June 10 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 referred to the Military Technical Agreement Be- and the Governments of the Federal Republic of tween the International Security Force (KFOR) Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia. Remarks at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Dinner June 10, 1999 The President. Thank you very much. Charlie, to this community and wonderful people, and wait a minute. Before Chairman Rangel sits I’m glad to have them. down—you know, Dick Gephardt got up there I want to say a few things rather briefly to- and said, ‘‘You know, the Chairman of the Ways night. First of all, Congressman Rangel, my wife and Means Committee is as powerful as the said to tell you hello, and once again, thank President.’’ [Laughter] Bob Johnson said, ‘‘That’s you for your friendship. [Laughter] Secondly, a scary thought.’’ [Laughter] And I said, ‘‘No, I want you to know when we had the New no, he’s more powerful than the President.’’ York Yankees at the White House today to cele- [Laughter] brate their championship last year, I called them You should know that among all the things the Bronx Bombers, and I emphasized ‘‘Bronx,’’ we have to be grateful for tonight and to cele- and I said I was doing it at your behest. [Laugh- brate, tomorrow is Charlie Rangel’s birthday. So ter] I think we should sing ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ to Finally, let me say I was looking at Dick him. Gephardt standing up here, and I have known him for many years, and I thought he was a [At this point, the participants sang ‘‘Happy good man and an able man when I first met Birthday.’’] him. But I have watched him grow in his re- Representative Charles Rangel. My only re- sponsibility, in the depth of his understanding sponse is, save Social Security now! [Laughter] and his spirit. He should be the Speaker of The President. That’s just like we rehearsed the House. He should be the Speaker of the it. [Laughter] House. Let me say to Congressman Rangel and, in The last thing I want to say by way of intro- his absence, Chairman Clyburn, Eleanor Holmes duction is, I’m delighted to see Lionel Hampton Norton, all the members of the caucus who again. We had—John Conyers and I had a 90th are still here, and those who have come and birthday party for him at the White House last gone, to the members of the Cabinet that are year, almost a year ago, and they actually let here—I saw Secretary Slater and Secretary me play with the band. And I hadn’t played Riley, there may be others here—and my former in months, and it was really one of the nicest Cabinet member Jesse Brown, former Secretary nights I’ve had in the White House, and I’m of Veterans Affairs back there, I’m glad to see very grateful for that. And I’m grateful for him. you. My wonderful friend from Chicago and fel- If I look half as good at 60 as he does at low Arkansan John Stroger and all the others 90—[laughter]—if I can hear to play my horn who did so much to make this night a possibility. as well as he can hear to play his vibe, I will I thank the chairman of the DNC, Joe Andrew, be a happy fellow. for being here; and Lottie Shackelford, others I apologize for being late here tonight. I think from the DNC who are here. all of you know why. I addressed the people I want to say—I have so many friends here, of the United States tonight about the end of but there’s one young couple here that I’m par- the conflict in Kosovo. I want to say a couple ticularly pleased about being here because of things about that and what it has to do with they’re new Washingtonians, the newly acquired all of the things that have already been men- new quarterback for the Washington Redskins, tioned and all the issues we don’t have time Rodney Peete, and his wonderful wife, Holly to mention tonight. Robinson Peete. You all stand up there and The unimaginable horrors that were inflicted say hello. [Applause] They are a big addition on those people, which led to an unprecedented 916 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:57 Mar 19, 2001 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00916 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\99PUBPAP\99PUBPAP.TXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 / June 10 indictment of a head of state, Mr. Milosevic, I say that because I am grateful for what for war crimes and crimes against humanity, they have achieved with our Allies. But I know, came to them solely because of their ethnicity as I look toward the future, when I am long and their religious faith. And it is indeed ironic gone from this job, and the world grows closer that here we are on the edge of a new century and closer—but we will still have struggles be- and a new millennium, with the world growing tween those who are left out and those who closer together, with technology literally explod- are included in the bounty of the world. We ing opportunities for all of us, with America will still have to deal with terrorism and weap- becoming more and more diverse by the day, ons of mass destruction and international crimi- that the world is most bedeviled by the oldest nal gangs and all, and people will always be problem of human society: people are scared trying to feed on the differences, to switch the of people who don’t look like them and who balance from hope to fear. And it will be very worship God in a different way than they do important that the United States of our children and who basically come from a different tribe. and grandchildren be a force for bringing people We have learned, in ways good and bad, that together, not tearing them apart. And we will our differences make us stronger; they make not be able to do that, over the long run, to life more interesting; they make life more fun. do good around the world, unless we first are But if that curious balance that exists inside good at home. all of us gets out of whack and our fears over- That is why—that’s why I’ve worked as hard come our hopes, we can go quickly from fearing as I can on all the issues involving race; why people to hating them, to dehumanizing them, I know we’ve got to get rid of this racial to justifying all manner of repression and abuse profiling; why I know we’ve got to do more of them. to deal with the threat of violence to our chil- What the conflict in Kosovo was about at bot- dren; why I have asked everybody from the en- tom is whether or not, after all we have learned tertainment community to the gun community, from what happened in World War II to the to the schools, the people that provide coun- Jewish people and others in Nazi repression and seling and mental health services, to the parents, all we have seen since, would or would not to do something—all of us to do something to provoke the world, especially after the agonizing give our children their childhood back. experience we had in Bosnia and the awful ex- That is why I have asked the Congress to perience we had in Rwanda, when everyone was invest more in education, to adopt this new mar- caught flat-footed, with no mechanism to deal ket initiative. I like the fact that we will give with it—whether we would say, ‘‘Okay, from you tax breaks, tax credits, and loan guarantees now on we don’t expect everybody to get along. to invest in poor countries around the world. We don’t think we can abolish all war. But if I don’t want to take them away. I just want innocent civilians are going to be slaughtered you to have exactly the same incentives to invest and uprooted and have their lives destroyed and in poor neighborhoods in inner-city America and their families wrecked only because of their ra- Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta and Native cial or ethnic background or their religious American reservations and all those other places. faith—if we can stop it, we intend to stop it.’’ So I ask you to think about this. This is a The United States did not go there for any night you can be proud of your country. This territorial gain or economic gain. We went there is a night you can be grateful for the economic because we want there to be peace and har- prosperity that we have enjoyed, that we have mony, first in Europe and, wherever possible, the lowest African-American and Hispanic un- in the rest of the world. We went there with employment rates we have ever recorded, that an Army that looks like America, an Air Force wages are rising for people in all income groups. that looks like America. We landed a Marine We can be grateful for that. And you have ex- expeditionary unit in Greece today, going into pressed your gratitude by coming here and giv- Kosovo to help those folks come home, that ing these funds, for which I am grateful.