Bill Clinton: “I did, but I didn't really--I did. I guess when I met President Kennedy I thought about it. But it wasn't--it wasn't…”

“I did, but I didn't really--I did. I guess when I met President Kennedy I thought about it. But it wasn't--it wasn't that I really thought it would happen. I mean, I thought--Abraham Lincoln said when he was a young man, he said this--this is something you should think about, whatever it is you want to do--he said, ``I will work and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.'' That's what Abraham Lincoln said. And since you're here in the school named for him, that's a very good thing for you to think about in your own life, whatever your ambition and hope is. I didn't really decide to actually run for President or think about it seriously until the 1980's. I thought about running in 1988 and decided not to, and then I decided to run in 1992 and was fortunate to be elected. But I thought about it in terms--I thought in general terms. I aspired, actually, to be a Senator from Arkansas when I was a young man. And it turned out I never got a chance. I never served in the Congress. I was a Governor, and then I got to be President. But I think every young person, if you're interested in public life, you think, well, maybe that could happen. But I don't think that I focused on it in the same way I did when I started running, for example. It's just something you say, well, Lincoln said it best, I'll work, get ready; perhaps my chance will come. Teacher. Thank you. Eleanor, our student body president, has something in her desk that she'd like to give to you, some things from our school. Eleanor, why don't you come on up. [At this point, a gift was presented to the President.]”