Remarks at a Democratic National Committee/Democratic Business Council Luncheon

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 2, 2000

September 29, 2000

Thank you. I don't know what I feel about getting all those golf balls. [Laughter] Is he telling me I should quit working altogether? He should at least tell me that he expects me to live long enough to lose all of them. [Laughter]

Thank you very much, and thank you for the warm welcome. I want to thank John Merrigan, who has been a wonderful friend to me and a wonderful friend to the Democratic Party, a generous and indefatigable person. And he got us a clap for everybody else, but he really deserves a lot of the applause today. Thank you.

I thank Bill Berkley and the other chairs and the vice chairs. The only thing I don't know about that I've seen today is that story that John told about Paul Equale in the steam bath. [Laughter] I thought he was going to say that he offered to get dressed if the guy would give him $5,000. [Laughter]

Anyway, I want to thank Jason and the staff and all the folks here from the Democratic Party--Janice Griffin, Carol Pensky, Andy Tobias, Loretta Sanchez, and Ed Rendell. And I thank Ed for his generous remarks, but he has also worked like a demon this year.

It is true that in the early part of this election cycle, when the polls didn't look so good and everybody was in sort of a constant state of hand-wringing, I kept telling Ed, I said, "Just send me out there. I'll tell them it's going to be all fight," because I believed it. And as John said, I told him that every election has its rhythm, and you have to wait for it. That's true. Every election is almost like a different symphony being written by the American people, and the language is always the same, just like musical notes, but you have to go and listen to the people and hear them, the way they speak, the way they talk, the way they feel about what this is. But also, the American people nearly always get it right if they have enough time and enough information. And that's why we're all still around here after over 200 years.

I always felt, as anybody here who talked to me about it, that this election would be all right, because I knew Al Gore and because I know what, the underlying realities are. I know the country is in better shape than it was, that we're moving in the right direction, that people want to keep changing in that direction. And I know, and I feel even more strongly now that Joe Lieberman has joined the ticket, that these two leaders will be very good for America. And I think the American people will agree with that on election day, and I'm very grateful.

But I know something else, too, which is that our friends on the other side suffered a time or two in this election process because they were already picking out their offices in the West Wing. You know, they thought it was over. They thought that they had won some kind of contest based on the tilt of the press for a given month or so or whatever. And I like all kinds of contests. I like sports--I don't know why; I'm not very competitive--[laughter]--I love the Olympics. I don't sleep enough when the Olympics are on. But one of the things I really love about the martial arts is that the opponents always bow to each other before the contest begins. And why do they do that? To remind them that you should always respect your adversary, never take anything for granted, and that anyone can be defeated.

What do you think the odds were on the Wyoming farm boy defeating that Russian wrestler for the gold medal? He wasn't as svelte, and he hadn't gone 13 years without losing a match. But you breathe that thin air long enough, and you lift all that heavy farm equipment and bales of hay and do all the things you do, you develop an enormous aerobic capacity--[laughter]--that all the weightlifting in the world can't overcome. And, poof! There he was.

I say that to say that this whole decision is ultimately in the hands of the American people. And make no mistake about it, they can make any decision they want. So it is well for us to remember to be like the martial artists and bow out of respect for our adversaries and for the process and then work like crazy and don't leave anything out there on the floor on election day.

I don't think I've ever worked any harder in an election than I'm working this time, for the last year. It's kind of interesting because it's the first time in 26 years I haven't been on the ballot. [Laughter] Maybe I'm just celebrating. Who knows? [Laughter] But I've enjoyed working for Al and Joe, and I've enjoyed working for Hillary and a lot of other individual House and Senate Members and for the Democratic Party and for our Senate and House committees. I know we're going to be outspent. We always are. We were outspent $100 million in 1998. We won anyway. And the lesson of all this in public life is that you don't have to have as much money as your opponent, but you do have to have enough to make sure your message is out and that, if there's an incoming assault, you can answer it. Then if they have more, it's nice for them, but it's not the end of the world for you. If you have a better message, better candidates, and clarity of choice, you can still win.