Bill Clinton: “Thank you, Robert. You know, I think you might be able to be a model for what we're trying to do in some other cities.…”

“Thank you, Robert. You know, I think you might be able to be a model for what we're trying to do in some other cities. But I'm sure that this works. A few years ago as Governor, I set up a program quite similar to this in our poorest counties, and I required all of them to come up with community-based development plans and then we worked hard to try to make sure all the resources of the State were put at their disposal. And we even got the Federal Agencies involved. But I always had the feeling that we could have done so much more if the Federal Government had been able to fully join our efforts. But I'm very impressed by what you've done there. I want to say a special word of thanks to you, Mayor Althaus. You know, we find, I think, that partisan differences tend to evaporate the further you get away from Washington. And when more people get down to the grassroots and have to face each other across the table and deal with real problems, it's obvious that there are certain things that work and certain things that don't, and people tend to work on what works. I can't tell you how much respect I have for the leadership you've given the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the willingness that you have expressed to work with us in trying to find American solutions to these problems. I am convinced that at the very basic human level we need to make a departure from the approaches of the past. And you've been willing to do that, and I take my hat off to you. And I hope that we can do that more and more and more on all these problems, because a lot of these problems are America's problems, and they don't have a partisan label after them. And I think if all of us take our blinders off and roll our sleeves up, we'll get a lot further. And I really appreciate you. Thank you. Mayor Althaus. Mr. President, thank you. I have to say, the partisanship in Washington is not at your end of Pennsylvania Avenue right now. It's really not. It's been a joy working with you.”