Bill Clinton: “I think the principal thing I'm hoping to accomplish, which I think will help to push forward the legislation, is to…”

“I think the principal thing I'm hoping to accomplish, which I think will help to push forward the legislation, is to convince the critical mass of the economic and political decisionmakers in this country that there is both an opportunity and an obligation in the underdeveloped parts of this. You'd be amazed. When I talk to businesspeople, I say, look, forget about the moral obligation and the people that deserve a chance in life, although surprisingly, a lot of these business executives feel that. They feel that they've benefited in their own personal holdings, their businesses have. The stock market more than triples; the economy's got the most peacetime expansion in history. If we get fortunate, it'll be the longest expansion in history, including wartime expansions, if we keep it going, you know, if we're lucky and prudent. So I've been very touched that a lot of them feel the moral pull of this. But what I say to them is that when I started thinking about this economy, seriously, probably 12 years ago now, and thinking about what it would take to make America work again, and then I tried to put the ideas together a decade ago, in 1989 and '90 and then in '91, I gave those speeches at Georgetown. Most conventional economists believe, even my own economists--Laura Tyson, who did a fabulous job for me--I remember sitting around the table at Little Rock in December of '92 and having her say, ``Mr. President, most economists, including most Democrats, believe that if you get the unemployment rate much below 6 percent for very long''--do you remember that, Gene? We were at the Governor's mansion---- National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. I remember Bob and I brought in Laura and Larry so that we could all tell you at once, and this was when we were in the----”