Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much, Chairman Shrontz, Speaker Foley, Senator Murray, Governor Lowrey, and Member of the congressional…”

“Thank you very much, Chairman Shrontz, Speaker Foley, Senator Murray, Governor Lowrey, and Member of the congressional delegation, and most of all to the men and women of Boeing. I have looked forward to coming here for a long time. And I guess what I ought to begin by saying is, thank you for Air Force One. You know, everywhere I go in that airplane, I am the second most important celebrity. People really just want to see the plane. [Laughter] And I know I can make all my friends and supporters happy, even my mother, just by taking them on the plane and letting them look at your magnificent work. You should also know that it enables me on these flights across the country and going across the world to continue to work with a full staff almost as if I had never left the office. And it is a real tribute to all of you, and a magnificent set of planes--you know, there are two of them. I know a lot of you made them both, so you know that. But I'm grateful to you for that. I also think you may know, but I should say that after this meeting with you, I'm going to go to another room and meet with a lot of folks who have come here to meet with me and with our national leaders about the health of the airline industry, about the commercial airline companies themselves, and about the airline manufacturers, the chief of which obviously is Boeing, but including other companies as well.…”