Remarks to African-American Community Leaders - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 6, 2000

You know, we're going to have young women bringing babies home from the hospital within a couple years with a life expectancy of 90 years because of the human genome project. You'll get your little card, tell you what your kid's gene map is like, what your child's problems are going to be, and the following 10 things you can do to dramatically increase your child's life expectancy.

We're going to have older people--already if you live to be 65, your life expectancy is 82 years. We're going to have older people able to cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, roll back some kinds of cancer, even, that we can't deal with now. It's going to be astonishing. But we're also going to have all our medical and financial records on somebody's computer somewhere, and we've got to figure out how we set up a system so we get to say yes before somebody looks at them.

These are big issues. And the thing that I would like to say about the Vice President is that, after 8 years, I know he makes good decisions. I know he has good values, and I know he understands the future. He thinks about this stuff all the time. And that's very, very important. Senator Lieberman I've known for 30 years, and I feel the same way about him. But this is an election in which the American people, they don't have to really believe anything hateful about anybody that is running. Maybe some people find that boring. I think it's wonderful. [Laughter] You can actually say, "Look, we got all of these good people running for office who love their families, and they love their country, and they will do their very best to do the right thing. It's what they believe."

So you've just got to decide what you believe. But you cannot afford to let the opportunity of maybe more than a generation, maybe 50 years--it may be 50 years before we have another election like this. On the other hand, we could have another one just like this in 4 years, if we do the right thing now--if we do the right thing now.

I think of the first Presidential campaign I took a part in, in 1968. It was an agony; 1972, when I met Eddie Bernice Johnson, it was an agony; 1976, we were full of hope, but there were also a lot of problems in the country; 1988, the country was in the dumps again; 1984, it was morning in America, but as my Senator, Dale Bumpers, used to say, if you let me write $200 billion worth of hot checks every year, I could show you a good time, too. [Laughter] And so eventually the chickens came home to roost there.

We've got a good thing going here. But shame on us if we don't thank God for our good fortune and tell everybody how important it is to make a decision. And believe me, not showing up is a decision, and it's the wrong decision. Not showing up is a decision, and it's the wrong decision.

So I just wanted you to come here today so I could tell you that I think it's important that you, and anybody you can talk to, go out into the community and say, "Look, it might be 50 years before we get a deal like this again, and here is what I think is at issue: How do you keep the prosperity going; how do you build on the progress; how do you build one America, keep on doing that; and how do we prepare for the future and do these big things?" It's really, really important.