America.
We can get this country out of debt for the first time since 1835.
We can take Social Security and Medicare out beyond the life of the baby
boom generation, so that when those of us in the baby boom generation
retire and there are only two people working for every one person
eligible for Social Security, we won't bankrupt our children and their
ability to raise our grandchildren.
We can get rid of child poverty in this country. We can now afford
to give working people a subsidy to buy health insurance and get rid of
most of the uninsured people in America who are working for a living and
their little kids. We can grow the economy and improve the environment.
We can continue to see improvements in our education system, and there
have been some substantial turnarounds in the last 4 years nationwide.
We can open the doors of 4 years of college to all Americans by
adopting the bill that Senator Schumer and Hillary have so strongly
endorsed to let people deduct up to $10,000 a year in their college
tuition. We can do big, great things. Yes--the college students clap.
[Applause]
We can pass hate crimes legislation and continue to grow together at
home, and we can continue to be a force for peace and reconciliation
around the world. But it won't happen by accident. As Anthony said, I
get tickled--you know, when the other crowd were in, they took credit
when the Sun rose in the morning. [Laughter] And everything bad that
happened was someone else's fault. Now they say it's just all an
accident. We just stumbled through the last 8 years. I only stumbled
when I was tired. [Laughter]
So I want you to think about this. I'm glad you came here. I'm glad
you gave him your money. I appreciate that. But it's not enough. Almost
all of you have more friends who are less interested in politics than
you are, than you have friends who are as interested or more interested
than you are. Almost all of you have a lot of friends who would never
come to an event like this or who at least have never been. And I just
want to urge you, in the next 60 days, to try to take a little time
everyday for citizenship. Tell people, we may never get another chance
like this, when there's so much progress at home and the absence of so
many threats to us abroad and so much opportunity to do good for our
children and our grandchildren, to build the future of our dreams for
them. And tell them we can't blow it. Tell them there are real and
significant differences between the two parties and the candidates in
every race--in the U.S. Senate race in New York and the House race here
and certainly in the race for President and Vice President.
And there is evidence here. We've tried it their way; we've tried it
our way. You have a track record here. And I think it's really worth
some of your time and effort, if you went to the trouble to come here
and stand in this hot room because you believe you ought to be here and
you believe you ought to support this fine young Congressman, then it is
worth some time in the next 60 days to talk to your friends and
neighbors who don't come to things like this, who don't normally take
the same position you do or activity you do in politics, and try to
convince them that you came here for a reason, and they ought to vote
with you in November.
I'm telling you, if people believe this election is about building
the future of our dreams for our children, he will win, Hillary will
win, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman will win, and we will have a great
celebration on election night.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 6 p.m. at a private residence. In his
remarks, he referred to reception hosts Richard Medley and his wife,
Maureen A. Murray. Representative Weiner is a candidate for New York's
Ninth Congressional District.