Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. You can't imagine how much I wanted to get out of cold, rainy, windy Washington, DC, to come to…”

“Thank you very much. You can't imagine how much I wanted to get out of cold, rainy, windy Washington, DC, to come to California. [Laughter] But after all, this is a wetlands event. I want to, first of all, thank Sarah for her introduction. Didn't she speak well? [Applause] She was terrific, I thought. And listening to her recount the experiences of the last several years of her life I think was as good a statement as any as could be made about so many of you who are here and the work you have done to make this day come to pass. I want to thank all of you very much. I'd like to say a special word of appreciation to your secretary of natural resources, Doug Wheeler, and two people who came from Washington with me, our Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Rich Rominger, who is from Yolo County; and he's already been mentioned, but our Deputy Secretary of the Interior, John Garamendi, who grew up not far from here, and they've both done a terrific job for you back there. I thank John Walker for his statement. We were dedicating a wetland in Arkansas once a few years ago, on a much warmer day, and I was a Governor, and he was a president. But after all, I'm term-limited, and he can go on forever. [Laughter] I'm very glad to be here with all of you. I want to thank Robin and Greg for showing me around the area and giving me a chance to look at some of the birds and just see what you've done here.…”