Bill Clinton: “Well, thank you for that wonderful welcome. And thank you for your good spirit and your enthusiasm. And I want you to…”

“Well, thank you for that wonderful welcome. And thank you for your good spirit and your enthusiasm. And I want you to keep it all the way to November. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to begin by thanking Keith Geiger for 7 magnificent years of leadership for the teachers of America. He has been a great leader, a true champion for educational reform. And I was more moved than I can say by the kind words he spoke before I came out. I'm sorry that we're a little late, but I understand that our security precautions delayed your voting. [Laughter] I'm sorry for that, but I do want to congratulate Bob Chase and all of you who will be leading the NEA. I also want to thank our Secretary of Education, Dick Riley, who came over here with me. I believe he is the best Secretary of Education we ever had, and I thank him for that. I also want to thank Dick Riley for having what at the time was a novel idea. He thought he ought to have an actual teacher working with him in the Secretary's office. And she's here today. I want to thank Terry Dozier for leaving the classroom and coming to work with Secretary Riley. I'd like to thank the NEA for sending Sharon Robinson, our Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement, to our administration. And I also want to thank you for Debra DeLee, who's done a great job managing our convention in Chicago and getting ready for this great new campaign. Four years ago I had the pleasure of addressing this assembly.…”