Transcripts For CSPAN 25th Anniversary Election Of Bill Clinton 20171122

To the 25th lecture series. This series was established with , many ofnerous gift whom are here today. As well as at t. This lecture series is presented by the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service. Please give them a big hand. We all stand up and recognize you, i insist. [applause] stand up. They are right here in the front. To say a very special word of thanks. I responsibly allowed us to make this 25th celebration anniversary possible. Thanks to our sponsors. [applause] ifore we begin what anticipate will be a lively conversation, i would like to thank all of you for joining us today. S is the largest cloud crowd we have ever had. As you can imagine with his giant group, it would be nearly impossible to recognize all of gueststinguished individually. I will ask crews of people to raise your hand when called. If you are a current or former elected official, please raise your hand. If you serve your volunteer during the 92 campaign, please raise your hand. I see a lot of hands. Alsoup your hand if you volunteered during the 96 campaign. If you served in the clintongore administration, please raise your hand. Were part of the Clinton Foundation, library or Public Service school, please raise your hand. [applause] for those who we have lost since 1992, lets all take a brief moment to honor their memory. This weekend we come together to celebrate a pivotal time in our nations history. When americans and for a president to put people first. Gotovember 3, 1992, they one. Today, as we look back at the 92 campaign, what made it so groundbreaking and so special not only to those of us who were part of it but for the American People who were energized and enthusiastic about what his campaign stood for. For me, it started in 1991 as a volunteer for the clinton president ial Exploratory Committee at its own store on the corner of seventh and chester. Among my many early assignments i was asked to help Senior Campaign advisers with the necessities like finding a place andive, a dry cleaners perhaps more importantly, a liquor store. I also have these very high honors of driving Bruce Lindsey and governor bill clinton back and forth and back and fourth the central client service. I took orders as many of you in this audience have from the general sheila bronfman. I dropped off david will have laundry at the Razorback Fund watch and i may copy, lots of coffee. I wouldnt trade and the others for a second. Shortly after i prove myself a making czar, i was officially hard for as one of their very first step is. One of my first assignments was to fill in an travel with arkansass first Lady Hillary Clinton on it you if you campaign trips. A few campaign trips. It confirmed what i already knw about our first lady, she was dynamic, highly organized, a little unconventional and selfsufficient, she did not even need a staffer. She didnt just listen to the people she met, she absorbed what they said. I would watch her as she i knew in addition to her genuine concern, she was thinking about real solutions. Like president clinton, i grew up here in arkansas. My dream was to work in politics like my dad and many before me. When i was 24 years old, bill clinton gave me that chance. I worked in the 92 campaign, i served a glorious years in the Clinton White house. Now i am back in my home state running the clinton president ial center. Thank you. I can never really think president clinton enough for the amazing opportunity he has given me. I really tend myself every day, i feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for both of these extraordinary Public Servants. While being a wife and a mother and raising my three daughters with my wonderful husband in arkansas. A place president clinton and i will always call home. We all share similar stories about the 92 campaign. That is why we are here this weekend. To reflect, celebrate and to reconnect. I cant think of a better person to lead this conversation then the one and only James Carville. His infectious enthusiasm, is unlimited supply of energy, is keen ability to claim a phrase like if the economy is stupid and that genuine cajun accent. James carville is a force of nature and it was his ability to keep the campaign fired up, focused and determined to win every step of the way. Now please turn your attention to the screen and enjoy a video we have made commemorating the campaign that works tirelessly to put people first. Thank you. I, William Jefferson clinton do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States. Change,ction is about change in our party, change in her leadership, change in our nation. That is why today, i proudly announce my candidacy for president of the United States of america. Governor clinton and what hillary took to outdoors on his bitter cold New Hampshire day. They passed out campaign videotapes of clinton. I wanted to send a message to this country about what kind of Company Cover we are going to have, what kind of future you want and about how we can win again. What is your name . I am eight. How does it feel to be present . President . I dont know, i havent one yet. I hope i find out. I think we know enough to say with some certainty that New Hampshire tonight has made the clinton the comeback kid. I am proud to say that all of states, in the united this is the next Vice President of the United States of america, senator al gore. Sen. Gore bill clinton wants to put people first. Will make the government work for the average families. People tell him things they do not tell anybody else. This is not unusual. Part of it is, they recognized somebody who has had honest struggles in his own life. When somebody says something to him, he does not brush them off. He listens to them. He will listen, and he will care. Its time for someone Strong Enough to lead. The come back kid. I nominate for the office of the president of the United States the man from hope arkansas. Arkansas probably gives our 40th vote for our favorite son, bill clinton. A 144 votes for the next president. Gov. Clinton i still believe in a place called hope. God bless you. God bless america. We are going to new jersey, and pennsylvania, and kentucky, and ohio, and missouri, and before we are through, we are going to go to the heartland of america. I ask you one last time. Will you help me change the future of america . I also have 3000 the of construction events. I think we are to win tomorrow. The harder you work, the lucky you are. The sticker i have fun says i voted. I voted for bill clinton this morning. I went to work in the campaign of 1982. Where is elvis . Excuse me. Hillary clinton, and governor clinton. [cheers] gov. Clinton my fellow americans. Day, with high hopes and the brave hearts in massive numbers the American People have voted to make a new beginning. Gentlemen, please welcome James Carville, secretary Hillary Clinton, and president bill clinton. James i wish the two of you could talk about what it meant to be in that environment that they were going through. You had so many people in arkansas that love you so much. First of all, thank you. Thank all of you for making this possible. It is true what james said. Our poll numbers were dropping faster than the temperature. It was cold. It was obviously part of a strategy. I had already been warned by the white house that if iran might poll numbers would drop, quickly and in the primary. I was expecting it. I did not know how they were going to get it done, but i am sure it was organized, and it would have plenty of people obliging them. All of a sudden, all of this is page on and on this full ad appears in the Manchester Union leader with 600 arkansans, and young people will find this hard to believe, there were no cell phones, they weighed five pounds. 600 people from arkansas put their phone number in an ad in the Manchester Union leader, and said do not believe what they are telling you about our governor. Hollis collect and we will tell you the truth. I will never forget it. In the arkansas tabloids that had been there, another 150 people dropped what they were doing, and most of them drove on their own to New Hampshire, and ,hey put 100,000 drops on doors and they turned it around. And the rest is history. If they had not been for the people of arkansas, there werent enough of us to go around, we would not have made it. So, thank you. [applause] sec. Clinton New Hampshire in late 1991 and 1992, it was a much shorter campaign. Bill did not announce until early october. Ofyou can imagine, october 1991. It was not one of these endless, long, grueling campaigns. It started with a burst of energy. We flew to New Hampshire for the first time as a potential candidate, and his team. Receptivend a really audience of people who understood that we needed change, and we needed the kind of energy and dynamism that bill was representing. We spent a lot of time between midand late october into january, early february in New Hampshire. About, wasis talking a truly horrible moment. I had spent the day, bill was there as well, at the manchester mall. We had been greeting people there. Walkedpeople, whoever into the mall, i would say hello, introduce myself, say that i was campaigning for bill, ask for their vote. The primary was 48 hours away. I got a really good response. People seemed very interested and positive, and you just felt, hey, maybe it was turning around. Went back to the little hotel we were kempton, we had a meeting with our pollsters, and the pollsters said you are dropping like a rock. You may not stay even in double digits. I remember thinking that is not the way it felt. One of the big differences between 1992 and 2016 is you felt like you could connect better and more deeply, and more quickly with people. Ok, that is what the poll is saying, but it is not what i feel. I said, i am going to bed did everything we need to do. When the primary came, and bill finished a surprising and high second, i was really helpful. One of the brilliant Strategic Decisions that were made in the New Hampshire primary came when, as you saw in the movie, bill went out first and claimed victory even though we had finished second. [laughter] it was just explosion because he had lost. [laughter] but compared to what we thought was going to happen, he had one big. From that moment on, he had momentum and he had so much support. I know there are some people from New Hampshire who along the in so manylped us elections and primaries, and the people of New Hampshire really sent him forward into the remaining contests. Pres. Clinton i also think it is important to point out, it is true as hillary said, we finished second. Everybody thought we were going to finish this. And we went down and came back up, and my principal opponent tsongasg this paul beat me like your dog in the first 10 miles of New Hampshire next to massachusetts. The rest of New Hampshire, thanks to a lot of people in this room, we won. , you lost anyway. I said, yes i did. And i congratulate senator tsongas, now lets see how he does when we get to memphis. [laughter] and it had the desired effect. It was great. It was unbelievable. New hampshire was one of the greatest experiences in our lives. The thing that i liked was, people talk to you about real problems, real dreams, and they wanted real answers. They were not interested in how well you could badmouth your opponent, or what you could say. They wanted to know, what were you going to do to help them with their lives. And i will never forget it as long as i live. James recently in politics we hear, politicians say one thing and do another. The night you campaigned, as recall,led as i putting people first. I think there was a sign that said, it is the economy, stupid. It was clear to the American People that what you wanted to do was build an economy that worked across america. Nothing was any clearer. That was the promise she made. Talk about the eight years that you were president , and talk about the things that happened because america said, when we had this focused campaign, people call it sloganeering and soundbites, that you were really clear, that you look back, and lets talk about what happened to the economy and to people all across america in the last eight years. I think that is important. Es first pres. Clinton first of all, we were seeing things that people are upset about. Which is, very uneven levels of Economic Growth. Both by income, and also by region. There was growing income and lower mobility. Was, if you give me a chance, we will try to build an economy that puts you first, where you can all be a part of it. And you have got a responsibility to educate your children and train yourself to do what is available. I cannot repeal the laws of economics, but we can shape it so you can do better. Our theory was if we gave incentives to invest everywhere, we focused on the future, then trained people for jobs that we knew would grow in number. We could drive employment and get rid of the deficit at the same time, and grow the economy faster. , it was theyears only time in a long time that all quintiles of the economy grew together. The bottom 20 of our people actually have their incomes increase in percentage terms as much as the top 5 , and greater than the top 20 . [applause] because we grew the economy from the bottom up, africanamerican families incomes went up 32 . 24 percent. Overall, 17 . And there was no interracial tension because we grew it from the bottom up instead of the top down. So everybodys incomes went up. It is the only time it happened in a month of sundays. Obviously, that is what i was hoping would happen again this time. That is the only thing that works. We proved that growing the economy from the middle out and bottomup works, and try to grow it from the top down does not. I hate to see us go down that road again, because were going to reach the same deadend again. First, they will bring everybody else along. The other aspect of this, which i really thought was amazing, is in addition to growing the economy for everybody, by the end of bills ls eightrs bil years, the budget was balanced and we had a surplus. If we had would have continued those policies we would have eliminated our national debt. [applause] that seems almost impossible to believe. I was in the senate in 2001. All of a sudden, the new Republican Administration said, we have got a surplus, we need to give it back to the people, meaning the very richest of americans. And so lets cut taxes, and we will go back and show you. Maybe it did not work before, that we will show you we can trickle down and have Economic Growth. And a number of us said, why would we undermine the hard work of eight years. Hen bill became president inherited an economy that had a growing deficit and debt. The prior 12 years had quadrupled the debt of america, more than at any time in our entire previous history. And he was determined to try to reverse that because he believed , number one, it was good for the economy, and it was responsible, and it was what we should be doing for our children and grandchildren. It was really, really hard. Economic plans, the deficit Reduction Plan passed in each house by one vote. And not a single republican voted for it. Instead, they beat the drum day after day about how this policy of raising taxes on the wealthy, of getting more revenue to be able to invest in our people, putting people first was going to wreck the economy. And they were dead wrong. Now we are hearing the same baloney today, right . [applause] i know we live in us beaded up ded up world. It is important to learn that lessons of history, not revisionist phony history, but real history. We know how to grow the economy in a modern globalized world. It is heartbreaking, when you saw the results, when you saw people getting ahead for the first time, more people were lifted out of poverty and bills in bills eight years than at any time and the previous eight years. Believe me, it is frustrating. If you try to live in the realitybased world which is makinge should live, these points and not being able to get them across, or have them believed, it is the fairytale of economics that it is going to trickle down. We are going to make everything great. We may be cutting medicare and medicaid and health care, make it more expensive to go to school, and all the stuff they are trying to do in washington, but it is all going to work out. It is such nonsense. The tough budget that bill fought for, that he passed that was really, really difficult, it so not immediately kick in, people did not see results quickly enough. Midterm elections were disastrous. Then they shut the government down. And he had to fight against them on every front to save medicaid and medicare and the rest of it. But eventually the facts were proven. And the results were seen. And i think there is a lot of important lessons to learn in those eight years about how to get the economy going, how to have inclusive prosperity, that we should not forget. If we do, we are back in the soup again. Pres. Clinton since it is a ,ittle bit of a retrospective iof thank you to al gore here. I thank you to al gore. He loved to cut this joke about the budget. He said, nobody else can say this, whenever i felt, we win. [laughter] he only voted when there was a tie. Everybody is for change in general. And against it in particular. And people like it when it works out, but it requires effort, you have to be repaired debate a shortterm political price. Forieved, literally grieved lost that so many people their seats in congress in 1994, because we were seeing the beginning of a pattern. The truth is, it worked out pretty well for the American People. Watching cnn,was and the trailer came on and said , after they killed all these members of congress because they voted for the budget, but for the brady bill background checks and the assault weapons ban, that now 95 of the country supports comprehensive background checks, and 65 would support an assault weapons ban. [applause] that still does not mean you could survive voting for it. It all depends on who shows up. One of the great challenges we both face, and National Campaigns ending governance in the white house, is to realize that between you and the people you are trying to put first, the further you move away up the totem pole, the more layers there are between you and the people. And the more difficult and challenging it can be to communicate. So, you cannot be undisciplined, and you cannot be weak need about it. Kneed. Trying to reach people. It is a big part of the job. After i got in, i underestimated it. I was governor of a small southern state. The idea of being in touch with all of your people was natural and inevitable. When you are president or running for president , or when you are secretary of state, it requires strenuous effort against forces determined to see that you cannot communicate with people. That was all very exciting. For you, but great change is not easy. Theirof people checked careers at the door to make america stronger, safer, and a more fair place. In addition to economic progress, a 25 year low in the crime rate, a 33 year low in the ander rate, a 47 year low that gun death rate of all kinds. I think all of you who made that possible. I want to go to one of your areas of expertise. The economic success is what people remember. I was going in the library and i noticed that the mandela exhibit , i wish you could talk for a few minutes about the foreignpolicy successes we had. I think there were some real foreignpolicy achievements that tend to get overshadowed by the economic achievements. Thats right. Thank you for raising it. ,f you look at the eight years the United States played a major role in some significant foreignpolicy successes. Let me nana couple. First, the irish peace process. [applause] it would never have happened without bill deciding that United States was going to back it. That happened because of the campaign. When he was trying to get support, and people were still try to figure out who he was, and what he had done in arkansas, he had a meeting with irishamericans led by a man we both knew from law school. One of the requests was, if you get elected, would you be willing to play a more active role in trying to end the troubles . And built said he would. And bill said he would. Adams,ded to give gerry the head of sinn fein, which was seen as the equivalent of the ira, and there was an enormous uproar in opposition from the angus king government and our own ambassador in london, and people saying, no, do not do this. Bill said, you have to make people you have serious differences. He asked George Mitchell to be. He negotiator it went on for years. There was nothing fast and easy about it. He got to work about it. And he actually got it done. [applause] another important action that was taken involved europe, and involved the balkans. You remember the horrific war in bosnia, where it was almost a precursor of some of what we see in the world today, where disinformation and the media are to sew discord. Croats,had serbs and living peacefully together. Sarajevo hosted the olympics a few years before. Wasall of a sudden, there this intense effort to blame different groups and individuals within those groups. And a war started. And it was very difficult for the europeans to figure out what to do with it. Said the United States with others, not on our own, we try to end the war in bosnia. The late Richard Holbrook was the chief negotiator, and he did an extraordinary job in a really cornering milosevic, and they were able to craft a difficult resolution. , andurse, it was hard there were still outstanding issues as we saw later in kosovo milosevicr savage. Egin to deport people they had been loaded onto freight trains. Terribly reminiscent of what had happened in the europe in the 40s under hillard. Hitler. Bill said, we are going to end this. And he ran a Bombing Campaign against the bosnia. He forced them to end their deportation pork. They still have ofy still had a lot problems. These are difficult, terrible problems. He worked incredibly hard with his counterparts in israel to try to come up with a solution to that very challenging set of issues. He was at camp david with Prime Minister barack and yasser arafat. We remember the incredible photograph of the oslo accords being signed in 1993 on the white house lawn. On that moment forward, bill tried to find resolutions and ending conflict with jordan, and creating more support for israeli security, and recognizing the desires of the palestinians. Cap david got close, but not close enough. Consistent, concerted effort. When you think about that time, one of the really bright spots i think for the world. It was the election of mandela. [applause] mandela became a leader by list as the most admired people i ever met. With my understanding of history, ranking right up there. He became a close personal friend, and advisor, a mentor, and his example of how to pursue truth and reconciliation is something that i wish more of the world would Pay Attention to. There are many other things, but those are the ones that i immediately think about, and maybe you would like to add some ideas as well. Pres. Clinton i want to make a couple of points. First of all, since there are so many people here who not only , but helpedect us the only thing that compensates for the president being of vulnerable to be blamed when the sun does not, is that you get a fair amount of credit when all the people who work for you do something good. I want to thank everybody here. Hillary is talking about the balkans. One person who played a big role was less clark. Wes clark. He was Richard Holbrooks aid when we were tried to do that. Everything we did over eight years, there were somewhere between one and 100 people who deserved a major credit for the good outcome. I want to point that out. Serve inwillingness to public office, which make up or down depending on how they perceive it as a good or not good thing to do, is very important. And had a lot to do with it. Thing, hillary made all these points then talked about mandela. Why do we love mandela . Because he is not like what we do not like about todays politics. In todays politics, conflict is more important and cooperation. Attacking people and demeaning them and debasing them and dividing them is more important than treating them with respect, and lifting them up. Was in prison or house , andnement for 27 years yet he always treated people with respect and try to lift them up. He tried to bring them together, and succeeded in doing it. Instinctive me most americans who care about their country know that ever since the end of when the bipolar world of the former soviet union and the u. S. Went away, and we could have fights without blowing each other to kingdom come, even with the rise of it has been more profitable at home and around the world for many people to act like our differences are more important than our common humanity. That isple who say, oh, wrong, i want people to be reasonable and compromise, they may be, but they do not vote that way very much. Why . Because, sometimes we take our democracy for granted. We take our Public Servants for granted. Come, andpeople to election time comes, and we want can play into our fears or anger. Do not do that. Things that of the everybody who has governed since the end of the cold war has learned, the world is interdependent. We have to find a way to share the future. We have to have shared responsibilities. We have to bring the opportunity ,or Economic Growth to everyone for personal opportunity for their kids, for mobility, for Social Security and cultural dignity, and so far there are a lot of ragged edges. Because we say one thing and vote another. We were navigating all of that. So, i want you to think about that. To try tolike crazy bridge all these divides. Say, not thing i would necessarily in our interests, today while we are all celebrating, its hard for the United States to make peace if the leaders in the local region do not want to make peace. You can help a lot if people are in kind to do the right thing. Then you can maximize the benefits, and minimize the risks , and help to pave the way, which is what i tried to do in all of the situations hillary mentioned, and several others. First, you have to have the american poet Carl Sandberg said you have to want. You have to want this thing to work out. That is what i pray will happen for all of you and anybody you can reach. We cannot let this country go away. We cannot let our divisions eat us alive. We cannot trash our democracy and rob howard children and could and grandchildren. You have to want to do it. [applause] one of my favorite moments in the campaign took place at the Governors Mansion in arkansas, when we introduced al and tipper gore, and named al gore your running mate. Talk a little bit about that. You are identifying with the economy, and he was identifying with the environment. People i think today people do not think much about it. It was a groundbreaking choice. We were the same age from the same part of the country. Because he knew more about things than i did, certain things. I knew more about economics and education policy. State, federal relations. Hillary knew more about Childhood Development and education. But al gore knew more about nuclearion technology, and other defense issues, and the environment. Earth and the balance when it came out. No point inere was having this job unless you could make a difference in peoples lives and prepare for the future. So that is what we did. A lot of people thought it would be a big mistake politically. Because whensting president george w. Bush ran for president in 2000 and picked dick cheney, at the time he did he seemed he was taking a different path than he is now, but he was part of that neoconservative group. The idea became more current at the president and Vice President should be in sync. I think that is important because there are a surprising number of president s since our country began who were unable to finish their terms, and therefore you should pay a lot of attention who the Vice President is. I thought hillary made a very good selection of tim kaine from as her viceinia president joe running mate. [applause] they saw the world the same way. He had extraordinary executive experience and got things done. I think we need more of that in washington. Sec. Clinton i want to add onto that, the environment. Al gore has been a persistent ophet about Climate Change and the risks we face. [applause] work he admire the started as a senator, that he as vice continue president. He still continues it today. He has another movie out that is trying to change Public Opinion. Not only change Public Opinion but the decisionmaking of a lipid officials. Heres where we are now. When kyoto was signed and al represented the United States at the signing at kyoto, al and bill had great hopes they could persuade the senate to go along, and those hopes were dashed. And it was a bipartisan bashing. Both republicans and democrats. 980. Clinton sec. Clinton it doesnt get more bipartisan than that. To disabusemmitted people of, that trying to deal with the very threats of Climate Change would be bad for the american economy. And both bill and al tried during the 90s, despite a big resistance to make that case. And then, in the years after that there was a brief moment under george w. Bush when we thought we could make progress on Climate Change. I traveled around with john mccain and we went and looked at melting glaciers. We went to the northernmost inhabited place in the world to talk to their scientists. We went to alaska, and mccain really tried to put together a group of republicans to work with democrats on these issues. But here is the lesson. Climate change is one of those issues that a lot of people care about, that it is not their number one issue. It is like gun violence. A lot of people care about it, wish we could do something about it, that not everybody sees it as their number one issue. If you have a really did term view,llfunded minority that does nothing but try to prevent you from taking action on Something Like Climate Change, it is hard to make it a voting issue. What happened when president obama came into office, and i was honored to be secretary of state, we decided to make it a voting issue. We were going to try to do something about it. I went off to copenhagen and we made it commitment that the United States would be willing to help Fund Climate Science research, help fund mitigation efforts. The president joined me there. Meeting. Contentious it was incredibly difficult. The chinese and indians and the russians were not interested. We eventually pounded out an agreement. We got the First Agreement postkyoto, because nobody was going back to kyoto, is everybody knew the developing countries were growing faster, and they had to be part of the solution. Agreement, out an and in subsequent years more agreement was reached until we got to the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement really was the culmination of so much of the work of so many people including, and most notably, al gore. Along comes the new administration, and they post out of the Paris Agreement. And we are now the only country in the world not in the Paris Agreement. Even assad when he is not murdering his own people joined the agreement. We are losing Economic Opportunity. Back in the 90s, we tried to green the white house. We tried to do things that would demonstrate personal leadership. And we also, thanks to bill and this wasthe case that an Economic Opportunity for america. The fossil fuel guys are supporting trump and the republican party, and they are more than happy to prevent us from doing anything. And guess what, the chinese have decided they will dominate the renewable industry. They will be the primary exporter. All these actions have consequences. I really do, as i said in the beginning, give al gore a lot of credit for not giving up and never throwing the towel in, as frustrating as it must be for him. Right now he is without budget governors who are telling the some of us still understand the stakes, and we are not going to give up either. The environment was an important last point, and people forget about the many struggles that the clintongore administration had. [applause] james one of the things that always grabbed me, is that you helped found the Childrens Defense Fund in washington. [applause] the president and i were talking about this earlier. Accomplishments in the administration you are very involved in was chip. It,t now, as i understand there is a funding crisis. If you could please talk a little bit about children and anded states, and also chip what it means, and why it is so important that this program continue. Sec. Clinton i have to say that my commitment to Childrens Health really took off here in arkansas when i got involved with the arkansas Childrens Hospital. [applause] proud of what happened with the hospital, starting in the first term of bills governorship when the hospital wanted to grow so that every child in arkansas would be taking care of her regardless of ability to pay. And we would have the most sophisticated tertiary care that you could possibly provide. Leadership, there was a Great Partnership between a state and Childrens Hospital. ,e watched it grow and flourish and take care of so many children. I saw firsthand what a difference it made. Daughter, i saw how important it was to have the confidence and support you needed as a parent to make sure your child was taken care of. In 1993 if ied me would work on health care, eiffel shall he said, i would love to. I cannot imagine anything more important than taking care of Peoples Health care. I remember a governors meeting after that announcement, and mario cuomo who was governor of new york said, your husband just put you in charge of health care. Does that mean he loves you are hates you . [laughter] what happened. It was incredibly controversial. But it laid the groundwork for what we were able to achieve both with chip and the Affordable Care act. [applause] after we were unsuccessful with writ large, iform was determined we would take care of kids. During the time i was working on health care i traveled the country and met with so many people. I was at the Childrens Hospital in cleveland and i was meeting with parents who had children with chronic diseases but who were uninsured. We were sitting in a Conference Room and they were telling me their story. I got to a man who said, i have two daughters with cystic fibrosis. He said, i am a successful businessman. I could afford insurance, and nobody will so me a policy. I said, what do they say to you when you ask them to help you bear the cost of caring for your daughters . He said, i will tell you what the last Insurance Company i met with, what the agent told me. He looked at me when i explained what we were up against, and he said, you do not understand. We do not insure burning houses. And the man i was talking to had tears in his eyes. And he said, they called might little girls burning houses. I never got that image out of my head. So, i went to ted kennedy, and i talked to him about trying to figure out some way to cover kids. Senate,he master of the brought republicans on board, including orrin hatch. We worked to create a bipartisan Childrens Health Insurance Program at was a partnership between the federal government and the states. It helps to take care of 9 million kids a year. [applause] it primarily deals with families that are working families, or even successful families like the man i met in cleveland, whose employerbased health care does not insure them because of preexisting conditions, or because they hit their lifetime limits. And they are certainly making more money that would make them eligible for medicaid. They were in that no mans land. So, we got it passed, and every year since bill signed it into law, these 9,000,00010,000,000 kids have been taking care of. And i have probably done a lot of book signing, dozens, people who came to my book signings and Campaign Events thank me for chip. Yesterday in little rock, people came and said thank you. One young man said, i would not be alive if it were not for chip. I had cancer as a child. We ran out of money, ran out of insurance and thank goodness the chip program was enacted. So under george w. Bush, under president barack obama, chip was reauthorized. The program continued seamlessly. This congress in this white house have not reauthorized the program. States are starting to run out of money because it is a partnership and they rely on federal dollars. So, by the end of the year, unless it is reauthorized by the end of the year, nine million children and their families will be facing some very, very dire circumstances. I can only hope by the end of the year there will be some kind of deal that will provide that continuity. It is a program i am very grateful for that i had some small role in because of the lives saved and the futures given to somebody kids. It is the kind of thing we should do to take care of each other and give every child a chance to live up to his godgiven potential. [applause] james mr. President , 50 years from now the economic achievements, Foreign Policy achievements, i think the thing you will be remembered for more than anything else is the human genome project. I really believe it will happen. Talk a little bit about that. How was funded, what it is, what it could potentially mean to these Young Children here and in the future. Mr. Clinton i think one of the most important jobs is to keep america on the edge of Pioneering Research and development. I think that while we were getting rid of the deficit, determined to balance the budget, i want to do is to keep doing that. So i spent 3 billion of your money to sequence the human genome. A big National Scientific research effort. We made a private partnership who was funding his own private entity. I think it would have a major impact on the quality and length of life for the next generation and for hundreds of years to come. See if we can keep blowing see if we can keep from blowing things up and so we did it. Now you can get a genome analysis for considerably less than 3 million and we know that there have been well over 200 billion of Economic Activity generated out of that. So your rate of return on your tax dollar investment was about the highest we have ever gotten in the United States for that 3 billion. What do we know . We know that there are certain genetic variances which put women at high risk of breast cancer. So we know which women should start taking tests earlier. Pretty soon we will have the capacity to say to every mother of a young female baby to go home with basic genetic information. Were close to unlocking the mysteries of alzheimers and parkinsons and other things. So it is very important and yes, i agree with you it matters a great deal. It is not the only thing. I also made in five minutes a decision to put gps in the public domain. That made a huge difference. [applause] a lot of people do not want to do that. 20 years ago we started the first Cyber Security unit and in the national government, and we should have kept it going. Last year, israel got half of the investment of the world and private security. That should bother you. Even though they are our allies, the United States should be well ahead of them in Cyber Security investments. And the congress was not all that interested in it, but this is a very big deal. We spent the first 500 million of your money and this was all bipartisan by the way, in nanotechnology. One of the most interesting days i had when i was out campaigning for hillary was in Eastern Kentucky in the middle of appalachia in the eastern most university, morehead state. They asked me to look at their nanotechnology program. They are building in Eastern Kentucky what used to be coal eight pound satellites for a Million Dollars apiece. So i went to see this young guy, who was clearly supporting her, probably to risk life and limb where he was. [laughter] so, he is putting all of the nanotechnology for the satellite into a little box about an inch cube and i said, what is that box made of . And this kid in his hillbilly twang looked at me and said, tungsten, it does real well in outer space. [laughter] you . D, how old are 19. I said where you from . He said, right here. So we talked and he said, mr. President , he said can i tell you one more thing . I said sure. He said, tell hillary not to take it when people make fun of her for saying she is going to put up half a billion solar panels. He said, actually i think she is a little low. [laughter] i said, why do you think shes a little low . He said, because before you know it we will be making solar panels with 3d printers just like i made this little tungsten container. And when we do, they will be as cheap as dirt and just as good and we will all be sitting pretty. And i thought to myself what why am i telling you this . Because that young man did not feel the walls closing in on him. He felt the walls opening up. So he voted for the person he thought would open the most doors, not the people who would build the most walls. [applause] [applause] mr. Clinton wait, why am i mr. Clinton wait, why am i telling you this . He could as i tried. Look, try not to do anything stupid and i tried to find a way to say whatever i was going to say that i knew i would be dangerously unpopular but i did try to level with people and tell them we could not roll back the tides. All share. We had to be both responsible we ought to be going with the future and a future we can all share. At the time, it was easier we had to be both responsible and opportunistic if we wanted to build a future we can all share. But at the time, it was easier. I mean, we put out this little booklet. Little booklet. You had to be kind of a nerd to support. We got over votes between the sixpersonnd eight vote. Why . Because back then there were actually hiring people to do a job. That is very important. Ire not being hired wouldnt tell all these people from arkansas we never, we had one month in the previous eight years. Only one where the unemployment was below the national average. We led the country in job graph growth every single year in 1995. It takes a long time to turn the economy around. 1970 8, 1992, one of the most improved School Systems in the country thanks to the nofault measure from hillary for that. [applause] mr. Clinton and the other state was South Carolina when i made bill oreilly taker of education. Our job was to create more everywhere without regards to race or gender or identity like the kid in kentucky making nanotechnology satellites. So, i want you to think about ibecause they say that felt like a great moral victory had been one. 140 up to 280 categories. You are laughing by i want you to know, being president is a job. You hire somebody to do a job. You have to say, when of the things are, where do you want to go . How do you propose to get from here to there and how are we going to do it together in benefit together. You have to put people first. You have to have some idea how to get there. With the greatest honor of my life first of all i had this laboratory of training is a governor here for secondlyose years in that i got to start at a time when grassroots politics still mattered and when people listened to each other in they did not just want to think of some new put down and it wasnt a question of whose resentment was better than someone else was it was who had better answers. In the end, if you believe in putting people first, you have to have an otherdirected politics. It might not work for the people who are communicating for you and the political media, that might not be the most financially remunerative or emotionally successful strategy but in the end that is what counts. Puttingud of her for for the rest of our lives together. [applause] [cheers] [cheers and applause] james so i think there is an elephant in the room. Me, if there is an elephant, it is this. We talked a lot about children. I think one of the real values that all of us who have been privileged to be associated with we earnestlyhat believe and earnestly taught our children that life was a struggle but at the end of the day, if you prepare, work hard, are willing to accept risk and if you understood that there were setbacks in life, that you would ultimately achieve your goals. This is been a hard year. A hard year for parents. To help us and help these young people, how we talk about things in light of the events a little over a year ago. Mrs. Clinton well, i wrote a book what happened. Oh [what happened what happened to her coat whatbody gets happened. Everybody gets knocked down. What happens is you get up. The core of the message, james, that we were told and that we try to tell our kids remains absolutely true. To have to find ways overcome disappointment. And for me itth was my family, my friends, my faith. It was a lot of long walks in the woods. Yoga. Nostril reading, i highly recommend it. ] pplause and laughter cleaning my it was closets. Jobs that had a beginning, middle, and an end. Reading a lot of mysteries, because the bad guy always got it in the end. [applause] to fallnton but trying back on the consistent message that i certainly got from my parents and that, you know, i have tried to impart to my daughter and well likewise try to do the same with my grandchildren, life is not always fair. The struggle does not always go the way that you hoped or planned. But life is too short to give it to the kind of disappointment or losing that comes with or with suffering some kind of setback. And so, for me, it was getting back up and taking stock of where i was and where i thought the country was because i think also in this particular case country past year, the at least a majority of the country has similarly felt that something went amiss. Do, iat ive tried to have a new Organization Called onward together to support individuals and groups that are really harnessing a lot of the grassroots activism and energy that is out there to try to push changesinst some of the that are being imposed from washington and ultimately win some elections. I was really heartened by what happened in virginia about 10 days ago. [applause] the clinton so i think general message remains the same. But i also think we have to be willing to kind of take apart everything that led to the defeat in 2016 and i tried to do that in this book because obviously i talk about the myrtcomings i had and that campaign had and that ultimately, i am responsible because it was my name on the ballot by there were other but there were other forces at work and it was like a perfect storm. There was a lot that was you know, was unprecedented weather was the intervention by the fbi at the last minute for no good reason or russia, which we are learning about more everything will day, or suppressing the vote. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people across the country unfairly prevented from voting even though they are just as much a citizen and registered and tried as hard as they could but could not cross the barriers that have been erected since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act. When i talk about what happened, i am very focused on making sure it does not happen again. So that is why am speaking out continue toe speak out and i am going to do to haveng i can to try an election in 2018 that is about real things. You know, this is one of the challenges for bill and me. I will be very clear about that, over the last several years year for him talk about how much he loves getting out around arkansas listening to people. I was with him every step of the way when identity education standards. We held hearings in every county of the state. We were so in touch with and able to listen to thousands and kansans andf our ar try to take that on board and figure out, ok. What are we going to do. Have a clearer channel for communication. Unfortunately, our bali politic immune system has been our immune system has been compromised because starting with the creation of the fox network it was not there when bill first ran. It was one of the first reasons he probably survived. Theas there when he ran second time. Associatedf its media outlets, who are by no means delivering news. They are delivering partisan efficacy positions irrespective of the truth, the fact, the evidence. And i think we have to stand up regardless of what party. Regardless of our own ideological beliefs. A democracy depends upon an informed citizenry that has access to Accurate Information and i will tell you that [applause] mrs. Clinton there is no such thing as alternative facts. It does not exist. In politics or in nature. And, it was astonishing to me the things people believed about me and this campaign. And, some of my arkansas traveler friends and some of my other friends from literally my childhood to adulthood and all of the places ive lived and worked, they were out there knocking on doors and calling people and they would run into folks and they would get somebody on the front porch and they would say, you know, i am here campaigning work Hillary Clinton ive known her since its great. I want to loss go with her. I worked with her the Childrens Defense Fund. Wherever they identified themselves. And i would like you to support her. More times than you could believe they would get an answer like, i cant support her. She killed somebody. I cant support her, she runs a child trafficking ring in the basement of a pizzeria. And my friends would be totally be wilderness and they would say, no she didnt. I know her. I have known her for decades. No she did not. Oh yeah, i saw it on the internet. Now we know russia was sending a lot of those messages on the internet. They were stealing information, providing phony news. Bethere is reason to disappointed and reason to feel like, you know, we did not succeed and that is hard to live with. Very painful. But there is also a call to action. We cannot let our politics be turned into a fiction that benefits a very small minority of americans and [applause] and, you know, im going to keep speaking out. Apparently, you know, my former opponent is obsessed with my speaking out. Apparently there is another tweet today. Honestly, between tweeting and golfing, how does he get anything done . I do not understand it. Maybe that is the whole point. But, yes, resilience is the key and it is not only the key for individuals, it is the key for our country. Take everywe have to election seriously. Not just residential elections. We need to vote in every election. This 2018 election is going to be really important for our country and you know, the best antidote to disappointment is to keep fighting and keep working and be successful and that is what we intend to do on behalf of the country that we love and we have tried in our own ways to serve over all these years. James one more time. The man from hope. The man always looking. Dont stop thinking about tomorrow. Talking about tomorrow, tell us at this hour of our despair, why s best daysamerica is still ahead of it. I know you have always believed that. How do we make sure that happens . Clinton first of all, we are the best positioned country in the world for the future so if we screw this up, it will require a lot of willful look, in the last election she won the popular vote. And, if the voters, we have a this, disagreement about about what really happened. If the voters had not been told female, the most important issue since the end of world war ii i doubt if the attorney general couldve thrown doubt if the election couldve been thrown in the end. We all have to go back and harness here and try to get ourselves a basic remark beyond which we will not go in arguing the issue so we are just out there and la la land. I tell you what we should be optimistic, because having lost it, i can tell you, use matters. Youth matters. We are one of the youngest countries on earth. You should be optimistic because we have so many immigrants because like every other wealthy country, the birth rate among our native born are going down to barely replacement level. Younghave to have more people. You should be optimistic because notwithstanding what you were told, if you count the documented in to the undocumented immigrants in this country, the crime rate is one half the rate of the nativeborn. You should be optimistic because were people here from count all and if you of the terrible things that have been done by muslims expressing aspect resentment about of American Life in the modern world, their murder rate is one third that of the nativeborn. Thiswe have got to stop you want to if get the resentment, you can. The problem with the people who did not vote for her and dont listen to me anymore and think i am you know, gone over to the dark side, is that they live in places not with a lot of immigrants are a lot of muslims who have of people been transgender or anything else. They live in places where there is not enough mobility because there is not enough investment because theres not a National Network of broadband put everybody in the Global Economy because nobody will stand up , yes, oursay differences matter but what we have in common is much more important. The genome that James Carville started with, he said this would be my greatest legacy. To know what everyone of you should say not about this. It does not matter if each of us lives to be 120. Every difference in this vast crowd today is rooted in one half of 1 of your genome. There are 3. 6 billion genomes in the body. Percent isalf of a peanuts compared to the 99 and a half percent we all share. Shape, skin, body color, eye color, you name it. 5 oft we assess for 99 the time. Why should we not spend just a reallymore time if we put people first again, we would think about how we can share the future. I am optimistic about america because of our diversity and because of what we did with the genome, because we are where we are in science and technology. Because we were ranked and second in the world above all advanced countries in the ability to fight crime and change by Generating Energy from the sun, the wind, and other sources. Name me one single solitary thing we are leading the otherstill in all this stuff. Weve got more than enough juice to get back in the front of the internetyou know, it , all of this Information Technology stuff. The only thing getting in our way is our stupid politics. Insistence on putting private interest in front of public interest. [indiscernible] i am feel, look, this unsympathetic. Two i very much. Stop griping when they take your votes away. Stop griping when they redistrict your Congressional District and your representative district. Every one of these elections it probably would not happen. So do i approve of it . No. I do not approve of it. I think it should be illegal and unconstitutional but we are getting in our own way. We could build the most modern infrastructure of any country in the world and Interest Rates are still low. We can build alliances around the world. We can tweak our trade agreements if they need improvement but we should not run away from the rest of the rope, that is what i think. You should be optimistic. We are the best positioned country in the world. All you have to do is have politics and thinks about the future of the children here instead of whether you can when a cheap shot by driving a stake the between americans in the short run. Otherwise, i do not feel strongly about this. Applause] james two points i want to make before we leave and to me they are very important. The first one is, the way over here i got a call from my best friend. Do,eminded me that they gallup polls or someone does a survey on the most admired women in the country and the person who has one that survey most often in all of its existence is one Hillary Rodham clinton. [cheers and applause] s so [cheers and applause] james i kind of thought you would like that. Just this morning, i was on the phone and happened to be doing research and i came in, i talked to the president. I think i am right. I will probably be fact checked on this but i think i am on really solid ground. Years,last 35 years, 35 a clinton has run for public office, put themselves before. He voters 18 times president clinton, 11. Secretary clinton, seven times you have run. Do you know, of the 18 times, how many a clinton has gotten the most votes . That would be 18. Savin could not do that. And 35 years, you are 180. I have to tell you this, somebody somewhere out there really loves you guys. That is one heck of a record. Mrs. Clinton james, before we close i want to say a really heartfelt word of thank you to our team here at the president ial center in the library. I want to thank everybody but in particular i want to thank bruce lacey and stephanie street and lena them more and who workedverybody for them in with them. Theclintons golf of Clinton School, we are really, really proud of what the center in the library and the school are doing and we did not want time to pass without thanking and of course we want to thank the family that has been friends with us for a really long time for sponsoring the lecture series. Mr. Clinton and i want to say, you know, we are very reluctant to start recognizing but we have already recognize the arkansas travelers. Georgia, florida, missouri, other places, there are a lot of people here who were in that 1992 campaign. David, frank, stephanie, thank you very much. Here he thompson from california. 1992body who is in that campaign. It is different now. Notit one thing should be different. To talkd still be able to our friends and neighbors about things that are about their lives without having people whose sole goal is to gain power by discrediting, disabuse income a confusing abolishing the line between fact and fiction and truth and lie. So if you want to think about something for next time, think about how to get people to vote at midterm and think about how the next generation can do a better job than i could anymore. Snapchat, twitter, creating space to remind people that my great uncle buddy used to say, when people make you mad they are trying to stop you from inking and there is something to thinkingop you from and there is something to be said for thinking. I want to thank you all. That if let you know you do not stop thinking about tomorrow and you never forget that we have to go together in that our racial diversity makes it smarter and better. Our gender diversity makes it smarter and better. Our Ethnic Diversity makes it smarter and better and that diverse groups of people make homogenoussions than groups. Dont forget that. Was thinking about all of who would say, what is your crazy boss reading today and what new help does that mean what in the hell does that mean excuse me but that is what i want for you. Ask yourself how youre going to keep score as we clock our way through this mess. Our way through this mess. Look at the young people here. All that matters. All that matters is whether people are better off if you quit than when you started and those kids future. It is better to come together than to beat when apart. As one of hillarys favorite phrases, all of the rest his background music. Play the main theme. Dont stop thinking about tomorrow. Thank you. Please welcome skip whether ford, dean of the university of Arkansas School of Public Service. [applause] skip weatherford, dean of the university of Arkansas School of Public Service. [applause] president clinton, secretary clinton, and james. It is always great having you back. I want to thank you clintons not only for your candor but for your inspiration. Thank you very much. That was a wonderful program. I want to think the Clinton Foundation and at t and special thanks to the family whose generous gift honoring your parents made this lecture possible. Thank you very much. Clinton, back to 1992, 1 to say on behalf of arkansas advocates for holdren and families, one to say on behalf of the arkansas singleparent scholarship fund, and i want to say on behalf of the many families that you bringing hippie to arkansas. From a personal perspective of working on that board with you, for the thousands of children that are alive and thriving because of that intensive care nursery that you brought to arkansas at arkansas Childrens Hospital and tonight when you drive, drive by Childrens Hospital and see those lights living 30 plus children because of Hillary Clintons work in arkansas. [applause] so from that aint store on some street to 1200 president clinton avenue, 25 years has been one heck of a ride. For the next 25 years, mr. President , madam secretary, just know that it will be Clinton School graduates who will be putting people first all over arkansas, america, and the world. Thank you for joining us. Have a safe trip home. Applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer thanksgiving day on cspan, here are some of the highlights. Honoring johnadow mccain and the National Constitution center. Secretary of state john kerry receiving a Lifetime Achievement award. And that 2 45 p. M. , new york columnist discusses character and the presidency. At three 10 p. M. , authors discuss the middle class and politics. At 4 50 p. M. , Eric Erickson on his book before you wake life lessons from a father to his children. At 9 50 a. M. , a book on teddy roosevelt. At two 55 p. M. Eastern from the National Archives a look at the first Motion Picture world war ii films. Thanksgiving day on the cspan networks. The cspan buses traveling across the country on our 50 capital store. We recently stopped in austin, texas, asking folks, what is the most important issue in their state. To me, hoping that texas will get rid of unnecessarily and burdensome occupational regulations. I believe the most important issue is tax reform. And we an out dated tax need to get that fixed. I think one of the most important issues, possibly the most important issue facing texans in washington is transparency in government. I do not think there can be enough of this and i do not ever dor leaders could enough to be more transparent in terms of not only their own activities on behaviors but i think also the kinds of records that are used in government and need to see the light of day. The citizens teaser to know what is going on in washington. The most important issue for the same texas is educational choice. Every errant has a right to direct their childs education. Announcer voices from the state on cspan. Negotiators representing canada, mexico, and the u. S. Are negotiating a rewrite of the nafta trade deal. We discussed nafta and the negotiations on washington journal. This is 45 minutes. Now at the guests table to talk to us about the Trump Administration trade policy and general. Peterson institute for International Economics and the global trade watch director. Good morning to both of you. I want to start with this headline out of bloomberg. Nafta talks are getting bogged down. I want to get you to respond to this. What are the