Bill Clinton: “Well, I'd say the American people get an A-plus for the way they've dealt with this. You know, there was a 500-year…”

“Well, I'd say the American people get an A-plus for the way they've dealt with this. You know, there was a 500-year flood in the Middle West. I visited there several times--just stunned by it. Then in the last several months you've had the fires in California, plus the mudslides and the terrible problem of the earthquake, and of course, another earthquake and the problems in Los Angeles just a couple of years before that. So this is really an enormously difficult time for people, especially in California but in many other parts of the country. And then in the East Coast, you know, we had the bitterest winter in over 100 years and many, many people died there. But it seems that when these things happen, when nature reminds us that we're not in full control of our destiny, somehow people almost relax more, and they come together; they think about what's really important; they trust each other. I think it's fascinating in how many communities the crime rate dropped dramatically after this earthquake occurred, when presumably it might have been easier to go out and steal from people. People didn't want to do it as much. I think that sometimes we need to remember what it was like in the midst of one of these natural disasters and see if we can't behave more like that all the time and realize we need each other and we are a community, and when we pull together and work together, we can do unbelievable things in a very short time. When we fight with one another, when we're divided, when we're shortsighted, then none of us can become what we ought to be. Mr. Jackson. Mr. President, I know you've toured the area. It's so easy to assess the damage and compare the scene with a war zone, but I think that's where the comparison ends. But this is a campus of 25,000 students who are hell-bent and determined to get on with life, to get on with their education, and they don't look like refugees from a battlefield. Sir, should----”