Remarks and a question-and-answer session at the Cleveland City Club

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 31, 1994

But it wouldn't be the responsible thing to do. The responsible thing to do is to take your licks and say, look for the long run. Look for the long run. You know, I know people are frustrated and angry. One of the first things that every parent learns to try to teach your children is not to make decisions based on frustration and anger but to make decisions based on what you really know, when you're thinking, is best for the present and for the future.

So I ask you to think about this. We have made a substantial start at building the kind of America that will be strong in the 21st century. There are reasons for Americans to still feel uncertain and worried. But the reasons can be addressed only if we keep going forward, not if we go back.

And the last thing I want to say is this--[applause]--thank you. Sometimes we have to see ourselves as others see us. Sometimes where you get discouraged or so caught up in the day-to-day business that it's hard to make our contract with the future, our commitment to the long run, our covenant to revive the American dream, we need to remember how other people see us.

Other people think, folks, this is a pretty great country. It's no accident that when they want to have elections in South Africa, they ask us to come help put them on, or when after hundreds of years of fighting in Northern Ireland, they want the United States to bring people here who are on opposite sides and let them come to America and see people who share their roots and try to work through this. It's no accident that when Saddam Hussein reared up again in the Gulf, the countries there that want to be free look to the United States for quick leadership. It's no accident that in the Middle East, it was the United States that was asked to witness this historic peace agreement between Israel and Jordan. That is not an accident. It was no accident. If you could have looked into the eyes of those young men and women we sent to Haiti in uniform when President Aristide went back and all the Haitian people had those signs in Creole saying "Thank you, America"--they know, other people know, this is a very great country.

It is our job to build on that greatness, even when it requires difficult decisions and looking toward tomorrow and not giving in to the easy path today. That is what is before us. And I believe that today you can see that we are a very different place than we were 21 months ago. We're in better shape than we were 18 months ago. We are going in the right direction. We should stay on this economic course and make it a bipartisan commitment to a strong America and a global economy that keeps the American dream alive into the next century.

Thank you very much.

Steve Smith. Thank you, President Clinton. We now turn to our traditional question-and-answer period, a long tradition of the City Club. But because there were so many members who wished to ask questions today, we selected questioners by lottery a few minutes before the President arrived. In front of this audience, in fact, the names were drawn.