Interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show - President William Jefferson Clinton - Interview

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 6, 2000

November 2, 2000

Q. Four more years! Four more years! [Laughter]

Morning Show Commercials

The President. What I want to know is, where did you make that ad where you walk in the White House and the house comes down?

Q. This is an ad that runs in Washington for our radio station.

The President. Do your listeners know that you actually tore the White House down? Do they know that? [Laughter] Have you concealed that from them? [Laughter]

Q. You watched that, huh?

The President. I do.

Q. We have a commercial that runs in the Washington area where--anyway. [Laughter]

The President. He walks into a mockup of the White House and it comes down. [Laughter]

Q. I'm glad you watched that. I'm glad to know that you listen to the show.

The President. I keep up with you.

Q. Thank you, sir, And we keep up with you, too, and sincerely, it would be nice if we could get 4 more years from you. It's been a good 8 years for us.

2000 Election

The President. But you can get the next best thing. I'll tell you, we've got to win this election, and I feel very strongly that we're going to win it if our folks vote. All these polls that show it close and show Governor Bush a point or two ahead, all those polls are premised on an assumption that African-American and Hispanic voters and first-generation immigrants will not vote in the same percentages that the Republican base will vote. That's what they're premised on.

I remember in Mississippi last year, where the African-American vote equalled the white vote, for the first time ever, a Democratic candidate for Governor was elected by 6,300 votes. And he was six points behind in the polls. So that's what--the power here is with the young people and with the folks that have done well in these last 8 years.

One of the things that I want to point out that I'm proudest of is that we fought for policies--and Al Gore fought for policies--that would guarantee that when this economy came back, for the first time in 30 years, it wouldn't just be the wealthiest Americans who would do well. They would do well, but everybody else would do well, too. Average income has gone up by over $5,000 in this country, and African-American unemployment is at the lowest point in history. And I think that alone is a good argument to stick with this economic policy, especially when the alternative is going back to deficits and underinvesting in education.

Q. And Mr. President, history has shown that with the votes that have--or with the election such as 1960 and even '68, how just one vote in maybe a ward or two would have made a difference and turned history around then, too.

The President. Oh, absolutely. John Kennedy won by four-tenths of one percent. Hubert Humphrey lost by a percent. Jimmy Carter won by a percent, one vote out of a hundred. And this race could well be that close. And I can tell you there are at least five States today that are within one percent. There are another five States that are within 2 percent. That's how close this election is.

Ralph Nader/Youth Vote

Q. And the Republicans are buying spots for Ralph Nader in some of these States.

The President. They are buying spots for Nader? What does that tell you?

Q. Yeah.

The President. You know, one of the things that bothers me is that I think young people have the biggest stake in this election and may feel alienated from it because so much of the debate has been about Social Security and Medicare drug programs for seniors. But I'd like to make a couple of points about that for young people.

First of all, I'm the oldest of the baby boomers. I'm 54 years old. And one of the reasons that the young people should care about this debate is all the people my age are very worried that when we retire-that is, people between the ages of 36 and 54, that's the baby boom-when we retire we don't want to impose a burden on our children and on our grandchildren. So that's a big issue. So when Al Gore says, "I'll put 20 years on the life of Social Security," and his opponent says, "I'll take a trillion dollars out of the Social Security Trust Fund," that's a big difference there. And it's important.

But also, our administration has a good environmental record. That's going to be more important for the future. Al Gore knows more about technology, how to maximize the benefits of the Internet, how to close the digital divide, how to create new economic opportunities in underserved areas, areas that still haven't fully felt the prosperity, which is a big issue. He's worked on that for 8 years now through our empowerment zones, and we've got a plan to get billions and billions of dollars in investment in new businesses and new jobs in the areas that still have unemployment that is too high or income that's too low. So I think the young people have the biggest stake of all in this election.

Supreme Court/Republican Congress

Q. And also, when you think about the Supreme Court, sir, and what-----

Q. Huge issue.

Q.-----you've done with the Supreme Court and the ability to carry on into the next-----