Remarks in Royal Oak, Michigan

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 2, 1996

The President, Thank you very much. Thank you.

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Thank you very much. Thank you so very, very much. You have made me feel so welcome. I never dreamed when we came to Royal Oak there would be such a vast crowd. I thank you - all the way down here, back here behind us. And when Don Johnson was up here talking, and he said, "Detroit," which is near here, I thought, I bet all the people in Royal Oak think of that - Detroit's a town that's near Royal Oak. [Laughter] I bet that's what they think.

Let me begin by thanking my good friend Bob Scully and Don Johnson and all the other law enforcement officials who are here and those throughout the Nation for their support. I'm very grateful to them, and I'm very grateful to them for joining me here today.

I want to thank Congressman Sandy Levin, your Congressman and a great Congressman. I want you to know that he has worked for you, for your jobs, for your welfare, for the strength of your communities and your values relentlessly. He talks to me all the time, and he wears me out until I finally do what he thinks I should do for you. And I hope you'll keep him in the Congress.

I'd like to thank all the other law enforcement officials who are here. I'd like to thank those who performed here, the Kimbal High School Madrigal Singers; the Stagecrafters; David Sign; the Detroit Red Wings who are here, Kris Draper and Stu Grimson; Jim McClain, the emcee. Thank you all very much. I'd like to thank some others who came with me, Congressman Dale Kildee, who's over here on my left. Congressman john Conyers is here. Attorney General Frank Kelley. Former Governor Jim Blanchard, Senator Don Riegle.

I have a lot of other people from Michigan that are traveling with me on this train. We're having a good time. I also have with me an old friend of mine and one of the great American heroes of the civil rights movement, Mrs. Rosa Parks. Please give her a great hand. [Applause] Thank you, Rosa. God bless you. Thank you, thank you. [Applause]

I'd also like to acknowledge in the audience a very brave lady, the mother of another brave woman who was to visit me in the White House next week. But Denise Marie Lazar just passed away from Huntington's disease. Her mother, Charlene Solo, is here in the audience. I'd like for you to give her a hand. [Applause] She's a brave lady, and she's done a good job. Charlene, where are you? Thank you.

Folks, I've had a wonderful day. We've had great crowds from West Virginia to Kentucky, all through Ohio and now in Michigan. But I don't have any idea how many folks we have here. They're way back down the street there, way off down here, way off behind us, and we're glad to see you. We're glad to see you.

I want to say to all of you that I came through here on this train for two reasons. First, I wanted to look out into this crowd and see your faces. I wanted to see the people that I have worked for for these last 4 years. And I wanted you to know I'm still working for you and I'm proud to be your President. Secondly, I wanted you to see this train. This train is not just on the right track to Chicago; it's on the right track to the 21st century, and we're going to keep it there.

[At this point, an audience member required medical attention.]

The President. You know, in 1992 - we need a doctor over here. We've got one here. We'll get somebody here in a minute. We've got a doctor with us. We need a doctor over here in the crowd. We'll be right there. Let me say - here we go. We're getting somebody there right now. There you go. Here's my medic. He'll be right there. Done. You all can't do anything about that. Let's go on with the program. She's going to do a good job. She's terrific.

Four years ago, when I came to Michigan, I was hoping I'd do pretty well here because half the people that lived in Arkansas in the 1950's moved to Michigan to get a job. [Laughter] And the dream they had was largely fulfilled, the dream of being able to find a good job and educate their children and have a secure retirement and build a good life and a strong community and a strong country.

Four years ago, I was afraid that dream was about to be lost. We had high unemployment, stagnant wages, no strategy for meeting our challenges, and a rising tide of cynicism among our people. Four years later it's a lot different. We wouldn't have this crowd here if you were cynical today, and we thank you and God bless you.

Let me also say that the reason I ran for President 4 years ago is the reason I seek reelection: I wanted to prepare our country for the 21st century. I want us to go into that next century, only 4 years away now, roaring with the American dream alive for every person, a possibility for every person to live up to their God-given abilities, for every person to live out their dreams, no matter where they live, what they start with, what their racial or their religious background is.

And we have followed a simple strategy: Create more opportunity for people, expect more responsibility from our people, and tell everybody that we have got to go forward together. We have got to go forward together. We know that this country, when we're together, never loses. And I don't know how you feel but I look around the world today - I spent so ranch time as your President trying to bring peace to places like Bosnia, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, dealing with the slaughters in Rwanda and Burundi. Why? Because all over the world there are people who insist upon looking down on each other because of their racial, their ethnic, their religious, or their tribal differences instead of joining together hand in hand to move forward. And whenever I see that in America I want to stamp it out. That's why I have done everything I could to make us all stand up against the church burnings. And whenever a synagogue or a Muslim center is defaced, it's wrong.