Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. Lloyd Bentsen already said this, but I want to reemphasize that in my opinion, when the history of…”

“Thank you very much. Lloyd Bentsen already said this, but I want to reemphasize that in my opinion, when the history of our administration has been written, even those who disagreed with a lot of things I did will say that, unquestionably, Al Gore was the most important and influential Vice President in the history of the United States of America. No other person has been given so much responsibility, and no other person has fulfilled it so well, whether it was in the reinventing Government movement or in setting environmental and technology policy or dealing with our attempts to work more closely with the Russians across a wide range of issues--and I tell you now there are no Russian missiles pointed at the people of the United States for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age because of the things that we've been doing--or working with Secretary Cisneros on our community empowerment strategy. Right across the board he has made a terrific difference, and besides that, he gives great introductions. [Laughter] I want to thank Frank and Debbie for doing such a wonderful job, along with all of you on the steering committee. Thank you very, very much. I thank Secretary Bentsen for being here, for his remarks and for his remarkable service to our country.…”