Pres. Clinton invited everyone from Children's Town over at the White House for an informal discussion about the state of the US and the world. Clinton expressed his viewpoints on various topics that cover education and employment, Bosnia, race relations, the urban youth, children and violence and health care reform. The President also shared his perceptions of the media, public expectations, cattle grazing fees and smoking. Clinton wishes a safe and secure childhood for everyone.
Mr. Jennings. One other thing I cannot help but to have noticed, there hasn't been a question this morning about Whitewater. We'll be right back. |Laughter~
|At this point, the television stations took a commercial break.~
Mr. Jennings. Well, we've got about a minute left, Mr. President.
The President. I want to talk to you more about the prayer question.
Mr. Jennings. Okay. I must say that this year's group is incredibly eager and determined to ask their question. We've only got a minute or so left. Do you March 19, 1994
Mr. Peter Jennings. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, especially, boys and girls, and welcome back to the White House really. This is the second time that President Clinton has invited us back to the White House so that he and a group of children we've invited from around the country can exchange ideas about the state of the country and the state of the world. It's a chance for him and for them to talk about their dreams. So we hope you'll stay with us this morning.
If our timing is right, the President is just coming down from upstairs, in a house which we all know he loves very much.
Good morning, Mr. President.
The President. Good morning, Peter.
Mr. Jennings. Thank you for having us back, sir.
The President. I'm glad you're back.
Mr. Jennings. You really have spent a lot of time studying this house, haven't you?
The President. I have. Every President but George Washington has lived here. And so it's really the story of America. And it's a great honor to live here. So I like to know the history of it, and I like to know the things that happened to the people who lived here and what happened in which rooms and things. I've kept up with it pretty well.
Mr. Jennings. You all know there are a lot of kids in the East Room waiting to see us. But surprising, to me at least, a number of them asked us whether or not the President had to live here. |Laughter~ And I just asked you that a moment ago.
The President. I don't know.
Mr. Jennings. We'll have to find that-----
The President. Isn't that funny, I don't know. I don't think anyone's ever volunteered to live anywhere else, except once when there was a big renovation of the White House when President Truman was President, I think he had to spend more than 2 years out of here, across the street.
Mr. Jennings. We have actually a little--we're going to go into the East Room now, but we have just to introduce you or reintroduce you in many cases to what this is like, a little history package while you and I walk it. Ready?
|At this point, a short film about the history of the White House was shown.~
Mr. Jennings. And there is the White House, on a very sunny, lovely day here in Washington here. And we are, of course, in the East Room, which has its own great sense of history. And here all these boys and girls have joined us from around the country.
You notice the President's tie, everybody?
Audience members. Yes.
The President. This tie was designed by a 13-year-old named Kelly. It's called "Save the Children," and it's part of a series of ties designed by children for the Save the Children Foundation. It's a group that works on the problems of children in poor communities and poor neighborhoods around America. And my wife and I have been involved in it for a long time. So they take the drawings of children, turn them into ties, and then sell the ties to raise funds. It's great; I have a lot of them.
Mr. Jennings. I bet people send you ties every day of the year, don't they?
The President. Every day of the year, just about. I especially love these. I bet I've had 20 of these ties; they're great.
Mr. Jennings. We have a lot of questions for you this morning, Mr. President, so we're going to go away for just one second. And then we'll have you and all these youngsters from around the country talk to one another.
We'll be right back.
|At this point, the television stations took a commercial break.~
Mr. Jennings. Mr. President, I said a lot of these kids had questions. How many of you have got questions for the President? We're going to be here for several days. You don't mind that, do you?
The President. No.
Mr. Jennings. Let's get right to it. Kevin, how about you?
Education and Employment
Q. My first question is for those children who wish to pursue a college education: What are you going to do to guarantee that there are jobs for them when they get out of college? Today, many adults have graduate degrees, bachelors--they have a hard time finding jobs. They have as good a chance as those who are straight out of high school. What are you going to do to guarantee that when I get out of college, I have a job waiting for me?
The President. I don't know that I can guarantee it, but I think we can make it more likely. But perhaps the main reason I ran for President was to try to restore the economic health of the country. And what I am trying to do is to follow policies that will generate more jobs in America. I have tried to bring our deficit down, get interest rates down to create more jobs. I've tried to open more markets to our products and sell more American products overseas. I've tried to train people to do the jobs of tomorrow, and I've tried to take the technologies that we developed when we had a big defense budget and turn them into jobs in the peacetime economy. And in the last 13 months, since we had this meeting last, we created over 2 million new jobs in this economy.
And let me also say, I know it's tough for college graduates, but let me tell everyone of you one thing: Your chances of getting a good job are still much, much better if you first graduate from high school, then get at least 2 years of further training, and finally, if you get a college degree. The unemployment rate in America for college graduates is 3.5 percent. The unemployment rate for high school dropouts is 11.5 percent.
Mr. Jennings. So the answer is, stay in school.
The President. So the answer is, even though it's tougher than it has been for college graduates, you still have a much better chance if you stay in school to have higher incomes and to have a job.
Mr. Jennings. Let's go over to the other side, here. Who's got a question there? Yes, go ahead.
Bosnia
Q. Mr. President, why are you fighting a war in another country when you have a war right here?
The President. Which war?
Q. The war in Bosnia.
The President. We're not fighting a war there. We're trying to help them bring the war to an end because many people are being killed and because the war could spread and because we have an obligation to try to support that. But we don't have soldiers on the ground there. I am trying to fight the war right here at home. There's a bill in the Congress now that I am supporting, which would put another 100,000 police officers on the street to make the streets and the schools safer, that would give more money for young people for programs to help them resolve their differences peacefully, would take semi-automatic weapons off the street, and would help us to fight the war here at home. I agree that the war here at home is killing more people than a lot of wars overseas, and we're trying to fight that one. And you're right, we should be fighting it.
Mr. Jennings. Right here in the front row. What's your name.
Race Relations
Q. Gary.
I was wondering, with all the racial problems going on, such as people not treating each other the same way, do you have any plans for solving that problem?
Mr. Jennings. A lot of people worked hard on their questions here.
The President. Yes, they're great. There is a lot of racial tension in this country today. And I think there are two things that we have to do about it. First of all, we have to remind the American people that we have always been a multiethnic, multiracial country. We've always been a country with a lot of different racial and ethnic groups. And every time a new group came along, they've often been subject to prejudice. But what's made our country great is that we have been able to successfully blend in people of different races and religions and ethnic groups, let them respect what's different about them, and still live together. And I spend a lot of time working on that, talking to young people, talking to groups, trying to bring people together. I brought more diverse people into my Government than any President has in the past.
The second thing we have to do is to try to give a future back to all of our people. A lot of times people fight with one another if they think they don't have any opportunity. If we had more jobs and better education and a better climate in America, less crime, then people would be more relaxed and better able to appreciate one another.
I don't know if anybody's here from Los Angeles, but just for example, Los Angeles County alone has people from 150 different racial and ethnic groups. In Bosnia, you mentioned Bosnia, people from basically three different groups have been fighting and killing each other. So we've been, with all of our problems, we've been pretty successful. But we've got to know that our differences--look around this room--our differences in America are our strength. We live in a global economy, a smaller and smaller world. And the fact that we have so many different races and religions and ethnic groups is a good thing for America, and we have to learn to like it.
Mr. Jennings. Mr. President, you--Gary, are you happy with that answer, by the way?
Q. Yes.
Mr. Jennings. You are, are you? If you're not, you're entitled to tell him.
We know a lot of these kids, Mr. President, because we went out and we looked around the country to find kids who were sort of representative of various ideas in the country. One of them is Tanya up there. Hi, Tanya. Show the President just a little bit about you on the monitor here, and then we'll get you to talk to him.
|At this point, a videotape of Tanya talking with the Vice President at Dunbar High School was shown.~
Mr. Jennings. This is Tanya. Tanya sort of came to our attention when she met your Vice President at a meeting.
The President. At Dunbar. Are you a student at Dunbar? Good, I recognize the film.
Mr. Jennings. All right, so let's come out of the film now. All right Tanya, your turn.
Urban Youth
Q. Good afternoon. My question is going towards inner city kids. We feel as though the baby boomers have forgotten that the chaos that we create was given to us by you all. We want the problem to be stopped, but we need help. A lot of us are tired of hearing that we are a lost generation when we are not. We are a generation of renewal. And we want to know, what steps are you going to take to give us the hope, the pride, and the strength that we need to succeed in the future and to become. strong, black, white, Chinese, African-American people in the society, 10 and 30 and 20 years in the future?
Mr. Jennings. Tanya, can I ask you a question before the President answers? Do you think the President can do a lot about that? Do you think he makes a really enormous difference here?
Q. He makes a very enormous difference, but one thing a lot of people fail to realize, if you don't come into the communities on positive notes, when you come for negative notes, it really angers a lot of people. It's angered me a lot. And I want the media and you, also, to know that I wanted to leave Mr. Gore very baffled, and I'm glad I left him baffled because I want him to understand that you need to come when positive things happen and not just come when negative things happen.
The President. I agree with that. Let me just make two comments about that, and then I'll try to answer your question.
We, at least, do come. I mean, he and I have been out there. My wife has been out there. We have been in inner city communities. We have walked streets that you don't normally see the President walking. We have been to places you don't normally see the President go. And I agree that we should support success stories.
I was in Detroit last week, and sure, Detroit has a lot of inner city problems. They also have, perhaps, the best job training program of its kind in America for inner city kids, putting them in very high wage, high-tech jobs. So I visited that program because it's a success story. It proves that all children can learn. So I agree with that. We shouldn't just show up when something terrible happens.
The second thing I want to say to you is that, essentially, everything that I do is designed to try to give young people like you some hope and some structure and some opportunity back. I agree that generations ahead of you have left you a pretty lousy situation. You've got all these kids that are born into families where there was never a marriage. You've got all these neighborhoods where the jobs have disappeared. You've got all these places where the schools have, in effect, been given up on. And that's not your fault. You just showed up. I mean, you're a child; you shouldn't have to deal with that, except to do your best. So what we're trying to do is to find ways to rebuild communities, rebuild schools, and bring the jobs back into the community and, at the same time, to follow policies which strengthen the family unit instead of undermine it, which encourage people to take responsibility for their children and reward them if they do it.
Let me just give you an example. The welfare system has often encouraged families to break up. We're supporting a welfare reform program that will encourage families to stay together as well as to get jobs. We've got a tax system that we've changed so that when taxes are due this year, 16 and a half percent of the American taxpayers, working parents with very modest wages, are going to get a tax cut to help them raise their children better, to strengthen them. We've got school reform bills going through Congress now to try to help strengthen schools to have more uniform excellence.
Now, those are things we're doing. I also have to tell you though, when kids get in trouble, they get in trouble one by one, and they have to be saved one by one. So we also need--the President needs soldiers, common workers in this battle. And that's why what people do in every school, in even neighborhood and every family and even church is important.
Mr. Jennings. Probably got some potential soldiers here.
The President. You bet, a lot of them.
But you're right, we owe you a better deal than you're getting, and I'm trying to give it to you. But you all are going to have to do your part, too.
The President's Schedule
Mr. Jennings. Now, there are a lot of serious questions, I know, here. But somebody had a question about the White House itself and about the President's day. They've all got shy and serious on me. A lot of them wanted to know whether or not you find this too big a job sometimes and wonder how you get everything done in one day.
The President. Sometimes I don't, and sometimes it is too big a job. But I have a lot of help, for one thing. A lot of good people work here, and we work hard to try to organize the day well. So I try to get up in the morning, go run, see my daughter before she goes off to school. And then I come in and I start every day with a briefing on national security, has anything happened in the rest of the world that could affect the United States, that we have to be concerned about? Then I get briefings on what's happened in the United States, and I read clippings from newspapers around the country to see what's happened. And then we start work, and we just work through these problems. And normally I finish at about 7 p.m. at night, sometimes a little later.
Mr. Jennings. You work every day?
The President. Yes.
Mr. Jennings. Don't take a day off every week?
The President. Sunday. I try to take Sunday off, but I don't always make it. But I try to work a half day on Saturday, take Sunday off, but Monday through Friday I work until pretty late at night.
Mr. Jennings. I think some of us know that.
The President. And sometimes until 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. at home when I read.
Children and Violence
Mr. Jennings. Now, there have been some pretty trying events on your watch in the year and a bit since you've been President. And one of them occurred in California. And we have a young lady here this morning.
Hi, Annie. You're getting tired, aren't you?
Q. Not really.
Mr. Jennings. Oh, you're not. Oh, good, good. I want the President to take a look at the television monitor here so he knows a little bit more about you.
|At this point, a videotape was shown in which Annie Nichol explained that since her sister, Polly Klaas, was kidnapped and murdered, she no longer feels safe. She also explained that she keeps items such as loud bells and ropes in her bedroom because they help her to feel safe at night.~
Mr. Jennings. Well, of course, that is Annie Nichol who is the sister of Polly Klaas, who, as you know, was kidnapped in northern California, became enormous news in the country. We asked Annie to come partly because she wanted to, but partly because when we talked to kids around the country, enormous numbers of them are concerned about their safety.
So Annie, away you go.
Q. Well, the other day when I was on the plane coming here, I asked my Mom, do you think I'm going to live to grow up? And my sister, Polly, didn't live to grow up, so I didn't feel that safe. And my question is, I just don't feel very safe, and I want America to be safer for children.
Mr. Jennings. And you think the President can do something, don't you?
The President. I agree. I think I could. Let me say, first of all, you're a brave girl to come here and let us see your story. As you probably know, I talked to some of your family members. And I'm doing what I can to change some laws.
Let's talk about it a little bit. First of all, there are people who get paroled out of prison who have serious problems and who are very likely to repeat them who should not be released. That's one thing that your sister's case has made people sensitive to. And that's why we're working on some laws to identify people who are serious threats to society who will likely repeat their crimes and not let them out.
The second thing we have to do is to try to make our communities and our streets safer. That's why I'm trying to pass a bill to take these assault weapons off the street and to put more police officers on the street to make the streets safer.
And then there's a lot of violence against children that occur in their own homes from family members and in schools, and we are trying to start programs now all across America where people learn to resolve their differences in nonviolent ways, to stop hurting each other and shooting each other and acting on impulse.
You do live in a country that's too dangerous. And we have to make it less dangerous. And it is a huge obligation that I feel, and I think about it every day. You know, I have a little girl, too. I want the children of this country to be able to grow up on safe streets and safe schools and safer homes. And I think that there are some very specific things we can all do about it.
We also need to change our attitudes. You may see pretty soon a public service announcement I did with a young woman from Washington, DC, a 14-year-old girl named Alicia Brown. She went to the sixth funeral of a friend of hers just yesterday. Six of her friends have been shot. So we did this public service announcement together--it's going to be on television--talking to young people and asking them to help us turn America away from violence.
Mr. Jennings. When you were young, Mr. President, do you ever remember being in a room with kids and people asked you if you felt safe?
The President. Never. When I was a kid, people beat each other up. I mean, the only thing you ever worried about was somebody coming up to you on the street or in an alley or something and jumping you and beating you up. Nobody ever shot anybody, there were none of this--I mean, to speak of--there was very little of this, the kidnappings, the kind of thing that happened to your sister--much more rare then. It's much worse today.
Mr. Jennings. What do you think. Annie?
Q. Well, for one thing, that I think is that I think that other people shouldn't be released from jail, and they shouldn't be stealing as much children as they have been stealing.
Mr. Jennings. I was looking at some figures; 4,600 kids were abducted last year.
That stuff you put in your bedroom, did you really feel the need for that?
Q. I did feel the need.
The President. Did it make you feel better when you did it, that you were taking charge of your life and you were trying to protect yourself?
Q. Yes.
Mr. Jennings. You think the President's on the right track, though?
Q. I think so.
The President. I'll try, Annie, I think about your sister and the children like her all the time. I'm working hard on it.
Mr. Jennings. Okay, let's go over here. Thanks, Annie, my dear. Annie's had such a good time in the White House today. Where's your dolphin? He's had a tour of the White House, hasn't he?
The President. Good for you.
Mr. Jennings. Yes, this was a very rewarding morning for her.
Yes, love.
Q. Well, Mr. President Clinton, I know you get a lot of questions, but this is just a little thing about you. I think you're such a decent and honest person, and I really believe in you in trying to make everybody happy. And I think we kids have to take the responsibility, because we should know who's bringing in the drugs, the guns. And if we just report it in, that would really make a difference. And also that would make a really big difference is that most of the criminals and people who sell drugs, they don't feel loved. And so I think from the moment you're born you have to feel loved. You should tell your child that you love them very much.
Mr. Jennings. What a nice idea.
The President. Let me just say two things. First of all, remember what I said, no matter what I do, the President has to have partners all over America. Everybody's got a role to play. Everybody is important. In most schools where there are drugs and guns, some other kids who don't do drugs and don't have guns known about it. They could report it; they could help to get it done; they could organize themselves into groups in each school and say, "We don't want drugs in our schools, we don't want guns, we don't want knives, we don't want violence in our schools." That could make a bigger difference in that school than anything the President could do.
On the other question, I think you're right. One of the things that we have to do is to find young people who are likely to get in trouble and try to reach them before they get to the point where they are hurting other people, because a lot of young people never felt like they were loved. That's obvious to me; I see it all the time.
Mr. Jennings. Do you know a lot of people who work here in the White House have children? And one of the things--this is a nice treat for you, Mr. President, perhaps--we asked several members of your staff to show us different rooms in the White House with their kids. And if we look at the monitors here now, we can see Henry Cisneros, one of your members of your Cabinet, showing his kids the Cabinet Room.
We'll be right back.
|At this point, the videotape wets shown, and then the television stations took a commercial break.~
Mr. Jennings. Welcome back to our morning in the White House.
Physical Fitness Test
Q. I had a fun question to ask you, and I was wondering, Mr. President, in elementary school we had to pass a physical fitness test to pretty much get an A, and you got a President's award or a certificate. And I was wondering if you've ever tried or ever thought of passing the test, or if you've even looked at the test that we have to pass?
The President. I haven't, but I probably should. I imagine that I could pass it since I jog every day and do a little work on my weights and do some other things. I probably could, but I'll do it. I'll check on it. If I don't make it then I'll have to get myself in shape.
Socks the Cat
Q. I read a book called "Socks in the White House," and it said that Socks had a bulletproof case. Does he really?
The President. He can stand behind something that's bulletproof, but most of the time he's just out in the open. That's just a funny thing to say. It was a joke.
Mr. Jennings. We have a couple questions from around the country. Remember last year, sir, we had some people on the telephone. Well, this year--that was kind of difficult so we've asked some people out around the country to ask you questions they've wanted to, and here's one on tape.
Education
Q. My name is Jessica Jones. I'm 11 years old. I am from Red Bank, Tennessee. My question is, what are you planning for the improvement of public education?
Mr. Jennings. That's pretty general. That should keep you going for a while.
The President. Well, very briefly, we've got two bills in to design to help the public schools. One encourages schools to try all kinds of new and different experiments to improve education but gives them some real standards so we know whether kids are learning or not no matter where they live.
The other one gives opportunities for kids to move from school to further training if they don't go on to college. So young kids that don't go to college still have a chance to get a good education and make a good living.
Mr. Jennings. Now, we have a guest from overseas. Somebody mentioned Bosnia this morning. Right over here to your right, sir, is Zlata Filpovic, who comes from Sarajevo. And a lot of the kids in here last night, Zlata, knew all about you because of your diary. Perhaps we should show people at home a little bit first about your recent history.
|At this point, a videotape was shown in which Zlata described the horrors children face living in war-torn Bosnia.~
Mr. Jennings. Welcome to Washington again, Zlata. Your question for the President.
Bosnia
Q. Usually people when they start war they say with this war we will get things. But I think usually they--all of them lose things. And I think it's really big stupidity. And I would like to ask you, is it war--is it end of that stupidity close? Is it closer?
The President. I think it is closer. And I agree with you. These people stared fighting in your country because they wanted territory for people who were just in their own ethnic group. And yet as you pointed out, people who lived in Sarajevo, they had friends--they didn't know if they were Serbs or Croats or Muslims. They lived together. But people from outside brought this war on to try to divide the country up. I think it is closer.
Yesterday we signed an agreement here in Washington between the Croats and the Government of Bosnia, which is mostly Muslim but not entirely. And now the question is, will the Serbs agree to sign on? Will they agree to give up some of the territory they took so that everybody can live with a fair piece of land and we can stop killing the adults and the children? I think we're closer, and we're working very hard on it.
Mr. Jennings. Okay. You've been very determined back there. Ram, is that your name? Mustaq, I'm sorry, Mustaq. I apologize.
Health Care Reform
Q. Do you like to be known as the President of the health care program?
The President. Be known? Yes.
Mr. Jennings. Sounds a bit like a set-up, doesn't it, sir?
The President. Yes, I do. Because I want every American family to have health care. And a lot of them don't now, and millions who have it can lose it. And every other major country in the world with a good economy like ours, gives all the families health care. We don't, and it's not right.
Mr. Jennings. Has anybody else got a question about health care, because--oh goodness, lots of them.
Q. My name's Mickey. I was on welfare. And you say you encourage people to get jobs when they are on welfare. But as soon as I started working, they took away all my benefits, including my medical benefits. I was better living off welfare than I am now working, because I'm not receiving any medical benefits anymore.
The President. I talked about you and people like you in my State of the Union Address. I pointed out--you asked a health care question--if you're on welfare in America today and if you have children or if you're just yourself on welfare, you get covered by a medical program paid for by the Government. If you get off welfare and you go to work in a job that has no health insurance, you start working and paying your taxes so that someone who stayed on welfare can still get health care and you don't get it anymore. It's not fair. And you're right, the best thing we could do to end welfare as we know it is to give everybody health coverage so people would never be encouraged to stay on welfare.
Good for you. Thank you for saying that.
Public Expectations
Mr. Jennings. Mr. President, do you think the people have too high expectations of what you can really accomplish?
The President. Well, sometimes. That's why I always try to say, here's what I can do, here's what I can't do, and remind the American people that in a democracy, the people have to do a lot of things. We have to change this country from the grassroots, and a lot of the changes we have to make have to happen inside us: our attitudes about violence and our attitudes about young people, without regard to their race and what they can do. We've got to change our whole way of thinking about things.
Mr. Jennings. Okay, here's a question right over here.
Education
Q. My name is Ebony. My major concern is education. My question to you is, why is it necessary to bus children out of their neighborhoods, to get a, quote, unquote, "equal education"? Shouldn't all schools offer the same programs, since we're all being taxed?
The President. The answer is yes, all schools should offer the same programs and should achieve the same high standards of excellence. One real problem we've had in America--let me just say this real quick, I don't want to get into a long answer--but in America, our school system has usually been a local school system, run community by community, paid for by the State and local governments and a little money from us at the national level. What we're trying to do now is to move toward greater equality. The State of Michigan just voted in a historic vote to take most of the property taxes away from schools and give State taxes so everybody could get a more equal education. And it's going to be one of the great crusades of the next 10 years, giving all kids, no matter where they live, a decent education.
Q. Thank you.
Mr. Jennings. Mr. President, I'm going to follow that up, if you don't mind, because we have a young man here more than determined to ask you a question about education. Reginald, right? Reginald, we've got a piece of tape of you at your school. Before you ask the President your question, let's take a look at that.
|At this point, a videotape was shown in which Reginald explained how his school building had deteriorated over the years.~
Mr. Jennings. Somebody observed, Reginald, you're at least going to make an investigative reporter when you grow up. You've got all the moves there.
The President. Didn't he do a great job? Give him a hand. He was good. |Applause~ Good job.
Mr. Jennings. What's your question for the President?
Q. A lot of the students are drawing away from their education. And one thing, a lot of kids are talking about Super Nintendo and things like that. What do you think about video games? And do you know that you are on a video game?
The President. No, am I?
Q. Yes, you are. I'd just like to tell you this. On Super Nintendo it's a basketball called "NBA Jam." And it's a code for Bill Clinton and Al Gore, and you have your own sort of slam-dunk and everything.
Mr. Jennings. You're kidding.
The President. I have to confess, the Vice President's a better basketball player than I am, but I like the