A More Perfect Union
The Democratic National Convention is in full swing, as you all know. The following is the text of Former President Clinton’s speech. I think it is well worth the read:
Now, how do they pay for that deficit? First, by taking the Social Security surplus that comes in every month and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to pay for the tax cuts. But it’s not enough.
So then they have to go borrow money. Most of it they borrow from the Chinese and the Japanese government.
Sure, these countries are competing with us for good jobs, but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? I mean, come on.
So if you think - if you believe it is good policy - if you believe it is good policy to pay for my tax cuts with the Social Security checks of working men and women and borrowed money from China and Japan, you should vote for them. If not, John Kerry’s your man.
We Americans must choose for president…
… we’ve got to choose for president between two strong men who both love their countries, but who have very different world views: our nominee, John Kerry, who favors shared responsibility, shared opportunity and more global cooperation; and their president and their party in Congress who favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action.
I think we’re right for two reasons.
First of all, America just works better when more people have a chance to live their dreams.
And, secondly, we live in an interdependent world in which we cannot possibly kill, jail or occupy all of our potential adversaries. So we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists.
Now, we tried it their way for 12 years. We tried it their way for 12 years. We tried it our way for eight years. Then we tried it their way for four more. But the only test that matters is 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 for the middle class, over 100 times as many people moved from poverty into the middle class, 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 a respected America in the world. More importantly, 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’re trying to shape; and Elizabeth, a lawyer and mother, who understands the lives we’re trying to live.
Now, let me tell you know what I know about John Kerry. I’ve been seeing all of the Republican ads about him. Let me tell you what I know about him.
During the Vietnam War, many young men, including the current president, the vice president and me, could have gone to Vietnam and didn’t. John Kerry came from a privileged background. He could have avoided going too, but instead, he said: Send me.
When they sent those swiftboats up the river in Vietnam and they told them their job was to draw hostile fire, to wave the American flag and bate the enemy to come out and fight, John Kerry said: Send me.
And then, on my watch, 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.
Then when we needed someone to push the cause of inner-city children 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 created new jobs, or to give small businesses a better chance to make it, John Kerry said: Send me.
So tonight, my friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry’s story and promoting his ideas. Let every person in this hall and like-minded people all across our land say to him what he has always said to America: Send me.
The bravery that men who fought by his side in battle, that bravery they saw in battle, I have seen in politics. 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 the way to win a popularity contest in our party.
John Kerry took tough positions on tough problems. He knows who he is and where he’s going. He has the experience, the character, the ideas, the values to be a great president.
And in a time of change, he has two other very important qualities: an insatiable curiosity to understand the world around him, and a willingness to hear other views, even those who disagree with him. Therefore…
Therefore, John Kerry will make choices that reflect both conviction and common sense. He proved that when he picked John Edwards to be his partner.
Now, everybody talks about John Edwards’ energy and intellect and charisma. You know, I kind of resent him.
But the important thing is not what talents he has, but how he has used them. He chose - he chose to use his talents to improve the lives of people like him who had to work for everything they’ve got and to help people too often left out and left behind. And that’s what he’ll do as our vice president.
Now their opponents will tell you…
Their opponents will tell you we should 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 opposing values.
They go hand in hand.
They go hand in hand, and John Kerry has both. His first priority will be to keep America safe.
Remember the scripture: Be not afraid.
John Kerry and John Edwards are good people with good ideas, ideas to make the economy work again for middle-class Americans, to restore fiscal responsibility, to save Social Security, to make health care more affordable, college more available, to free us from dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs with clean energy and a cleaner environment…
… to rally the world to our side in the war against terror and to make a world with more friends and less terror.
My friends, 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 deep in the reach of freedom and strengthen the bonds of our community. It happened every time, because we made the right choices.
In the early days of the republic, America was divided and at a crossroads, much as 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 to build a more perfect union.
In the Civil War, America was at another crossroads, deeply divided over whether to save the union and end slavery. We chose a more perfect union.
In the 1960s, when I was a young man, we were divided again over civil rights and women’s rights. And again we chose to form a more perfect union.
As I said in 1992, I say again tonight, we are all in this together. We have an obligation, both to work hard and to help our fellow citizens, an obligation 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, we should choose a captain of our ship who is a brave good man, who knows how to steer a vessel through troubled waters, to the calm seas and the clear sides of our more perfect union. That is our mission.
So let us go in tonight and say to America in a loud, clear voice: Send John Kerry.
God bless you.
