Post by bot on Apr 15, 2004 1:38:36 GMT -5
President Bill Clinton Speaks at the Democratic Unity Dinner
I'm delighted to be here, I'm honored to be here. I thank Senator John Kerry and Theresa for presenting themselves and for giving us a chance to come and honor and rally behind them. I want to thank my great friend Terry McAuliffe for giving us a debt free party with money in the bank, a new headquarters, new technology, and thanks to that early primary that I thought was a mistake, a new unity. Thank you Terry McAuliffe for everything you've done.
I want to thank the other candidates who presented themselves in this primary season. They are all my friends, and I am proud to be in their party. Each and every one of them has made an important contribution to this country.
Carol Mosely Braun, who reminded us that one of these days we will have a female president of the United States.
Dennis Kucinich and his folks, for ordinary people who often feel unrepresented.
Al Sharpton, who still has the best one-liners in America. I hope Senator Kerry will forgive me but I really didn't want this primary season to end because every time they had another debate I got another line from Sharpton I could steal. I used them mercilessly all across America.
I thank my friend of 34 years, Joe Lieberman, for his lifetime of service.
My friend of 37 years, General Wes Clark, for being a citizen soldier in the best sense.
I thank Senator Bob Graham, with whom I first began to serve 25 years ago, one of the best governors I ever saw, the chairman, at one time, of our intelligence committee, and a man who knows what it really takes to give us a secure America. We need you Bob, and we thank you.
I thank Dick Gephardt, who was the leader of the Democrats in the House for the last six years of my presidency. He is a magnificent man, and I thank him for everything he has done.
And I thank John Edwards for proving once more that people want hope over fear, they'd rather be lifted up than torn town, and it's a good thing if you can talk an owl out of a tree. Thank you John Edwards for what you have done in this campaign.
Two men here were introduced tonight whom I worked for a long time ago. When George McGovern ran for President, in 1972, Hillary and I went to Texas to work for him. Ann Richard was there helping, At the time we comprised about 30% of the white vote he had in Texas, because at the time people were looking down on us, they undervalued peace and overvalued this macho rhetoric that we're getting a little tired of. But I want to tell you something tonight, I'm just as proud that I worked for George McGovern in 2004 as was in 1972, and I thank you Senator for being here tonight.
And I want to say, I don't know how to thank President Carter and Roselyn for a lifetime of service to this country and it was my great honor to go to the Carter Center as President and give them the Medal of Freedom. He helped us to avert a major crisis in Korea, to restore democracy in Haiti, and he has been the model of what every former President ought to be. He loves his county and he serves the world every day, and I am grateful to them both.
There are many people here who deserve a lot of credit for the good that happened in the eight years in which I served. The cabinet members, the White House staffers, young, old and middle-aged, but none more than Al Gore, the best Vice President this country ever had and the junior Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who I love and am very proud of.
Now look, you know I'm a little out of practice at this — I've been up in Chappaqua writing this book of mine, or as Hillary says, re-writing history. But I'm gonna give it to you as straight as I can. It's been an amazing, a difficult three years for America.
After September the 11th, we were united. In our hurt, in our fears, in our determination, in our love for one another. Now partisan politics didn't amount to a hill of beans. We got out of the blame game and just wanted to join hands take responsibility for our future, to bind up our wounds and take care of the families of those who had perished. And rid the world of terror. And the world was holding hands at what was an astonishing opportunity that has not existed since the end of the Second World War.
The party in power in this town abandoned their stated purpose of compassionate conservatives, in favor of a ruthless attempt to concentrate power. And well. They took our patriotism and our unity and our affection as a sign of weakness. And they tried to push this county way to the right, and they tried to push the world around, and the world said no, and the country got divided all over again.
And when this primary started, you may have noticed I left out one of our primary candidates on purpose. When this primary started, Howard Dean was the first person who legitimized it for all of us to say we don't like what's going on here. We don't like what's going on here.
Now, Here's what I…And as you can see we're still grateful for him. Now here's what I want to say — politics is often about these 30-second ads and these cartoon-like images we try picture of each other, but its actually…being President is a job. It, it's a job. You're supposed to get up and go to work every day, they bring these decisions and you make them.
And the choices you make have consequences and they change people's lives for good or ill. Now yesterday we had that remarkable hearing by the 9/11 commission. Most people said well, all of us made mistakes, and that's probably true. You make enough decisions you're gonna make a few mistakes. But the choices we make now fall into very clear patterns.
I'm delighted to be here, I'm honored to be here. I thank Senator John Kerry and Theresa for presenting themselves and for giving us a chance to come and honor and rally behind them. I want to thank my great friend Terry McAuliffe for giving us a debt free party with money in the bank, a new headquarters, new technology, and thanks to that early primary that I thought was a mistake, a new unity. Thank you Terry McAuliffe for everything you've done.
I want to thank the other candidates who presented themselves in this primary season. They are all my friends, and I am proud to be in their party. Each and every one of them has made an important contribution to this country.
Carol Mosely Braun, who reminded us that one of these days we will have a female president of the United States.
Dennis Kucinich and his folks, for ordinary people who often feel unrepresented.
Al Sharpton, who still has the best one-liners in America. I hope Senator Kerry will forgive me but I really didn't want this primary season to end because every time they had another debate I got another line from Sharpton I could steal. I used them mercilessly all across America.
I thank my friend of 34 years, Joe Lieberman, for his lifetime of service.
My friend of 37 years, General Wes Clark, for being a citizen soldier in the best sense.
I thank Senator Bob Graham, with whom I first began to serve 25 years ago, one of the best governors I ever saw, the chairman, at one time, of our intelligence committee, and a man who knows what it really takes to give us a secure America. We need you Bob, and we thank you.
I thank Dick Gephardt, who was the leader of the Democrats in the House for the last six years of my presidency. He is a magnificent man, and I thank him for everything he has done.
And I thank John Edwards for proving once more that people want hope over fear, they'd rather be lifted up than torn town, and it's a good thing if you can talk an owl out of a tree. Thank you John Edwards for what you have done in this campaign.
Two men here were introduced tonight whom I worked for a long time ago. When George McGovern ran for President, in 1972, Hillary and I went to Texas to work for him. Ann Richard was there helping, At the time we comprised about 30% of the white vote he had in Texas, because at the time people were looking down on us, they undervalued peace and overvalued this macho rhetoric that we're getting a little tired of. But I want to tell you something tonight, I'm just as proud that I worked for George McGovern in 2004 as was in 1972, and I thank you Senator for being here tonight.
And I want to say, I don't know how to thank President Carter and Roselyn for a lifetime of service to this country and it was my great honor to go to the Carter Center as President and give them the Medal of Freedom. He helped us to avert a major crisis in Korea, to restore democracy in Haiti, and he has been the model of what every former President ought to be. He loves his county and he serves the world every day, and I am grateful to them both.
There are many people here who deserve a lot of credit for the good that happened in the eight years in which I served. The cabinet members, the White House staffers, young, old and middle-aged, but none more than Al Gore, the best Vice President this country ever had and the junior Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who I love and am very proud of.
Now look, you know I'm a little out of practice at this — I've been up in Chappaqua writing this book of mine, or as Hillary says, re-writing history. But I'm gonna give it to you as straight as I can. It's been an amazing, a difficult three years for America.
After September the 11th, we were united. In our hurt, in our fears, in our determination, in our love for one another. Now partisan politics didn't amount to a hill of beans. We got out of the blame game and just wanted to join hands take responsibility for our future, to bind up our wounds and take care of the families of those who had perished. And rid the world of terror. And the world was holding hands at what was an astonishing opportunity that has not existed since the end of the Second World War.
The party in power in this town abandoned their stated purpose of compassionate conservatives, in favor of a ruthless attempt to concentrate power. And well. They took our patriotism and our unity and our affection as a sign of weakness. And they tried to push this county way to the right, and they tried to push the world around, and the world said no, and the country got divided all over again.
And when this primary started, you may have noticed I left out one of our primary candidates on purpose. When this primary started, Howard Dean was the first person who legitimized it for all of us to say we don't like what's going on here. We don't like what's going on here.
Now, Here's what I…And as you can see we're still grateful for him. Now here's what I want to say — politics is often about these 30-second ads and these cartoon-like images we try picture of each other, but its actually…being President is a job. It, it's a job. You're supposed to get up and go to work every day, they bring these decisions and you make them.
And the choices you make have consequences and they change people's lives for good or ill. Now yesterday we had that remarkable hearing by the 9/11 commission. Most people said well, all of us made mistakes, and that's probably true. You make enough decisions you're gonna make a few mistakes. But the choices we make now fall into very clear patterns.