Remarks to the community in Long Beach

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 4, 1996

Thank you very much. Thank you, Melissa Machit. Didn't she do a good job? Give her another hand. [Applause] Mayor O'Neill; Superintendent Cohn; Chief Ellis; our host, the principal, Alexis Ruiz-Alessi, the principal of Jackie Robinson Academy, where we are now. To the president of the board of education, Bobbie Smith, to the JROTC groups from Wilson and Poly, thank you very much for being here. And to the Poly High School band, thank you very much for playing so well.

Just before I came out here I had a little roundtable discussion about the school uniform policy with Melissa and another fine student named Maurice Troutman and a number of - I thought he was going to run for office someday; he's already seeded the crowd - [laughter] - and a number of teachers and parents and the chief and your board president. I would like for all the people who were in our little roundtable to stand and be recognized. They did such a good job of educating me about what was done. Thank you very much. [Applause]

I'm glad to be back in Long Beach. It seems like only yesterday when I was here last. [Laughter] I do have my pin on today; it's sort of my uniform. And I'm honored to be here. I came here today to applaud and support the efforts of this remarkable community.

Yesterday the mayor and community leaders briefed me on the remarkable plan that this community has to revive itself and deal with the impact of the defense downsizing of the last several years. Today I'm here to support what over the long run may have an even more profound impact on the future of this community and our country. This remarkable progress you have shown in your schools as a result of the school uniform policy - making them safer, more disciplined and orderly, freeing teachers to focus on teaching and students to focus on their job of learning. You are returning their schools to their original purpose and proving that public institutions can excel when they have high standards, high expectations for all children, and a high purpose with a strategy at the grassroots level supported by everybody in the community for carrying it out.

I have to tell you on a very personal note, as I told the panel, this has made my life at home even a little more difficult because for 10 years - 10 years - several times a year, before Long Beach finally took this groundbreaking step, the only person who ever talked to me about school uniforms was the First Lady. And six or seven times a year we'd go to Chelsea's school and we'd go to this or that event at school, or we'd visit other public schools, and she'd come home and say, "You know, if we had a uniform policy it would make things better in these schools." I heard it over and over and over again. And thanks to you, I have to listen to, "I told you so." [Laughter]

Being able to endure "I told you so" is one of the essential requirements of a successful marriage - [laughter] - and I must say I can't think of a time when I have enjoyed hearing it more. I applaud all of you.

I want to take a few moments today to talk about how what you have done here fits into the larger pattern of what I hope is going on in America and what I am trying to do and what we are trying to do to help you to spread this message throughout the United States. When I became President I was convinced that our country had to go into the next century making significant changes if we wanted to ensure that the American dream was available to everyone willing to work for it, without regard to their race or income or background, if we wanted to bring the American people together instead of seeing them continue to drift apart, and if we wanted to see our country remain the leading force in the world for peace and freedom and prosperity. We have worked very hard over the last 3 years on all those three objectives, and we see that while progress has been made which is very substantial, serious challenges remain - challenges that can only be met if we do a better job of working together. If you were to ask me what the single most significant lesson I have learned as your President in the last 3 years is, I would without hesitation answer, it is that when Americans work together we never lose, and when we are divided we defeat ourselves.

Today California newspapers reported 285,000 new jobs in this State in 1995 alone. We are moving this economy; almost 8 million new jobs, a 15-year high in homeownership, 3 years of record highs in new businesses formed. Businesses owned by women alone in the last 3 years have created more new jobs than the Fortune 500 have laid off. The combined rates of unemployment, inflation, and home mortgage interest rates are the lowest they've been in 27 years. We are moving forward.

But we know - we know - that a lot of Americans have not participated in this economic recovery. They haven't gotten a raise, or they live in the inner city or isolated rural areas where there aren't any new jobs, or they work for one of these big companies where sometimes when they're my age and ready to send their own children to college they've been downsized. So we have more challenges to meet until we can say to every American, "You're going to live in a more rapidly changing economy but you will still be all right if you're willing to work for it."