Bill Clinton: “Thank you so much. First, let me thank Senator Daschle and Leader Gephardt for their outstanding, passionate eloquence…”

“Thank you so much. First, let me thank Senator Daschle and Leader Gephardt for their outstanding, passionate eloquence today and their consistent leadership for the best interests of all the American people. And I think that all of us on this stage feel that way. And I just wish every American could know them as we do, could see how hard they've worked, how consistently they've worked, and how steadfast they have been. Nothing that I have been able to achieve as President would have been possible without their leadership and without the men and women on this platform today. And I thank them so much. They have already spoken about what we need to do. What I want to say to you is that I want to echo something Mr. Gephardt said. We are here united as a party, but we want to work with the members of the Republican caucus to do things that are good for America. Let's remember that in the past years, when we have done that, we have been successful. Last year, in the teeth of the election process, they eventually did join us to put a downpayment on hiring 100,000 teachers, to do more to clean up toxic waste, to increase our investments in science and technology, to set aside a part of the surplus for Social Security, which they have continued to agree to do. And we made real progress with our agenda, even though we weren't the majority party. Now, what was the result?…”