Remarks at a Democratic business council dinner

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 23, 1998

I say this just to tell you that there is a direct connection between your support through this Business Council of our party and what we are doing that will change the lives of the future of the American people. That's what you have to understand.

Lois Capps just won this great race in California - unbelievable victory. Now, in Washington, people tend to see every victory or defeat in great national terms. I basically spent enough time out there in the country to know that that's almost always wrong. It's against my self-interest to say it, probably, but it's wrong. She won because she's a magnificent person, because her late husband was a wonderful man, because she ran a great grassroots campaign. But the important thing is that the issues she ran on and won on are the issues that were embodied in the State of the Union or the issues that are embodied in the message of our party and the future we're trying to build for America. Don't squander the surplus until you save Social Security first, pass the Patient's Bill of Rights, focus on education, focus on the environment, focus on the long-run challenges of the country. That's what we are doing here. That's what you are a part of. That's what we want you to be a part of.

So when you go home tonight, you ought to ask yourself - and make sure you can give an answer - why did I go to that dinner tonight? Why did I write that check? You should know that because of your support, your country is stronger; we're moving in the right direction; and we're thinking about tomorrow.

Thank you very much. God bless you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 9:05 p.m. in the ballroom at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to C. Thomas Hendrickson, chair, Democratic Business Council; Steve Grossman, national chair, and Leonard Barrack, national finance chair, Democratic National Committee; and Democratic Party fundraiser Terence McAuliffe.