Bill Clinton: “If I might just offer one or two comments. First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you, not only for being…”

“If I might just offer one or two comments. First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you, not only for being here today but for what you're doing with your lives, because I think it's very important. And secondly, I want to thank a number of you for what you said about these programs, and John, what you said about the pilot project. Let me say what the problem is. If you come from Washington and you come to Cincinnati and you say to yourself: What is the connection between the National Government and what we're doing? Do they have any responsibility in Washington to help us do what we're doing here, and if so, what is it? You know, when I took office, the deficit was twice as big as it is now, the national debt quadrupled; we had to get it down. I've tried to take the position that in reducing the deficit, we ought not to be cutting our investments in education, and we ought to be not telling local communities how to deal with things like this but giving them some research fund or some pilot project funds, if you will, to help them explore what works, and then keep funding what plainly works, like the student loan programs and the summer job programs; these things plainly work. And there's not enough to serve everybody, so if we provide the base, then perhaps you can come in and raise money on top of the base. So I've been quite heartened by what I've seen today because I know that most of this work has to be done at the community level, and that is a good thing. How could anyone in Washington know whether W.R. Grace in Cincinnati could take 2 young students or 5 or 3 or 25 or anybody? So this has to be done at the local level. What we must do in Washington is to make the National Government relevant and trustworthy and effective for the 21st century. And that means we have to get our own house in order; we can't--we have to balance the budget, but we also have to decide what it is we're going to invest in and what our objective is. It seems to me our objective ought to be to keep America the world's greatest job generator and then to make sure that our young people are trained to do good jobs and have successful lives so that they can be rewarded in this new world they're living in. And that means that a lot of the actual work and how it's done must be decided by these kinds of community partnerships, but the National Government has to create the conditions in which they can flourish. That's what I'm trying to do. A lot of the times you hear these great debates in Washington, you know, they sound--they may sound abstract to you. But actually what the debate is, is a debate about everyone knows the economy's changed, that it involves more mind and less muscle and it's more global and less local, and everybody knows, therefore, that--and all businesses are changing and there again, the Government has to change. And we're trying to define--our great challenge is to define what it is our responsibility is to help you do what you're doing. One of the things a President can do, of course, is to use the bully pulpit--I mean, I just made a plea for more mentors here--[laughter]-- but also to try to make sure that if we are creating these conditions, that people know what you're doing here in Cincinnati with the Youth Collaborative, because I think this is a good model that could be carried all across America. You know, I wish every community had this level of intense and organized partnership, and I'm very grateful to you. And I also feel that I have learned, and I think Senator Glenn probably feels the same way I do, that at least I think I have a clearer idea about exactly what our responsibilities in Washington are to help you do what you're doing here. And I thank you for that, all of you. Thank you. Mr. Pepper. We're glad you're here, and thank you very much for coming. I guarantee it will leave us just more energized.”