Bill Clinton: “Thank you, Governor. I don't want to say too much right now. We mostly just came down to listen and to see what we could…”

“Thank you, Governor. I don't want to say too much right now. We mostly just came down to listen and to see what we could do to help. But I would like to say, first of all, that like most Americans, I've followed the course of the hurricane and the storms and the rains. I have followed very closely. I did see the video on the way down of the--specifically focusing on your damage along the beach, but I also have watched over the last several days as the damage took its toll and then this remarkable job of cleaning that has been done. I want to thank all of you who have worked on this. I frankly was amazed when we flew over the damaged area and how much had been done to at least prepare the way to rebuild the homes and to get the trees up and do the other things that have been done, and I take my hat off to you. And we will do whatever we can to help. A lot of our administration people have been down here. Secretary Riley--I asked Secretary Riley this morning, I said, ``Dick, why are you coming with us today?'' And he said, ``Well, I'm a Carolinian,'' he said. [Laughter] He said, ``Besides, there were schools damaged; I belong down there.'' And I thank you for what you said about James Lee Witt. I thought I should send someone down here who did not speak with an accent--[laughter]--so that you would--there would be no time lost in translation. But I believe that if we can perform as well over the next several weeks as the people of North Carolina have performed in the last week, we will be able to recover from this. I also know, Governor, you told me on the way down there has been an enormous amount of loss to the agricultural crops, to the tobacco, the corn, perhaps some others, and I'd like to hear about that. We just want to know what the full dimensions of the problems are and what we can do to help, and we'll do our best. [At this point, the roundtable discussion began.]”