Bill Clinton: “We need a doctor here. My doctor is here--can we get somebody over here? And I want you to--we're okay; we've got…”

“We need a doctor here. My doctor is here--can we get somebody over here? And I want you to--we're okay; we've got somebody here now. I want you to know why we asked citizens to go to a political convention and kick it off. Why do we have Jim and Sarah Brady, lifelong Republicans, come and talk? Why do we ask Christopher Reeve, a man who's not particularly political but is a shining example of the kind of courage never to give up, to talk about the importance of Government research and the importance of continuing the Medicaid program so we don't cut off middle class families who don't have a lot of money to deal with disabled people in their family and keep guaranteeing them their health care so they can keep their good jobs? Why did we do all that? Because people lose the connection between what is done in Government and what happens in your daily lives. It's easy to lose that connection. It meant an awful lot to me when Dennis Pawley talked about how I asked to meet with the representatives of the auto industry soon after my election as President, and I said we'd put a premium on that. I knew that America could not lose its auto industry. I knew we could be number one again. And I think the best way to say that and to show the connection between what we do in Washington and what you do in Toledo is to have a person like Todd Clancy tell a personal story that shows how America's life can be changed if we work together and do the rights things. And I know you are proud of him, and so am I. And I was proud to be here today to see the 2 millionth Jeep roll off the assembly line. I love that. You proved one more time that whenever we're given a chance to compete, we can be the best in the world. We can be the best in the world. And you have made us proud. That was true in World War II when that old Jeep was made. And I want to just tell you, I'm getting a little sensitive about my age. I just became eligible for my AARP card. [Laughter] But I am so old that when I was a little boy, 6 years old, the first time I ever crawled under a car, my stepfather owned a little Buick dealership in a little town in Arkansas where he came from, but we also owned a Henry J--an old Henry J Kaiser--and we owned a late 1940's model Jeep. And back then, the civilian Jeeps looked just like the military Jeeps. Just think how rich I'd be if I'd saved that thing. I wish we had never gotten rid of it. But I feel real nostalgic here today, and I thank you. But I also want to thank you for what you're doing because I had the privilege to do something I wish every one of you could do. I went in to the showroom of an auto dealership in Japan where they were selling the Jeeps that you made here in Toledo. And I was swelling with pride. And I spoke to a Japanese family who told me how grateful they were that they had a chance to look around for what they thought was the very best vehicle for their family. And believe me, these people had looked around; they knew more about that Jeep than some of us do. [Laughter] It was amazing. And they said they were grateful to have a chance to buy the product of your hard, productive labor. I wish every one of you could have that experience. You would have been so proud. And I was swelling with pride for you and for our country because of what you did. And I thank you for that as well. But you know, Marcy had it right, the purpose of politics and the purpose of work is to enable people to live out their dreams, to enable them to raise strong families and build strong communities and advance the cause of freedom. That's the purpose of all this. And that's what we're trying to do. We've had a pretty good week, and as I've been saying on this train, we're not only on the right track to Chicago, we're on the right track to the 21st century. And we need to stay right on it. Before I got on this train, last week I signed a bill that raised the minimum wage for 10 million Americans, people that are working hard and deserve it. And while I'm at it, I'd like to pay another compliment to the labor movement, not just to the UAW but to the whole labor movement. Organized labor worked as hard as any group in America to raise the minimum wage. There are very few labor union members in any union that make the minimum wage or anything real close to it. But the laboring people of this country, through their organized leadership, labored for the minimum wage because they want all people who work for a living to have the dignity and the reward of work. And I think Americans should be grateful to the labor movement for standing up for the minimum wage. That bill, by the way, also made it easier for people who work in small businesses to do something that you can do. We made it a lot easier for small businesses to take out a retirement plan and for people who work for small businesses to keep that retirement when they move from job to job. We made it easier for families to adopt children, offering a $5,000 tax credit to anybody who would adopt a child, an even bigger one if the child has a disability. We removed the barriers to cross-racial adoption. That bill was pro-business, pro-labor, and pro- family. It was a good day for America when it became the law of the land. And I thank Congresswoman Kaptur and Senator Glenn for their strong support of it. I signed the Kennedy-Kassebaum health care bill, a bill that we've needed a long time, a bill that says to 25 million Americans who'll be affected by it, ``Nobody can deny you insurance anymore if somebody in your family's been sick, and it can't be taken away from you if you have to change jobs.'' That is a very, very important advance for America. So I feel good about what's been happening. Audience member. We feel good, too!”