"Our
Way Works Better"
2004 Democratic National Convention Speech
By President Bill Clinton
Thank you. I am honored to share the podium with my Senator,
though I think I should be introducing her. I'm proud of
her and so grateful to the people of New York that the best
public servant in our family is still on the job and grateful
to all of you, especially my friends from Arkansas, for the
chance you gave us to serve our country in the White House.
I am also honored to share this night with President Carter,
who has inspired the world with his work for peace, democracy,
and human rights. And with Al Gore, my friend and partner
for eight years, who played such a large role in building
the prosperity and progress that brought America into the
21st century, who showed incredible grace and patriotism
under pressure, and who is the living embodiment that every
vote counts-and must be counted in every state in America.
Tonight I speak as a citizen, returning to the role I have
played for most of my life as a foot soldier in the fight
for our future, as we nominate a true New England patriot
for president. The state that gave us John Adams and John
Kennedy has now given us John Kerry, a good man, a great
senator, a visionary leader. We are constantly told America
is deeply divided. But all Americans value freedom, faith,
and family. We all honor the service and sacrifice of our
men and women in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan and around
the world.
We all want good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets,
a clean environment. We all want our children to grow up
in a secure America leading the world toward a peaceful future.
Our differences are in how we can best achieve these things,
in a time of unprecedented change. Therefore, we Democrats
will bring the American people a positive campaign, arguing
not who's good and who's bad, but what is the best way to
build the safe, prosperous world our children deserve.
The 21st century is marked by serious security threats,
serious economic challenges, and serious problems like global
warming and the AIDS epidemic. But it is also full of enormous
opportunities-to create millions of high paying jobs in clean
energy, and biotechnology; to restore the manufacturing base
and reap the benefits of the global economy through our diversity
and our commitment to decent labor and environmental standards
everywhere; and to create a world where we can celebrate
our religious and racial differences, because our common
humanity matters more.
To build that kind of world we must make the right choices;
and we must have a president who will lead the way. Democrats
and Republicans have very different and honestly held ideas
on that choices we should make, rooted in fundamentally different
views of how we should meet our common challenges at home
and how we should play our role in the world. Democrats want
to build an America of shared responsibilities and shared
opportunities and more global cooperation, acting alone only
when we must.
We think the role of government is to give people the tools
and conditions to make the most of their lives. Republicans
believe in an America run by the right people, their people,
in a world in which we act unilaterally when we can, and
cooperate when we have to.
They think the role of government is to concentrate wealth
and power in the hands of those who embrace their political,
economic, and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to
fend for themselves on matters like health care and retirement
security. Since most Americans are not that far to the right,
they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking
in strength and values. In other words, they need a divided
America. But Americans long to be united. After 9/11, we
all wanted to be one nation, strong in the fight against
terror. The president had a great opportunity to bring us
together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and
to unite the world in common cause against terror.
Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different
choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far
to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in
attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their
jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate
Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals,
the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty.
Now they are working to develop two new nuclear weapons
which they say we might use first. At home, the President
and the Republican Congress have made equally fateful choices
indeed. For the first time ever when America was on a war
footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which
went to the top one percent. I'm in that group now for the
first time in my life.
When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty mean to
me. When I left and made money, I became part of the most
important group in the world to them. At first I thought
I should send them a thank you note-until I realized they
were sending you the bill.
They protected my tax cuts while:
- Withholding promised funding for the Leave No Child Behind
Act, leaving over 2 million children behind
- Cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of job training
- 100,000 working families out of child care assistance
- 300,000 poor children out of after school programs
- Raising out of pocket healthcare costs to veterans
- Weakening or reversing important environmental advances
for clean air and the preservation of our forests.
Everyone had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans,
who wanted to do their part but were asked only to expend
the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our
tax cuts. If you agree with these choices, you should vote
to return them to the White House and Congress. If not, take
a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats.
In this year's budget, the White House wants to cut off
federal funding for 88,000 uniformed police, including more
than 700 on the New York City police force who put their
lives on the line on 9/11. As gang violence is rising and
we look for terrorists in our midst, Congress and the President
are also about to allow the ten-year-old ban on assault weapons
to expire. Our crime policy was to put more police on the
streets and take assault weapons off the streets. It brought
eight years of declining crime and violence. Their policy
is the reverse, they're taking police off the streets and
putting assault weapons back on the streets. If you agree
with their choices, vote to continue them. If not, join John
Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats in making America safer,
smarter, and stronger.
On Homeland Security, Democrats tried to double the number
of containers at ports and airports checked for Weapons of
Mass Destruction. The one billion dollar cost would
have been paid for by reducing the tax cut of 200,000 millionaires
by five thousand dollars each. Almost all 200,000 of us would
have been glad to pay 5,000 dollars to make the nearly 300
million Americans safer-but the measure failed because the
White House and the Republican leadership in the House decided
my tax cut was more important- If you agree with that choice,
re-elect them. If not, give John Kerry and John Edwards
a chance.
These policies have turned the projected 5.8 trillion dollar
surplus we left-enough to pay for the baby boomers retirement-into
a projected debt of nearly 5 trillion dollars, with a 400
plus billion dollar deficit this year and for years to come. How
do they pay for it? First by taking the monthly surplus in
Social Security payments and endorsing the checks of working
people over to me to cover my tax cut. But it's not enough.
They are borrowing the rest from foreign governments, mostly
Japan and China. Sure, they're competing with us for good
jobs but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers?
If you think it's good policy to pay for my tax cut with
the Social Security checks of working men and women, and
borrowed money from China, vote for them. If not, John
Kerry's your man.
We Americans must choose for President one of two strong
men who both love our country, but who have very different
worldviews: Democrats favor shared responsibility, shared
opportunity, and more global cooperation. Republicans favor
concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for
themselves and more unilateral action. I think we're right
for two reasons: First, America works better when all people
have a chance to live their dreams. Second, we live
in an interdependent world in which we can't kill, jail,
or occupy all our potential adversaries, so we have to both
fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer
terrorists. We tried it their way for twelve years,
our way for eight, and then their way for four more.
By the only test that matters, whether people were better
off when we finished than when we started, our way works
better-it produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes,
and 100 times as many people moving out of poverty into the
middle class. It produced more health care, the largest
increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership,
a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized
defense force, strong efforts against terror, and an America
respected as a world leader for peace, security and prosperity.
More importantly, we have great new champions in John Kerry
and John Edwards. Two good men with wonderful wives-Teresa
a generous and wise woman who understands the world we are
trying to shape. And Elizabeth, a lawyer and mother who understands
the lives we are all trying to lift. Here is what I know
about John Kerry. During the Vietnam War, many young men-including
the current president, the vice president and me-could have
gone to Vietnam but didn't. John Kerry came from a privileged
background and could have avoided it too. Instead he
said, send me.
When they sent those swift-boats up the river in Vietnam,
and told them their job was to draw hostile fire-to show
the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight-John
Kerry said, send me. When it was time to heal the wounds
of war and normalize relations with Vietnam-and to demand
an accounting of the POWs and MIAs we lost there-John Kerry
said, send me.
When we needed someone to push the cause of inner-city kids
struggling to avoid a life of crime, or to bring the benefits
of high technology to ordinary Americans, or to clean the
environment in a way that creates jobs, or to give small
businesses a better chance to make it, John Kerry said send
me.
Tonight my friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100
days in telling John Kerry's story and promoting his plans. Let
every person in this hall and all across America say to him
what he has always said to America: Send Me. The bravery
that the men who fought by his side saw in battle I've seen
in the political arena. When I was President, John Kerry
showed courage and conviction on crime, on welfare reform,
on balancing the budget at a time when those priorities were
not exactly a way to win a popularity contest in our party.
He took tough positions on tough problems. John Kerry knows
who he is and where he's going. He has the experience, the
character, the ideas and the values to be a great President. In
a time of change he has two other important qualities: his
insatiable curiosity to understand the forces shaping our
lives, and a willingness to hear the views even of those
who disagree with him. Therefore his choices will be full
of both conviction and common sense.
He proved that when he picked a tremendous partner in John
Edwards. Everybody talks about John Edwards' energy, intellect,
and charisma. The important thing is how he has used his
talents to improve the lives of people who-like John himself-had
to work hard for all they've got. He has always championed
the cause of people too often left out or left behind. And
that's what he'll do as our Vice President.
Their opponents will tell you to be afraid of John Kerry
and John Edwards, because they won't stand up to the terrorists-don't
you believe it. Strength and wisdom are not conflicting
values-they go hand in hand. John Kerry has both. His first
priority will be keeping America safe. Remember the
scripture: Be Not Afraid.
John Kerry and John Edwards, have good ideas:
· To
make this economy work again for middle-class Americans;
· To
restore fiscal responsibility;
· To
save Social Security; to make healthcare more affordable
and college more available;
· To
free us from dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs
in clean energy;
· To
rally the world to win the war on terror and to make more
friends and fewer terrorists.
At every turning point in our history we the people have
chosen unity over division, heeding our founders' call to
America's eternal mission: to form a more perfect union,
to widen the circle of opportunity, deepen the reach of freedom,
and strengthen the bonds of community.
It happened because we made the right choices. In
the early days of the republic, America was at a crossroads
much like it is today, deeply divided over whether or not
to build a real nation with a national economy, and a national
legal system. We chose a more perfect union.
In the Civil War, America was at a crossroads, divided over
whether to save the union and end slavery-we chose a more
perfect union. In the 1960s, America was at a crossroads,
divided again over civil rights and women's rights. Again,
we chose a more perfect union. As I said in 1992, we're all
in this together; we have an obligation both to work hard
and to help our fellow citizens, both to fight terror and
to build a world with more cooperation and less terror. Now
again, it is time to choose.
Since we're all in the same boat, let us chose as the captain
of our ship a brave good man who knows how to steer a vessel
though troubled waters to the calm seas and clear skies of
our more perfect union. We know our mission. Let us
join as one and say in a loud, clear voice: Send John Kerry.
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