Bill Clinton: “Let me say, as we close, how very grateful I am to all those who have spoken and those who have not spoken, those who…”

“Let me say, as we close, how very grateful I am to all those who have spoken and those who have not spoken, those who are here and those who stood with us who are not here, for giving us a chance to, in the last 8 days, have some very important victories for the American people and, today, for giving us a chance to make it absolutely clear what is at stake in the next 2 years. When we leave here, I am going to take a brief trip to Chicago to stand with Senator Carol Moseley-Braun. And I think it is worth pointing out today that she is the very first member of our caucus who stood up for the idea that the National Government had an opportunity and an obligation to do something to promote the building and the repair of school facilities for our children's future. I say that to make this point: Every one of us here, standing here, except Mr. Bowles, and he may be about to take the plunge--[laughter]--every one of us here is here because of the judgment of the American people. The jobs we hold are not our jobs in any fundamental sense; they belong to the American people. And in 18 days, after a blizzard of advertisements--probably 2 or 3 times as much from the Republican side as from ours, maybe even more when you count the third-party committees and all that--they will make a decision. The first decision they'll have to make is whether to go and vote in a midterm election, which always, always seems to have lower turnout than the Presidential elections. If we have accomplished nothing else here today, even when our voices reach those who disagree with us--who think we're making a mistake to put 100,000 teachers in the classroom, who think we're making a mistake to fight for a Patients' Bill of Rights or a rise in the minimum wage or better school facilities--if we have done nothing else, I hope we have reminded the American people that in the end, every one of us gets to raise our voice, to cast our vote, to wield our sign-or- veto pen because of their judgments. And in 18 days, they will be given a chance to render another judgment. Between now and then, they will have to sort their way through all the conflicting claims and the blizzard of advertisement. But I think that in the end, many will agree that it is worth going to vote to ratify those who fought for 100,000 teachers and a clean environment and a strong American economy and an America playing a responsible role in the world economy, and perhaps most important of all, people who voted to save the surplus until we save Social Security and honor the compact with generations and keep our country strong when the baby boomers retire. In 18 days they'll have a chance not only to support those people but to say, ``With my vote, I choose to go back and build world-class school facilities; I choose to say, yes, we're going to have managed care, but even people in managed care deserve the right to have medical decisions made by medical doctors, not accountants; to choose to give people the minimum wage; to choose to save Social Security in the right way; to choose these things.'' That's the message. I hope the American people know that the people standing behind me earned their pay the last 8 or 9 days. They were worth every penny of tax dollars they got. And they did it the last 8 months because they fought and waited and stood in storm after storm until the time came when they could stand up and do something right for America. And in 18 days I hope the voters of this country, the citizens, will exercise their power to say, ``This is the path I choose.'' Staying home is not a very good option when so much is riding on a trip to the ballot box. Thank you, and God bless you.”