Remarks at a Democratic senatorial campaign committee dinner in Chicago, Illinois

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 3, 1994

September 23, 1994

Thank you very much. Senator Graham, Senator Simon, Senator Moseley-Braun, Senator Biden, Senator Leahy, Mrs. Daley, Secretary Babbitt, Secretary Shalala. Joe Carey, thank you for doing such a wonderful job tonight. Let me say a special word of thanks to David Wilhelm for his heroic efforts over the last 2 years on behalf of the Democratic Party. David and I were flying in tonight on the helicopter and we flew across the lake and we were coming in, and I said--I looked at him, and I said, "Lord, I love Chicago, and I miss being here." And we went through all of our history together. And I remember so well the night at the Navy Pier when I named him my campaign manager and all the things that happened and the night of St. Patrick's Day in 1992, when the votes in Illinois and Michigan pretty well ensured the nomination of our campaign in the election. I am so glad to be back here, and I want to say a special word of thanks to David and to Degee, who is also here. And I wish them well. They're about to give us one more Democrat in a couple of months--[laughter]--which is the most important thing of all.

We're looking forward to being back here for the convention as well, and I know you'll be a good host. And we will show Chicago to the world in a way that is very, very good.

Let me say--I want to say some political things. I'd like to start by thanking the people who have spoken already so much for what they have said but more importantly for their service to our country and their leadership. Every one of them has rendered enormous service to this Nation and stood up for the ordinary citizens of this country and has been willing to take on the real problems of country.

But before I get into my remarks about the election and about what's at stake I think I ought to say a few words to you about our mission in Haiti. I'm pleased to report that we're making good progress. I had the opportunity to talk on the plane coming out here with General Shelton, General Meade, and our Ambassador there, Bill Swing, who has done a magnificent job under incredibly adverse circumstances.

Soon our coalition will be at full strength, including about 14,000 American service people, about a thousand military police who will keep a close watch on the Haitian police to see that we do keep order with professionalism and restraint. Soon they'll be joined and then replaced by hundreds of international police monitors from now well over two dozen countries, many of them coming from all over the world because they believe in what we are trying to do there in ending human rights abuses and restoring democracy.

The Haitian military, so far, has cooperated very well with our Armed Forces. They're turning over their heavy weapons. We're helping to buy back light weapons from the militia and the civilians. The situation is already calmer and more peaceful than it was when we got there.

On Monday, the first shipload of Haitian migrants from Guantanamo will go home to Haiti to begin to build a peaceful and a free life, and we expect more to follow soon. Of course, difficulties remain; they are always part of any military undertaking. But I want you to know you can be very proud of the men and women in the armed services that are down there executing a complex and exceedingly difficult task. They deserve our praise, they deserve our prayers, and they deserve our support.

I also want to welcome the three candidates who are here tonight in Chicago: Congressman Sam Coppersmith from Arizona; Jack Mudd, I think clearly one of our most promising challengers from the wonderful State of Montana that was good enough to vote for the Clinton-Gore ticket in 1992; Bob Carr, who's in a tight race in Michigan but who I am convinced is going to win that race and going to be the next Senator from Michigan. Each of them has something important to contribute to the future of this country. And thanks to you, they've got a lot better chance to make that contribution.

I want to talk to you tonight a little bit about what's at stake in this election and what I hope you will do besides give your money between now and November.

Like most of you here, I'm a Democrat by heritage, instinct, and conviction. I was raised by my grandfather until I was 4. He had a fourth-grade education, and he thought when he died, he'd meet God first and FDR second. [Laughter] I was raised to believe that the party to which I belong stood up for ordinary people in extraordinary times and was always looking toward the future for all Americans, not just for a few.

Our party and our Nation has survived for two centuries and more now because we've always found a way to meet the challenges of the moment and to fulfill our goals and to help people move forward in fulfilling their own God-given potential. We've always believed that our country could do better and that we had to do our best to call forth what is best within us. Always we believed that we had to be an engine of change, even when it was tough and even when it would cause us to be misunderstood. Always we believed that government had a responsibility not necessarily to give people anything except an opportunity to make the most of their own lives and that people in turn, all of our citizens, had a responsibility to follow the American dream and to make our community stronger. Those are the values that have defined us as a party and a people for quite a long while now. They are summed up for me in the three simple words I used all across this country in the '92 campaign: opportunity, responsibility, and community.