[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[Page 2507]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
 Remarks at the President's Cup Dinner

 October 17, 2000

     Thank you very much. I'm sorry to be the only person here who is 
not properly dressed. [Laughter] But as Tim said, I just got off the 
airplane, and I wanted to come by and welcome you to Washington and say 
how thrilled I am to be the honorary chair of the President's Cup this 
year. I'm pleased we're going back to RTJ and that my friend and golfing 
partner Vernon Jordan is the president of the club, so he'll let me on 
to walk around a little and watch you.
     I want to thank Ken Venturi and Peter Thomson for serving as the 
captains of the teams. And I want to thank Tim Finchem who, like Vernon, 
has been a friend of mine for well over 20 years, for the outstanding 
leadership he provides the PGA.
     I'm delighted to have you here, and I want to say a special word of 
appreciation for the work the President's Cup does, first, to raise 
money for worthy charities. When you finish this year, you will have 
raised over $6 million in the last four Cups for worthy causes, and I'm 
very grateful for that, and you should be proud of it.
     You know, like all ardent golfers, I sometimes go over the top in 
explaining to people why golf is like life or why life ought to be more 
like golf. But I would like to say, as you know, I just went to Sharm 
al-Sheikh in Egypt to try to reach an agreement to end the violence that 
we've seen in the Palestinian territories in Israel for the last couple 
of weeks.
     I don't know if any of you have ever been there, but it is one of 
the most beautiful places on Earth, and it is exploding in development 
because the climate is so perfect. And I sat there for a day and a half, 
didn't sleep, and all our meetings were conducted on the edge of one of 
the most beautiful golf courses I've ever seen in my life. [Laughter] So 
I thought to myself, ``Why am I being punished for the fact that I can't 
solve this problem here?''
     But what it made me think of coming back here is that we all come 
from countries which at one time or another had significant internal 
strife, where people had to overcome their differences. I was very moved 
when I saw Greg at the closing ceremony of the Olympics by the 
incredible way that Australia not only welcomed the Olympics but used 
the Olympics to show the healing process that has gone one between the 
aboriginal people and the other citizens of Australia.
     Everybody knows now that America is becoming the great melting pot 
of the world, and it's well to remember that the kind of understanding 
that you have, the idea that people play by certain rules, and if you 
do, everybody is treated with equal respect is really the way the world 
ought to work and the kind of idea we're trying to bring to all the 
troubled places in the world, but most importantly, to the Middle East, 
which, ironically, is the home to all three of the world's great 
monotheistic religions and is still one of the most bedeviled places on 
the planet.
     I hope you have a great time over the next several days. I hope 
that no matter who wins or who loses, that you'll show the world one 
more example of how our common humanity is more important than our 
interesting diversity. I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the 
opening ceremony.
     Thank you very much.

  Note:  The President spoke at 8:50 p.m. in the Main Hall at the 
National Building Museum. In his remarks, he referred to Ken Venturi, 
captain, U.S. team, and Peter Thomson, captain, international team, 
President's Cup tournament; Tim Finchem, commissioner, PGA Tour; and 
professional golfer Greg Norman.