Bill Clinton: “First, let me thank you for coming in what must be a busy time for all of you. What I think may be the most productive…”

“First, let me thank you for coming in what must be a busy time for all of you. What I think may be the most productive thing to do, although Governor Kean, since--[inaudible]--may interject something here. I think what I'd like to do to begin, is just to hear from you. I'd like to--on the question of ``Do you believe that race still matters in America and is still a problem in some ways?'' And if so, instead of our getting into a big fight about affirmative action-- although if you want to discuss it, we can--what bothers me is that even I, who think it works in some ways, believe it works only when people who--it works predominantly for people who are at least in a position for it to work. A lot of the people that I care most about are totally unaffected by it one way or the other. So what I'd like to talk about today is that I thought that we could at least begin by just getting a feel for where you are and do you think it's still a problem, and if so, what do you think we ought to do about it? And if you want to talk about affirmative action--[inaudible]--but I'm happy to do that. [Ward Connerly, chairman, American Civil Rights Institute, stated that the country has a serious and complex problem which does not lend itself to a Government solution. He indicated that the Nation could not move forward on the race issue without resolving the issue of racial preferences.]”