Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. Thank you, Secretary Riley. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I want to welcome you all to the White…”

“Thank you very much. Thank you, Secretary Riley. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I want to welcome you all to the White House today on this gorgeous day. I hope you've enjoyed yourselves. The Marine Band has been in especially fine form this morning. I woke up to them; I went jogging to them. I almost felt like a President this morning for sure when I was walking over to the Oval Office. They were playing a march that was written for the coronation of a British monarch, so I almost got myself confused. [Laughter] There are 228 schools here represented today, the winners of the Blue Ribbon Awards this year. And all of you are winners, representing what is best in American education in public and private schools and urban and suburban and rural schools. You all share some common features with all your differences: visionary leadership, a sense of shared purpose, a climate conducive to learning, impressive academic achievement brought on not only by gifted teachers but also by responsible and open student behavior, and real involvement of parents and often the broader community in the life of the school. I spent a lot of time thinking about these educational issues over the last 12 or so years. I spent more of my time as a Governor on education than on any other single issue except for the economy of my State.…”