Remarks to Supporters of John Street for Mayor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 1, 1999

October 29, 1999

The President. Thank you.

[At this point, there was a disruption in the audience.]

The President. I'll make you a deal. I'll ignore them if you will. We observed their free speech rights. Do you think they will observe Ours?

Now, let me say, first, to all of you----

[The disruption continued.]

The President. Come on. Now, wait a minute, folks. I know something about this. You all relax here. I know something about this. They got their say. Now you give me mine, and you all think about where we are. Come on, let's go. That's actually----

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. Let me say this. That's actually a very--don't boo them. That's actually a very serious issue. That's actually a very serious issue that we're working very hard on. Unfortunately, like so many serious issues that I have to deal with, it can't be solved by emotion at a rally. But it's an important issue that is worthy of the concern of the people of Puerto Rico and the people of the United States, and therefore, I appreciate their being here.

Let me say to all of you, I think that you know, every one of you, how much I have loved this city and how grateful I am to you and to the people of Pennsylvania. In 1992 and 1996 and 1998 and 1999, no place in America has been better or kinder to me and our administration and my family than the city of Philadelphia. And I will never forget that.

I want to thank your mayor for his leadership and his friendship. I thank the city council president. I thank chairman and Congressman Brady and Congressman Fattah and Congressman Borski, three wonderful people and great Members of the House of Representatives. I thank my great friend Senator Ted Kennedy for being here today.

You know, in a long and richly textured life in public service, I've had a lot of wonderful moments. But when Ed Rendell called me and told me that I was the first Democrat to equal President Kennedy's victory margin in Philadelphia, I was very moved.

Senator Kennedy's family lost three of its sons to public service, the President, Robert Kennedy, his oldest brother Joseph in World War II. But I can tell you this: Edward Kennedy has redeemed the sacrifice of his family in service to the people of Massachusetts and the people of America. He is one of the finest and ablest and most productive people in the history of the United States Senate.

Now, I want to thank all the other people who are here who have done so much for John Street, the religious leaders, the labor leaders--nobody ever says this from a podium--I want to thank the fundraisers, the people in the business community and others, who stuck by John Street when people said they wouldn't do it and gave him a chance to be competitive.

You know, I remember once when I was running for office in 1984, and President Reagan came in to campaign for my opponent. And I was--and he was very popular in my State. You remember, he was getting reelected by a big margin. And he came in, and he campaigned against me, and then he got 62 percent in the election, and so did I. And it made me always a little apprehensive. So I want you to know I come here not as President to tell you how to vote, but I hope you will listen to me as someone who has tried to be a good friend to Philadelphia, to talk about why.

You know, I'm not running for anything anymore. I kind of hate it, but I'm not. And I want you to listen to me not about how but why. I have the whole rest of my life to try to be a good citizen and give back to the American people for all of the chances they've given me to serve. And I have some things that I wanted to come to Philadelphia to say to all of you in this hall, because the harder you work between now and Tuesday, the bigger the margin of victory will be--and to those beyond this hail, who may hear or see or read about what we say here today, who may be still trying to make up their mind.

First thing I want to say is, I follow this race very closely in the press, and I know something about--I think--the fact that you can't always tell what's going on, exactly, from what you read, you know? Now, John Street--so I read that there was this campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, and the Democrat was a very good man, but he didn't have any vision, and he wasn't very charismatic. And I don't know who they were talking about, but that guy that introduced me had vision and charisma when he was up here speaking a few minutes ago.

But I want you to listen to my argument, because if you think that our administration--if you think that Bill Clinton and Al Gore have been good for the people of Philadelphia, what I want you to understand is, none of it would have been possible if we hadn't had a partnership. And when I ran for President in 1992, and the people of this city and this State voted for me, I said--and let me say, times have been good for a good long while now, so a lot of people don't remember what it was like before the Clinton-Gore administration, or before Rendell and Street. They don't remember. So let me remind you.