George H.W. Bush: “And I keep saying this, but I'll repeat it to you all. I said it in the State of the Union. When the mayors from these…”

“And I keep saying this, but I'll repeat it to you all. I said it in the State of the Union. When the mayors from these National League of Cities came to see me, some from gigantic cities--Los Angeles, Tom Bradley was one of them--to small, almost towns, to medium- sized cities like--I think of Plano, Texas, which is fairly small-- and united, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, about the root cause of much of our urban decline was the diminution of the family, the decline of the American family. And yes, we get criticized for raising it, but we're going to keep on talking about that and trying to encourage family participation. We've got this family commission, this commission on the family, and they will be reporting in a few months, looking at legislation to see if there's anything in the legislation that encourages through financial incentive a husband and wife to live apart, for example. We can't have that anymore. They're going to be looking at all kinds of things to come in with recommendations as to how to turn around this decline in the American family, the falling apart of the family structure. And I will keep on talking about it, and I think it's something that the American people are sensitive to and want to find ways to help. And so we'll keep trying. And when Barbara goes out and hugs a kid and talks about reading to children, I think this is the way you strengthen families. If a kid comes home from school, no matter how impoverished the neighborhood, and picks up a book and sits with the kid and they read back and forth, that helps. And there's no question about it. And it might not be as sophisticated as some of our critics would like to have it, but it's fundamental. And it's good, I think. And so, when I sit there in the diplomatic entrance of the White House in what, okay, is somewhat show-biz reading to kids, it's supposed to send a signal that this is a good thing to do. What were you going to say? [A participant asked if the role of schools would evolve in response to increased family instability.]”