[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Pages 2139-2143]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Church of God in Christ Bishops Convention

September 20, 2000

    The President. Thank you. Well, if I had any sense at all, I would 
quit while I'm ahead. [Laughter] I know I'm not running for anything 
this year; otherwise, I would never agree to speak behind all those 
folks. [Laughter]. Bishop Owens and Bishop Smith and Bishop Brooks, 
Bishop Haynes. Let me say hello to Bishop Clark, the General Board of 
Bishops. I thank the choir. I was pretty transported during all that, 
weren't you?
    Audience members. Yes, sir.
    The President. If I could sing like that lady, I'd have been in a 
different line of work. [Laughter]
    I want to say a special word of thanks to Bishop Walker, who has 
been my friend for so many years, and his colleague in Arkansas, Bishop 
Lindsey. I hope the Lord won't think it's sacrilegious, but in a 
figurative way, they helped raise me from the political dead 18 years 
ago. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here today. And I thank them for that.
    I also want to say how grateful I am to those in our administration 
who have helped me to work with you--Ben Johnson, who is here. You 
mentioned Alvin Brown, representing the Vice President. He also 
represented all those empowerment zones, where we've created jobs for 
people who have been left out and left behind. The Vice President and I 
thank him for that.
    And I, too, want to pay special privilege to the man, Bishop Owens, 
who was where you are now when I started. Bishop Ford--I loved him. He 
was my friend, and I'm honored to see you, sir.
    In Timothy, it is written that, ``If a man desire the office of a 
bishop, he desireth a good work.'' Now, I thought I would come here and 
talk about that, because unlike me, you aren't term-limited--
[laughter]--except, of course, in the sense that we are all term-
limited.
    And so as we pass through this fleeting life, I wanted most of all 
to thank you for your good work. I want to thank you for your friendship 
to me and to Hillary and to Chelsea, for sticking with our family 
through thick and thin, and for being a part of America's family as we 
have moved forward.
    It seems hard to believe it's been almost 10 years since I spoke to 
about 20,000 members of the Church of God in Christ in Memphis, at the 
convention. Then, Bishop Owens and I were reminiscing. I went back to 
Memphis, to the Mason Temple in 1993, to speak where Dr. King delivered 
his last sermon. And as he pointed out, some people thought it was my 
best sermon as President. [Laughter] In 1996 I addressed the Women's 
Convention in New Orleans.
    We've had a wonderful relationship, a friendship, a partnership. And 
much of what has been said today has been deeply personal, and for that 
I am grateful. But I think it's worth remembering that you do your jobs, 
and I have done mine, not primarily for the personal but for the others, 
that we are supposed to be serving. And if we take a hit now and again 
along the way, that's just part of the cost of service.
    And the Scripture says we should simply not grow weary; that in due 
season, we shall reap. I have to admit, there were times when I thought 
the winters were too long, and I thought we'd never get to the reaping 
part. [Laughter]
    But we have. We have the longest economic expansion in our history, 
and we've all been a part of it. We have the lowest welfare rolls in 30 
years, the lowest violent crime

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in 27 years, the lowest African-American unemployment ever recorded, the 
lowest poverty rate among African-Americans ever recorded, the highest 
homeownership and business ownership among minorities in America ever 
recorded.
    The teen birth rate is at the lowest level ever recorded. For the 
first time in history, African-American children graduate from high 
school at the same rate as the white majority. We saw a report just a 
few days ago saying that the last couple of years the percentage of 
African-American children taking advanced placement courses in high 
school--which means they're going to college; otherwise, there's no 
point in going through all that grief--has increased by 300 percent in 
just the last 3 years.
    And I do think a little of the venom is draining out of our national 
life. You know, there are people that try to start up and get everybody 
mad, but it's not getting a lot of traction this year. I saw, just the 
other day, the Church Arson Task Force said that church arsons today 
were less than half what they were 4 years ago. Maybe the American 
people are coming home to their better natures. I think they are. I hope 
they are.
    And I guess that's the most important thing I want to say. I'm 
grateful that we've been able to make this progress, and I'm grateful 
that you believe I kept my commitments to you. I certainly tried to. But 
after all, we are all just passing through. If you serve 4 years or 8 
years as President, or 4 years or 40 years as Bishop, we're all just 
passing through. And we add our little bit to humanity's work, and then 
we go on.
    Now, what I want you to think about now is, what have we done all 
this work together for in the last 8 years? What have we fought all 
these fights for in the last 8 years? What do we intend to do with this 
great unusual moment of peace and prosperity?
    When I came to you 10 years ago--I said this at the Congressional 
Black Caucus the other night, and I got a laugh, and I think some people 
thought I was being a bit irreverent, but I wasn't--I said, ``You know, 
people took a chance on me in 1992. I can just imagine all those people 
going in the polling place and saying, `Do I want to vote for this kid? 
He looks so young.' '' I didn't have any gray hair then. [Laughter] `` 
`And his opponent refers to him as the Governor of a small southern 
State. I can't even find that place on the map. Should I do this?' '' I 
just hear all those conversations. And I said, ``Look, give me a break. 
It wasn't that big a chance because the country was in the ditch, and we 
needed a change, right?'' We needed a change. [Laughter]
    But now we're doing well, and we have a lot of self-confidence, and 
there are a few little storm clouds on the horizon at home and abroad. 
But people basically know that we're moving in the right direction, and 
we're doing it together. So now we have a decision to make in the 
absence of that kind of pressure we felt in '92.
    Audience member. Al Gore.
    The President. Yes, I'm getting to that. [Laughter]
    But it's not that easy. Why? There's an African proverb which says, 
``Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.'' Sometimes it's harder to 
make a good decision in good times than bad times. Everybody in this 
room who's over 30 years old has made at least one big mistake in your 
life, not because times were so tough at the moment but because they 
were so good, you thought there was no penalty to the failure to 
concentrate. Is that right? Isn't that right?
    Audience member. You're right. You're right.
    The President. If you live long enough, you'll make a mistake like 
that. Is that right?
    Audience member. Preach, Mr. President!
    The President. Okay, that's where we are now. That's where we are.
    Now, here's what we could do with this good fortune. If we wanted 
to, over the next 10 years, we could get rid of child poverty--if we 
wanted to. We could give all our kids a world-class education. How do I 
know that? Well, I just told you some of the statistics.
    The reason is, we now figured out what works: small classes, well-
trained teachers, preschool, after-school programs, high standards; you 
turn around failing schools or put them under new management. Let me 
just give--I was in Harlem the other day in a school, elementary school. 
Two years ago--2 years ago--80 percent of the children were

[[Page 2141]]

doing reading and math below grade level. Two years later, today, 74 
percent of the kids are doing reading and math above grade level--at 
above grade level.
    So we can do that. But it won't just happen because we have smooth 
seas. We'll have to decide. We could bring economic opportunity to the 
neighborhoods in the cities, the small rural towns, the Indian 
reservations, places that have been left behind.
    We can take Medicare and Social Security out beyond the life of the 
baby boom generation so we don't bankrupt our kids and grandkids when we 
retire. We can give the seniors on Medicare a prescription drug benefit. 
We could have a tax cut that would continue to open the doors of 
college, that would help you pay if you're caring for an elderly or 
disabled loved one, long-term care, help you with child care.
    We could have the right kind of tax cuts. We can do all that and 
still get this country out of debt over the next 10, 11 years, for the 
first time since 1835. We could do those things.
    We can continue the initiatives--I hope we will--that our country 
has made reaching out to the world, to fight AIDS and TB and malaria. 
Those three things kill one in every four people who die every year in 
the world. We can continue to work to lift the burden of debt off the 
poorest countries in the world--in Africa and Latin America and in 
Asia--so we can have genuine partnerships with free people and help the 
rest of the world lift up.
    You know, we're only 4 percent of the world's people, and we've got 
21 percent of the world's wealth. So if we want to keep doing well, you 
don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out we've got to sell 
something to the other 96 percent, and therefore it's good for us if 
they do better. It is not only the morally right thing to do to lift up 
people who are trying to help themselves in Africa and Latin America and 
Asia, throughout the world, it also turns out to be good for us. So we 
can do these things, but we will have to decide.
    Now, that's what the race for President is all about. That's what 
the race for all these Senate seats are all about. Of course, I have a 
particular interest in one of them. [Laughter] I told a group the other 
day, I said, ``This is an interesting time for me. This is the first 
time in 26 years I haven't been on the ballot. I've got 120 days, more 
or less, to be President. My party has a new leader. My family has a new 
candidate. My title now should be the Cheerleader in Chief of America.'' 
[Laughter]
    But I'm glad to do it. We're all term- limited, but we've got to 
keep working. Right? So I ask you to think about that. Think about how 
thrilling it was when we started this in '91, '92, how concerned we were 
about all the problems of the country. Think about how troubled we were 
in 1993 in Memphis, talking about all these kids shooting other kids. 
That's what I said--Martin Luther King didn't live and die for the right 
of some African-American children to shoot others on the street and kill 
them, put drugs in their veins. That's not what it was about.
    And what a long way we have come. But what I want to say to you is, 
for our country and our world, all the best things are still out there. 
We had to work so hard just to turn the old ship of state around. It was 
just like the country is like a big old ocean liner, and when you get 
going in one direction, it takes it a little while to turn that sucker 
around. [Laughter] That's why they hit--that's what the Titanic was all 
about. Sometimes you can't turn it quick enough; you hit an iceberg, 
right? [Laughter] So, thank God we got her turned around, and now it's 
going in the right direction. But if we keep going, all the best things 
are still out there.
    This election is not about whether America will change. Of course, 
America will change. The world is changing every day. The little girls 
in your congregation will soon become young women, and they'll get 
married, and they'll have babies of their own. And before you know it, 
when they come home from the hospital with their babies, they'll have a 
little gene card, coming out of the human genome project, that will tell 
them basically what their little babies' whole life history is likely to 
be like.
    And they'll have some scary things on there. It'll say, ``Well, your 
daughter has this little gene problem and, therefore, she's at greater 
risk of getting breast cancer in her thirties. That's the bad news. But 
the good

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news is, if you do these five things, you can cut the risk by two-
thirds.'' That kind of stuff is going to happen. We're going to change.
    And then our life expectancy, I think, in the next 20 years will go 
from 77 years to over 90. And it'll change. So, what are all these old 
folks going to do? I hope to be one of them. [Laughter] What are we 
going to do?
    We've got to show up for some kind of work every day. How are we 
going to be useful? How are we going to avoid being-- how will this 
change your life and the way churches work and communities work? Yes, of 
course, it's going to change. And there will be more different kinds of 
people elected. You see, California, our most populous State, no longer 
has a majority of people of European ancestry. It's a polyglot State, 
and America soon will be.
    It will change in other ways. I say this along toward the end of my 
talk, but one of the two people who really started me--introduced me to 
the African-American churches in general and to your church in 
particular, is Secretary Slater, our Secretary of Transportation, who 
has been with me for 18 years, and I want to introduce him.
    Won't be long until Rodney and people like him will be getting 
elected, and they'll be calling people like me to serve in their 
Cabinet. And that will be good, too. [Laughter] That will be good, too. 
Things will change. Things are going to change.
    So the issue is not whether we're going to change; it is how we're 
going to change. And so if you feel all those things that I feel coming 
from you, all the wonderful things the Bishops said, if you think I was 
your faithful servant, then you hear me now: The best is still out 
there, and all we have done is basically set the table for America's 
feast.
    But you've got to serve it up. You can't leave the food in the 
refrigerator and the stove and expect the banquet to be enjoyed. But the 
best is still out there. This is a good country. We're learning to live 
with each other a little better. And it's changing so fast.
    I'll just tell you one little story. I got a call a couple days ago 
from Denzel Washington, a great actor. He's in a new movie. I don't know 
if you've seen it advertised, about football, about high school football 
and the integration of T.C. Williams High School, and having a black 
football coach, in the sixties----
    Audience member. A Church of God in Christ brother.
    The President. Yes, a Church of God in Christ brother--right across 
the river here, in Alexandria, Virginia.
    So here, just in a generation, how far we have come. There is this 
wonderful, beautiful story--I hope it will be a smash movie--about how 
all these white southerners found football heaven with a black coach and 
black players, right? [Laughter] It's a story that has played itself out 
pretty well now. It's going to be a great movie.
    But to give you an idea of how you can't stop change, I've been to 
T.C. Williams High School, more than once, as President. It probably has 
the best violence prevention program than any big high school I've ever 
seen. But it's not a black-white high school anymore. Ain't no telling 
how many people are there from how many countries. And that school 
district now has students--the high school is the anchor of a school 
district that has students of 180 different ethnic and racial groups 
whose families speak over 100 different native languages.
    So this is not just about you and me anymore, is it? America is 
about a whole lot of other people, too. And our future is about a whole 
lot of other people.
    So that's the last point I want to leave you with. The Vice 
President and Senator Lieberman are good people, and they're good 
servants. And my wife has the best combination of mind and heart and 
knowledge and ability to get things done in the context of a forum like 
the Senate of anybody I've ever known. They're both better than me at 
some of the things that are important for people in public life to do. 
So nobody's got all the skills, and everybody needs to be lifted up, 
first by the Lord and second by the people.
    But you just remember what I told you. All we've done in the last 8 
years is set the table. And the feast is still out there. And you've got 
all these little kids growing up into a world that would have been 
unimaginable 10 or 15 years ago. They're going to be on their little 
computers, talking to kids in Africa

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and Japan and Ecuador, first one place and another. It's going to be a 
different world.
    And this is the last point I want to make. The most important thing 
of all is still the struggle to get people to be proud of their own 
racial and ethnic heritage, proud of their own religious heritage, but 
absolutely convinced that our common humanity is the most important 
thing of all.
    If I could have one wish at the close of my service, it would not be 
for your continued prosperity--if I only had one--although I dearly hope 
you'll have it. It would not be even for every one of your children to 
get a college degree, although I deeply hope they will. If I could only 
have one wish, it would be that somehow, we could lay down enough of our 
demons to be one America and live together as brothers and sisters.
    So you have been good to me. I love you. I'll never forget you. When 
I'm not President anymore, I'm still going to try to be a good citizen. 
I'm going to try to use all the things I've learned and all the things 
I've done to be of some use in the world. And if I can be of some use to 
you, all you've got to do is call.
    But you remember, meanwhile, I'm going to give you 120 hard days. 
I'm going to try to finish the peace process in the Middle East. I'm 
going to try to get as much done in education and other things as I can 
with this Congress, and I'm going to do what I can to take my case on 
America's future to people who wish to listen to it.
    But the most important thing is to realize we are all term-limited. 
It's what we do, not who we are as individuals, that matters. Now, if 
you can help the agents of positive change, we'll build one America. And 
you recognize that the table is set, but the feast has to be put out 
there, and it's still out there. That would be good for you, good for 
your children, good for our country, and good for the world. Meanwhile, 
if you ever need me, just call.
    I love you. Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:43 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the 
Renaissance Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Bishop Chandler D. 
Owens, presiding Bishop, Bishop J. Neul Haynes, first assistant, Bishop 
P.A Brooks, secretary of the general board, Bishop Melvin E. Clark, 
director, Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and Bishop 
Donnie Lindsey, former director of the Arkansas jurisdiction, Church of 
God in Christ; Bishop Felton M. Smith, Jr., pastor, Temple of Faith 
Deliverance Church of God in Christ, Chattanooga, TN; Bishop L.T. 
Walker, pastor, Holy Temple Cathedral Church of God in Christ, Little 
Rock, AR; and Alvin Brown, Senior Adviser to the Vice President for 
Urban Affairs.