Bill Clinton: “Give it back to me. [Laughter] Speaker Gingrich. We talked about unfunded mandate reform, which he signed very early. We…”

“Give it back to me. [Laughter] Speaker Gingrich. We talked about unfunded mandate reform, which he signed very early. We talked about passing the Shays act to apply the law to the Congress that applies to us, which he signed very early. We had things going on that were positive. Dick Armey and I walked out front--we're in the White House, in front of the White House drive there. We say to the White House press corps, ``We had a great, positive meeting. We're going to be able to work a lot more than people think.'' And we began to list these things. The second question we were asked: ``What do you think it will break down over?'' And both of us got mad. He's right; I get too hot sometimes. So I just said to the reporter, I said, ``You just heard the leaders of the Republican Party say that the Democratic President today had had a wonderful meeting on behalf of America; we're trying to work together. Couldn't you try for 24 hours to have a positive, optimistic message as though it might work?'' It's a true story, and he did it. It was a great meeting that he called.”