Bill Clinton: “Thank you. Since this has now happened a number of times, I have prepared no fewer than a dozen introductions of…”

“Thank you. Since this has now happened a number of times, I have prepared no fewer than a dozen introductions of Hillary, and some day I'll get to do a few of them. [Laughter] I am delighted to see you all here. I want to thank Lee Annenberg and all the rest of you who have supported this program so strongly. I also want to say it's a thrill for me personally to see Robert Rauschenberg here again. I had the honor of presenting him the National Medal of Arts in 1993. And when I said--I saw him a minute or two ago, and he said, ``You have summoned me here again.'' [Laughter] And I thought, if only the Congress were as responsive as Mr. Rauschenberg. [Laughter] Thank you, sir, for your generosity to the arts and embassies program. And I'm happy to be here to witness another example of it today. I'd like to thank Senator Pell and Chairman Gilman for being here. Mrs. Pell, thank you for coming. I'd like to thank all the Ambassadors who are here, especially Ambassadors to the United States from so many other countries. It's a great honor for us and for this program that so many have come here to be with us today. For 10 years the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies have graced the walls of nearly 200 of our embassies with over 3,000 great works of American art. To date you've raised over $8 million to fund projects at embassy residences all across the world.…”