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FAREWELL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CLINTON
THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, tonight is my last opportunity to speak
to you from the Oval Office as your President. I amprofoundly grateful to you
for twice giving me the honor to serve -- towork for you and with you to prepare
our nation for the 21st century.
And I"m grateful to Vice President Gore, to my Cabinet Secretaries, and to
all those who have served with me for the last eight years.
This has been a time of dramatic transformation, and you have risen to
every new challenge. You have made our social fabric stronger,our families
healthier and safer, our people more prosperous. You, the American people, have
made our passage into the global information age an era of great American
renewal.
In all the work I have done as President -- every decision I have made,
every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed, I"ve
tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build the future of our
dreams in a good society, with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a
freer, safer, more prosperous world.
I have steered my course by our enduring values -- opportunity for all,
responsibility from all, a community of all Americans. I have sought to give
America a new kind of government, smaller, more modern, more effective, full of
ideas and policies appropriate to this new time, always putting people first,
always focusing on the future.
Working together, America has done well. Our economy is breaking records,
with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the
highest home ownership ever, the longest expansion in history.
Our families and communities are stronger. Thirty-five million Americans
have used the Family Leave law; 8 million have moved off welfare.Crime is at a
25-year low. Over 10 million Americans receive more collegeaid, and more people
than ever are going to college. Our schools arebetter.
Higher standards, greater accountability and larger investments have
brought higher test scores and higher graduation rates.
More than 3 million children have health insurance now, and more than 7
million Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Incomes are rising across the
board. Our air and water are cleaner. Our food and drinking water are safer. And
more of our precious land has been preserved in the continental United States
than at any time in a hundred years.
America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the
globe. I"m very grateful to be able to turn over the reins of leadership to a
new President with America in such a strong position to meet the challenges of
the future.
Tonight I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future. First,
America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility.
Through our last four budgets we"ve turned record deficits to record
surpluses, and we"ve been able to pay down $600 billion of our national debt, on
track to be debt-free by the end of the decade for the first time since 1835.
Staying on that course will bring lower interest rates,
greater prosperity, and the opportunity to meet our big challenges.If we
choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby
boomers, invest more in our future, and provide tax relief.
Second, because the world is more connected every day, in every way,
America"s security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world.
At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom than ever
before. Our alliances are stronger than ever. People all around the world look
to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security.
The global economy is giving more of our own people and billions around the
world the chance to work and live and raise their families with dignity.
But the forces of integration that have created these good opportunities
also make us more subject to global forces of destruction --to terrorism,
organized crime and narco trafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease,
the degradation of the global environment.
The expansion of trade hasn"t fully closed the gap between those of us who
live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world
who live on the knife"s edge of survival. This global gap requires more than
compassion; it requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be
ignited by our indifference.
In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling
alliances. But in our times, America cannot, and must not, disentangle itself
from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must
assume a shared responsibility.
If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and
Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our
values, and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and
resolutely that duty to lead -- to stand with our allies in word and deed, and
to put a human face on the global economy, so that expanded trade benefits all
peoples in all nations, lifting lives and hopes
all across the world.
Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here
at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one
America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our
common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our
differences, in our hearts and in our laws. We must treat all our people with
fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual
orientation, and regardless of when they arrived in our country; always moving
toward the more perfect union of our founders" dreams.
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发表于 2016-7-10 16:30:27