Bill Clinton: “Well, I think they were saying two things to me--or maybe three. They were saying--maybe 300. [Laughter] I think they…”

“Well, I think they were saying two things to me--or maybe three. They were saying--maybe 300. [Laughter] I think they were saying, ``Look, we just don't like what we see when we watch Washington, and you haven't done much about that.'' You know, we haven't changed the lobbying reform laws. Congress is still not required to live under the same laws that it imposes on private employers. There's still no line-item veto. There's still not campaign finance reform. ``We don't like it when we look at it. It's too partisan, too interest group oriented; things don't get done, too many people up there playing politics. Democrats are in charge; we're holding you accountable. And we hope you hear this, Mr. President.'' I think they said that. The second thing I think they said is, ``Look, you may have done all these things, although we haven't heard much of it, and we're not sure we believe it. But even if the deficit is down, the Government is smaller, more is being invested in education, the crime bill passed, and the economy is growing, we still feel insecure. We don't feel that our incomes are going up, that our jobs are more stable, that our neighborhoods are safer, that the fabric of American life is growing more civilized and more law-abiding.'' Then I think the third thing they were saying--and this maybe gets to the point of your question--is, ``There are things we expect Government to do, but we don't think Government can solve all the problems. And we don't want the Democrats telling us from Washington that they know what is right about everything. We want the Government to be smaller. We want it to be more efficient. We want it to create opportunity, to empower us. And we want it to demand responsibility of people who aren't behaving responsibly. In short, we want it to reflect our interests and our values.'' And I think what they were saying is that the Republicans did a good job of defining us as the party of Government, and that's not a good place to be. I think that was a clear message that they were sending in the election.”