Bill Clinton: “Arkansas July 17, 1998 Thank you very much. Thank you very much, General. First let me say I am delighted to be back…”

“Arkansas July 17, 1998 Thank you very much. Thank you very much, General. First let me say I am delighted to be back home. I'm glad to be with your Congressman, Vic Snyder, and our Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater. They're doing a great job for you. Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming out to make me welcome, and thank all of you for coming out. I want to spend most of my time just saying hello to people in the crowd, but let me just make a couple of points. First of all, I am so grateful to the people of Arkansas for all that you did to give me a chance to serve as President. And I hope you take a certain amount of personal pride in the role you played when you read every day the news of our country's progress. I'm very grateful that I had a chance to serve in a time when, working together, we've got the lowest crime rate in 25 years, the lowest unemployment rate in 28 years, the first balanced budget in 29 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 29 years, the lowest inflation rate in 32 years, and the highest homeownership in the history of America. I'm proud of that. You should be proud of that. I'm also very, very proud of the work that America is doing, and the role that the people who serve at this base have in it, in advancing peace and freedom and prosperity and security around the world. And I know you have some folks overseas right now doing important missions; we thank them for that.…”