[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 44 (Monday, November 6, 2000)]
[Pages 2727-2732]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With April Ryan of American Urban Radio

November 1, 2000

    Ms. Ryan. We're in the Oval Office, sitting with President William 
Jefferson Clinton on this historic occasion. We're sitting at the desk 
that John Kennedy, Jr., used to run through or crawl through as a child.
    Mr. President, thank you so much for this time, for this post-
election interview.
    The President. I'm glad to do it, April. Thank you.

African-American Voter Turnout

    Ms. Ryan. There is a get-out-to-vote effort, a major effort right 
now. African-Americans, in particular, are said not to be as energized 
about going to the polls, particularly for your second in charge. Why is 
it so important that African-Americans go to the polls this time, 
especially since they came out in big numbers for you, and there's such 
a difference right now?
    The President. I think, first of all, it's important because the 
election is terribly close. You know, President Carter won by one 
percent. President Kennedy won by less than one-half of one percent. 
This promises to be that kind of election, so every vote will count.
    Secondly, it's important because the differences between the two 
candidates for President and the two parties are so great. If you think 
about where we were 8 years ago, we had an economy in trouble; we had a 
society that was divided; we had a political system that was paralyzed 
and generally thought not to be very favorable to African-Americans and 
other minorities in our country.
    Now, 8 years later, we've got the strongest economy we've ever had; 
we've got a lower crime rate, a cleaner environment, and the number of 
people without health insurance is going down; the number of people 
doing well in school and going on to college is going up. Things are 
moving in the right direction. And the American people are being given a 
chance to keep building on that progress or to embrace a completely 
different approach that would reverse it.

[[Page 2728]]

    So I think if you care about health care, education, a strong 
economy, if you care about civil rights, human rights, and all these 
appointments to the Supreme Court and the other courts that are going to 
come up, there's more than enough reason to vote in this election.
    And Al Gore has a lifetime record of support for civil rights and 
for policies--economic, education, health care, environmental policies--
that help ordinary citizens. So I think it's a clear choice. And I think 
that, frankly, his role in this administration in the last 8 years and 
the ideas he's put before the American people should command the support 
of the African-American community and, I believe, the majority of the 
American people.

President's Support for Al Gore

    Ms. Ryan. But many African-Americans I've talked to often wondered, 
why have you not stood next to him on many occasions prior to the week 
before, and not only that, why had you not gone to the churches and 
things like that before this last week? And many are concerned that they 
don't see you standing by him as much physically to promote him, and 
they're really wondering if your support is there for Al Gore.
    The President. My support is there. I have done over 150 events this 
year to help him and the Democratic Party and to help our candidates for 
Senate and the House--literally over 150 events. I think, frankly, it 
would have been inappropriate for me to be out there campaigning with 
him. I think it would have hurt him with some people, because as he said 
in his convention speech, he has to run for President as his own man. He 
has to be elected on his own.
    And I've done what I could to be supportive. I continue to do a lot 
of events, and I'm going out to California in a day or so. I'm going to 
go home the last weekend to Arkansas, which is a small State, but these 
small States could determine the outcome of the election. I'm going to 
make another stop in New York trying to help my wife and also help the 
congressional candidates and help him, and I may do another stop or so. 
I'm doing everything I can. And as you pointed out, I went out in the 
churches last weekend.
    But when a President campaigns, it's very important not to do it too 
soon, and it's very important to do it in a way that you're being 
supportive of the people that are running. So it's kind of a delicate 
thing.
    I remember when President Reagan used to come to Arkansas to 
campaign against me, and he was wildly popular in Arkansas. It never 
affected my standing with the people, even though we got some of the 
same votes. So if I want to have an impact on this election, I have to 
concentrate on talking to the people who will listen to the reasons I 
have for voting for the Vice President and our other candidates and also 
do it in a way that makes it clear to the American people that I am 
first doing my job here in Washington.
    So I've tried to do it as best I could in coordination with the Gore 
campaign. But the people in this country should have no doubt about my 
strong support for him and my belief that he will be a very good 
President.

Veracity/Social Issues

    Ms. Ryan. Well, there are several issues that have come into play, 
too, with Vice President Gore, one, the veracity, embellishment. And 
some people are even wondering, especially Christians--you know, the 
pro-choice stance, as well as the issue of--he is saying that gay 
couples can stay together. And this is something the administration, for 
8 years you've dealt with, and no one really jumped up at that before, 
and now everyone is becoming unglued, particularly Christians.
    The President. Let's talk about that. First of all, I want to talk 
about this veracity business. I think it's a total bum rap. Let's go 
back to what gave rise to it in the debate. They jumped on him after the 
first debate because he talked about taking a trip to Texas with the 
Director of our Emergency Management Agency, and it turned out the guy 
wasn't on the trip with him.
    Now, he went, and the Regional Director of the Agency was on the 
trip, and he had taken 17 other trips with this Director. He went to 
almost as many emergencies as I did these last 8 years. And I can tell 
you, I don't remember who was on what flight. So that wasn't an 
exaggeration. He took the trip; he

[[Page 2729]]

went down there. And he just didn't remember that the guy wasn't on that 
flight. He was on 17 other flights. I think that is crazy. He never said 
he invented the Internet--another bum rap. He never--and all these other 
things they say, you know, basically, I think are wrong.
    I will say this. The other day, 425 high-tech executives endorsed 
him, including a man named Vint Cerf. He sent the first E-mail ever 
sent, Mr. Cerf did. And he really was one of the fathers of the 
Internet. And he gave Al Gore the credit he deserved for supporting 
legislation in the Congress that turned the Internet from a private 
province of Defense Department physicists into the broad commercial 
network it is today. So I think the exaggeration thing is wrong.
    Now, let's talk about the pro-choice issue. I still believe that Roe 
v. Wade was properly decided. And we have worked to try to reduce teen 
pregnancy and, therefore, to reduce the number of abortions. Teen 
pregnancy is at a 30-year or 40-year low in America, and the number of 
abortions has gone down every year I've been in office. But I do not 
believe the answer is to go back and criminalize a woman's decision to 
have an abortion. I think we should keep the pro-choice position, and I 
don't think that's immoral. I think it's consistent with reducing the 
number of abortions by reducing teen pregnancy.
    Al Gore and I helped to start a national campaign against teen 
pregnancy, which had, I think, a very significant, positive impact on 
this issue. And I don't think there's anything wrong with his ethics or 
his morals on this issue.
    In terms of the gay issue, what has he said? He has said that he 
believed that gay people who live together in a committed relationship 
ought to have access to the same sorts of legal protections that other 
couples have. What are they? One of you gets sick; the other one ought 
to be able to visit in the hospital during family visiting hours. I know 
this sounds like a little thing, but this is a big deal to people. One 
dies; the other ought to be able to leave property under the laws of the 
State. If one of them has health insurance on the job, they ought to be 
able to purchase health insurance for their partners.
    I personally believe--and he believes there should be no 
discrimination on the job, and we should pass hate crimes legislation 
that covers sexual orientation as well as race. Now, I personally don't 
think there is anything wrong with that. I think we've got to build a 
society where, if you obey the law and you work hard and you pay your 
taxes and you do like everybody else is supposed to do in America, you 
ought to be treated fairly. So I agree with the Vice President's 
position on that. And I don't think it's anti-family.
    So all I can tell you is I support him on that. He's got a great 
civil rights record. He's got a great record on the economy. He's got a 
great record on the environment. And he ran the program for me that 
reduced the size of Government and increased the amount of money we had 
left to invest in health care and other things. I just think that he has 
earned the right to be strongly considered for President, based on his 
lifetime of service and the difference between him and his opponent.
    And let me just say this. You talked about the abortion and gay 
rights issues. Those issues may well be decided by the judges that the 
next President will support, but certainly civil rights issues will be 
decided by the judges that the next President will appoint. We already 
have a five-vote majority on this court for some very disturbing 
decisions designed to restrict the ability of the National Government to 
protect the rights of the American people.
    And I really believe that if the Republicans win the White House, it 
will be more than Roe v. Wade that's changed. I think you'll have a 
Supreme Court that will drastically restrict the ability of the Federal 
Government to advance civil rights and human rights and to protect the 
public interest. You can already see it from the decisions that they 
made involving the Violence Against Women Act, striking down part of 
that, striking down part of the Brady bill that's kept handguns out of 
the hands of half a million felons, fugitives, and stalkers, striking 
down a bill that Congress passed to prevent age discrimination.
    So I think there's a lot of evidence out there that this election 
makes a difference.

[[Page 2730]]

I agree with the positions the Vice President has taken.

Republican Policies

    Ms. Ryan. You're a strong Democrat, and you have some Republican 
leanings. But many are questioning if George W. Bush gets in here, a lot 
of things will change, especially how you dealt with the issue of race. 
Bob Dole--I'm working on a private project and I talked to Bob Dole, and 
he said something tremendous about you. He said you have changed the way 
the President will have to deal with race issues. And that was 
tremendous for me to hear Bob Dole say that about you. Does it scare 
you, listening to some of the things that George W. Bush says, and 
seeing the polls today--George W. Bush, 47 percent; Al Gore, 41 
percent--seeing that everything you've worked for, you and Al Gore 
worked for, would drastically change?
    The President. Yes. I actually believe that Governor Bush would be, 
if he were President, would be pretty good on immigration, because he's 
from Texas, and in Texas the Republicans and the Democrats have a 
relationship with the Mexican-American community that I think would 
translate into pretty good policies. And I think he would be perfectly 
nice to everyone. His rhetoric would be unifying. But I think his 
policies would be divisive. He wouldn't say he supported affirmative 
action, even as we changed it, in the debate.
    Ms. Ryan. Affirmative access.
    The President. Yes, that's a code word for being against action, I 
think. He wouldn't say that he would support hate crimes legislation, 
and he did refuse to see James Byrd's family. They don't support 
stronger enforcement of equal-pay-for-women laws. There just are lots of 
examples here where they have good rhetoric, but I think their policies 
are, in fact, divisive.
    One of the things I've tried to do is to say that we can unite the 
American people. In these last 8 years, rich people have gotten richer, 
but poor and middle class people have had income gains for the first 
time in 20 or 30 years. We've tried to go forward together. And that's 
what I think Al Gore will work for and why I think it's important that 
he be elected.
    And by the way--we're talking 6 days before the election--the real 
polls are basically dead-even. I keep up with them every day and this is 
a dead-even race. So it really--how it comes out is really going to be 
determined more on who votes. And a lot of these polls assume a lower 
turnout among African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans and other first-
generation immigrants.

African-American Voter Turnout

    Ms. Ryan. Two years ago the big difference came when African-
American minorities went to the polls.
    The President. Absolutely. Look what happened to Georgia. Let me 
just give you two or three examples. In Georgia we elected a Democratic 
Governor, who was behind in the polls, and two African-American State 
office holders. Why? Georgia is 25 percent black; the African-American 
vote was 28 percent of the vote.
    In South Carolina, our side won a governorship and Senator Hollings 
was reelected, when most people thought we would lose both. Why? Because 
the first time in history, African-American turnout equaled white 
turnout.
    In Mississippi, the Democrats won a Governor's race that the polls 
said they were six points behind in on Friday night before the election. 
Why? Because for the first time, African-Americans turned out in equal 
percentages as whites.
    So if African-Americans say, ``I want my vote to count as much as 
anybody else's,'' and they show up in the same or greater percentages of 
their registration as whites do, we'll win this race. It's as simple as 
that. African-Americans and Hispanics vote in the same percentages as 
white voters vote, we have enough support in the black community to win 
the race.

NAACP Commercial

    Ms. Ryan. You said something a second ago about James Byrd. James 
Byrd's daughter is in an NAACP commercial. What were your thoughts about 
that?
    The President. Well, I haven't seen the commercial. That's not quite 
true; I actually saw it in passing, but I didn't hear it. I think she 
was very hurt, properly so, about the way

[[Page 2731]]

she and her family were treated after her father was dragged to death. 
The Governor didn't want to have to deal with her.
    But what was really going on in Texas--and people don't want to say 
it, but we need to be plain about it in the debate--Governor Bush did 
not want to embrace the hate crimes bill that two-thirds of the people 
in Texas supported, because it extended hate crimes protection to gays, 
as well as to racial minorities. And he was going into a Presidential 
primary, and he thought he had the support of the religious right and 
all the ultraconservative wings of the party. He was their first choice. 
And he didn't want to make them mad, so he didn't want to see James 
Byrd's family, and he didn't want to lift a finger to pass that bill.
    As I said, even though Texas, which is a conservative Republican 
State--in Texas, two-thirds of the citizens thought there should be hate 
crimes legislation, and it should protect gays. Most people in America, 
no matter how conservative they are, do not believe that anybody should 
be singled out for abuse of any kind.
    And so I think he made a terrible mistake, and I think she was very, 
very hurt by it. And I think that's what that ad is about. Now, I can't 
comment on the content. I haven't seen the substance of the ad or 
whatever. But she was hurt, and she was letting the American people 
know. And I think it's a relevant piece of information for the American 
people to know.

106th Congress

    Ms. Ryan. Mr. President, thank you so much for your time, and I have 
one last question to ask. Today in the news, it seems that Congress is 
going to adjourn a couple days before the election. What is going to 
happen to your budget, finishing the unfinished work?
    The President. Oh, they'll come back after the election if they do 
that. I wish they'd stay and finish. But I think what's happened is 
now--every place we could make an agreement, we did. We worked with 
them. On the three areas that are still outstanding, they basically--the 
Republicans--kicked the White House and the Democratic Congress 
representatives out of the room and made an agreement among themselves, 
that is, on one of the bills dealing with immigration and other things, 
and on the tax bill, on those two.
    On the Education and Labor bill, we actually made an agreement with 
the Republicans, and then the Republican leadership shattered the 
agreement because they said it didn't suit their special interests on a 
worker safety provision.
    So what I think they're going to do is call a halt to this--that's 
the rumor, anyway--and then come back after the election, and we'll go 
back to work. But it's really sad because we could have easily finished 
our work here. All they had to do was to honor the agreement that we 
made on education. We had gotten a very good education bill that really 
helped the children of this country. And we had gotten a proper 
compromise on the worker safety issue, but they didn't want us to be 
able to do anything to protect worker safety.
    So I'm sorry about it. But this is a clear example of the kind of 
choice people make. That's the last point I want to make about this 
election. People need to think about it when they decide, ``Am I going 
to go vote; is it worth my vote; what am I going to do with my 
Presidential race?'' Most Americans, including members of the African-
American community, have no way of knowing how many things I stopped 
from happening here with the veto pen, with the threat of a veto. You 
know, in addition to the things we got done, we stopped a lot of things 
from being done these last 6 years with the Republicans in the majority. 
And if you have a Republican in the White House and if the Republicans 
were to maintain their majority, however slim, in the House and the 
Senate, there would be nobody here to stop them.
    I think Americans need to think long and hard about that before they 
vote in this Presidential race. Somebody needs to be here to restrain 
excess in conduct by the people that are in control of the Congress, 
because they're to the right of--the people who control the Congress are 
to the right of many Republicans in the Congress, and to the right of 
the Republicans in America, never mind the independents and Democrats. 
So that's

[[Page 2732]]

another good argument for Al Gore for President.
    Ms. Ryan. Mr. President, thank you so much. And we hope to do 
another interview with you, an exit interview, before you leave office. 
[Laughter ]
    The President. You know, it's my job, I should probably be doing a 
lot of exit interviews.
    Thank you, April.

 Note: The interview began at 5:35 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to Vinton G. Cerf, senior 
vice president of Internet architecture and technology, MCI WorldCom; 
and Republican Presidential candidate Gov. George W. Bush. The 
transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on November 
2. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
interview.