Bill Clinton photo

Remarks at the Saxophone Club Presidential Victory Concert

October 29, 1996

Thank you. Let me say to all of you, you have honored me and our party by being here tonight. I can't thank you enough. I want to say a special word of thanks to the Saxophone Club, to the DC Chapter, and to Bennet Kelley, to all of you who had anything to do with putting this together.

I thank Bruce Hornsby and his wonderful band for keeping us pumped up and playing so brilliantly. I thank Stevie Wonder for so brilliantly taking us back across the years and bringing us back today again. He was magnificent, let's give him a hand. [Applause]

And thank you, Kevin Spacey, for being here and for showing your versatility, your patience, your talent. You know, from "The Usual Suspects" to "Seven" to "A Time To Kill," to Johnny Carson, to killing time creatively—[Laughter]—this man has a brilliant past and a more brilliant future. I am so honored that he was here tonight. We ought to give him a Purple Heart for how much time he had to stand up.

You know, I felt so sorry for Kevin up here. It reminded me of some of the licks that I have taken in this campaign. And one day when I was kind of feeling sorry for myself, somebody reminded me of something Mark Twain said and I wish I could have whispered to Kevin. The fellow said, "You know, you ought to consider yourself like the dog Mark Twain talked about. He said, every dog needs a few fleas; it keeps him from worrying so much about being a dog." [Laughter] And so no matter whatever happens to Kevin in his performing life, he'll always remember it will never be as bad as when he had to stand in Constitution Hall and make up jokes for 20 minutes during acts. You were great. Thank you, and God bless you.

You know, this election is in 7 days. It has always been about the future. The work that Al Gore and I have done for 4 years has been about building an America for the 21st century. Whatever else people say or talk about in the end, it's about the future of the young people in this grand old Constitution Hall tonight and all your counterparts all across our great country.

And so I ask you to give 7 more days of effort and your voice, your passion, your commitment to making sure that we roar into that next century together; that we build a bridge we can all walk across; that we say no to division, no to going back, no to the short-sighted, negative forces that would tend to divide us and cloud our clear vision of the tomorrow we can make together. Our best days are still ahead.

Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 9:27 p.m. in Constitution Hall. In his remarks, he referred to Bennet Kelley, national cochair, Saxophone Club; musicians Bruce Hornsby and Stevie Wonder; and actor Kevin Spacey.

William J. Clinton, Remarks at the Saxophone Club Presidential Victory Concert Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/222381

Filed Under

Categories

Attributes

Location

Washington, DC

Simple Search of Our Archives