Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 / Oct. 10 2423 But you get the point. If you want children NOTE: The President spoke at 7:05 p.m. at a pri- in West Virginia to have good health care, vate residence. In his remarks, he referred to re- it doesn't matter what we do in Washington, ception hosts Senator John D. Rockefeller IV and even if we have good policy, unless the Gov- his wife, Sharon; Republican Presidential can- didate Gov. George W. Bush; Gov. Tony Knowles ernor cares enough to make sure that max- of Alaska; and Gov. Cecil H. Underwood of West imum efforts are made in an intelligent way Virginia. Representative Wise is a gubernatorial to take care of the families. And West Vir- candidate in West Virginia. ginia is just like Arkansas. You've got a whole lot of people who work like crazy, work 40 or 50 hours a week for low incomes, who Remarks at a Reception for cannot afford health insurance. This is a big Representative Joseph Crowley deal to you. October 10, 2000 So what I want to say is, obviously, I'm interested in the races for Congress, espe- Thank you. Let me say, first of all, I am cially one Senate race, and I'm passionately delighted to be here for many reasons. First committed to the campaign of the Vice Presi- of all because I love Rosa, becauseÐand dent and Senator Lieberman. But I'm telling Rosa does that sort of ``born in a log cabin'' you, I spent a dozen years as a Governor, routine better than anybody I knowÐ[laugh- and I worked with some of the ablest people ter]Ðwhat she neglected to tell you was that I ever met in that period, and I think I know her mother, the seamstress, is the best politi- something about West Virginia. It really mat- cian I have ever met in my life to this dayÐ ters. You need somebody that is creative, ag- [laughter]Ðand because her husband, the gressive, and consistent, somebody that un- man who shares this house, Stan, had so much to do with my becoming President in derstands the economy, education, and 1992 and is now, tonight in Florida working health care. He does. He should win, and with the Vice President as he prepares for I hope you won't quit helping him tonight. this important debate, and has also helped I know this is a close race. Listen, it's hard my friends Tony Blair and Prime Minister to beat any incumbent Governor when the Barak and other good people around the economy is doing well. I used to tell every- world, and because Rosa's been there for 8 body, ``If the economy was better, I could years now with me working on many of the have a lobotomy and get reelected''Ð[laugh- things that have helped turn our country ter]Ðwhen I was running. It's hard. But he around. is doing very well, and he's doing very well I'm here because I really like Joe Crowley, because people sense these things about him. because he's been real good to Hillary, which So we stillÐwe've got more than a month means a lot to meÐ[laughter]Ðand be- left in this campaign, folks. And if you can causeÐI'll tell you another Queens story, be- give him any more money, you ought to. And cause I love Queens. And in early '92, you if you can't give him any more money, you know, we were pretty desperate to get press ought to go home and start talking to people in early '92. I mean, here I was from Arkan- about why this matters. sas; nobody in New York knew who I was. But I'm justÐwe have got a chance here Harold Ickes says, ``We're going to meet to see States that have been left out and left with the Queens Democratic Committee, behind for a long time if we could just keep and Tom Manton is for you, and I think they this economy going, really balloon, and do will endorse you.'' I said, ``They're going to well. But it will matter profoundly who the endorse me?'' I was like fifth in name rec- Governor is. And I think, again, you need ognition in New Hampshire at the time. And somebody that understands how Washington he said, ``Yes. Yes, it's going to happen. But works and how it affects West Virginia, some- we're going to take a subway out there,'' body that's committed to jobs, schools, and which I thought was great. I like to ride the health care, and somebody that's intelligent, subway. creative, aggressive, and consistent. He is. So we took a subway there, and there was Thank you very much. this typically passive New York press person 2424 Oct. 10 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 with us with a camera, in my face, lights ev- are not out of the woods yet. We have still erywhere, and all these people who had been got to get this police issue right. It's got to sort of uprooted on the subway watching the be done right, but I hope that people on both filming of this thing, thinking, ``Why are they sides and particularly some of the people on taking that guy's picture? Who is this strange the other sideÐfor most of youÐwho have person they've got this camera on?'' been talking about, well, maybe they would So then we walked down this beautiful bag the Good Friday agreement, I hope they tree-lined street, and we walked up some have been watching what is going on in the stairs. I rememberÐwhoeverÐthe Queens Middle East, and I hope they understand Democratic meeting was on the second floor how easy it is to let these things get away of some building, and all of a sudden they from you. introduced me, and I was terrified, right. Keep in mind, these people are rep- So I'm walking down the aisle, and I resented by teams that sat at Camp David, passed this African-American guy, and he and they've been working together for 7 reaches out and puts his arm around me and years. They know each other's children. They says, ``Son, don't worry about it. I was born know how many grandchildren they have. in Hope, Arkansas, too, and we're going to And still, think about how quickly it slipped. be for you.'' [Laughter] True story. So I say to all of you interested in peace So the rest is history, as they say. So I'm in Ireland, I'll keep working on it, and you deeply indebted. I am grateful to all these keep working on it, and just remind them Members of the House of Representatives that it's a fragile thing. And sometimes you're who are here. Whatever success I've had as most vulnerable in life when you think you're President would have been literally impos- least vulnerable. We cannot take our good sible without them, both in the majority and fortune for granted. maybe especially in the minority, because vir- Now, on the Middle East, I don't want to tually every good thing that's happened in say too much except we had a pretty good Congress in the last 6 years would not have day today. And we, our whole American happened if they hadn't known for sure that team, we've been working like crazy for the my veto would be upheld. That was the only last several days trying to help do our part. incentive to work with us to make construc- I just have to believe they're not going to tive progress. So if it hadn't been for them, let this thing spin out of control. it wouldn't have happened. But there are lots of things going on there, Now, I just would like to say a couple of including things that are not apparent, devel- things. First of all, I do feel an enormous opments in other countries that are having amount of gratitude for what's happened in an impact on this. So we're working as hard the last 8 years. This last week has been an as we know how to end the violence and get emotional roller coaster for me because we the folks back to the negotiating table, and had that stunning election in Serbia, vali- I hope you will all say a prayer for that. dating the stand the United States took, year- Let me just say a word about this election. in and year-out, when it was very unpopular, No one in America understands as clearly as sometimes in our country, for the freedom I do how important this election is, not just of the people of Bosnia, the freedom of the for President and Vice President but every people of Kosovo, the principle of democracy Senate seat, every House seatÐnobody. in Serbia, the idea that Europe ought to be And since we're in the business of being united and democratic and whole. And I was humble here, because you realize how quick- so happy. ly things can change, it's important to recog- And we had about 30 minutes to celebrate nize thatÐI'm absolutely convinced the only before all hell broke loose in the Middle danger we have in this election is if people East, where I have worked as hard as I could will think the consequences of their vote are to find a just and lasting peace.