I asked those who had voted for President Bush... I asked those who had voted for President Bush and Ross Perot to join me in creating a re-United States, then closed with these words:
This victory was more than a victory of party; it was a victory for those who work hard and play by the rules, a victory for people who felt left out and left behind and want to do betterI accept tonight the responsibility that you have given me to be the leader of this, the greatest country in human historyI accept it with a full heart and a joyous spiritBut I ask you to be Americans again, too, to be interested not just in getting but in giving, not just in placing blame but in assuming responsibility, not just in looking out for yourselves but in looking out for others, tooTogether, we can make the country that we love everything it was meant to be
O n the day after the election, awash in congratulatory calls and messages, I went to work on what is called the transitionIs it ever! There was no time to celebrate, and we didnt take much time to rest, which was probably a mistakeIn just eleven weeks, my family and I had to make the transition from our life in Arkansas into the White HouseThere was so much to do: select the cabinet, important sub-cabinet officials, and the White House staff; work with the Bush people on the mechanics of the move; begin briefings on national security and talk to foreign leaders; reach out to congressional leaders; finalize the economic proposals I would present to Congress; develop a plan to implement my other campaign commitments; deal with a large number of
omega seamaster watch requests for meetings and the desire of many of our campaign workers and major supporters to know as soon as possible whether they would be part of the new administration; and respond to unfolding eventsThere would be a lot of them in the next seventy days, especially overseas: in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein was seeking relief from UN sanctions; Somalia, where President Bush had dispatched Utroops on a humanitarian mission to avert mass starvation; and Russia, where the economy was in shambles, President Yeltsin faced growing opposition from ultra-nationalists and unconverted Communists, and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic nations had been delayedThe to do list was growing
Several weeks earlier, we had quietly established a transition-planning operation in Little Rock, under a board that included Vernon Jordan, Warren Christopher, Mickey Kantor, former San Antonio mayor Henry Cisneros, Doris Matsui, and former Vermont governor Madeleine KuninThe staff director was Gerald Stern, who was on leave from his job as executive vice president of Occidental PetroleumObviously, we didnt want to look as if wed taken the outcome of the election for granted, so the operation was kept low-key, with an unlisted telephone number and no sign on the door of the offices on the thirteenth floor of the Worthen Bank building
When George Stephanopoulos came over to the mansion on Wednesday, Hillary and I asked him to continue being our communications director in the White HouseI would have been happy to have James Carville there too, to help
fairy bag prada develop strategy and keep us on message, but he didnt think he was suited to government and two days earlier he had cracked to reporters, I wouldnt live in a country whose government would hire me
On Wednesday afternoon, I met with the transition board and received my first briefing papers I held a short press conference on the back lawn of the Governors MansionBecause President Bush was in another tense situation with Iraq, I emphasized that America has only one President at a time, and that Americas foreign policy remains solely in his hands
On my second day as President-elect, I spoke with a few foreign leaders, and went to the office to take care of some state business and thank the governors staff for the fine job they had done while I was awayThat night we had a party for the campaign staffI was still so hoarse I could barely squeak out Thank youI spent most of the time shaking hands and walking around with signs on my shirt that said, Sorry, I cant talk, and You did a good job
On Friday, I named Vernon Jordan as chairman and Warren Christopher as director of my transition boardThe announcement of their appointments was well received in Washington and in Little Rock, where both were respected by the campaign staff, many of whom were beginning to show predictable and understandable signs of exhaustion, irritability, and anxiety about the future, as the euphoria of our victory wore off
In the second week of the transition, the pace picked upI spoke about Middle East peace with Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Egyptian
old omega president Hosni Mubarak, and Saudi Arabias King FahdVernon and Chris filled out most of the senior transition staff with Alexis Herman, deputy chair of the Democratic Party, and Mark Gearan, who had managed Al Gores campaign, as deputy directors; DLC president Al From in domestic policy; Sandy Berger, along with my campaign aide Nancy Soderberg in foreign policy; and Gene Sperling and my old Rhodes classmate Bob Reich, then a Harvard professor and author of several thought-provoking books on the global economy, in economic policyThe vetting of all candidates for important positions would be overseen by Tom Donilon, a sharp Washington lawyer and longtime Democratic activistDonilons job was important; defeating a Presidents appointments because of financial or personal problems in their backgrounds or previously unexamined opinions had become a regular part of Washington political lifeOur vetters were supposed to make sure that anyone who was willing to serve could survive the scrutiny
A few days later, former South Carolina governor Dick Riley joined the transition team to oversee the sub-cabinet appointmentsRiley had a backbreaking jobAt one point, he was getting more than three thousand rsums, as well as a couple of hundred phone calls, a dayMany of the calls were from members of Congress and governors who expected him to return the calls personallySo many people who had contributed to our victory wanted to serve that I was worried about able, deserving people falling through the cracks, and some of them did
The third week of the
borse fendi transition was devoted to reaching out to WashingtonI invited House Speaker Tom Foley, House majority leader Dick Gephardt, and Senate majority leader George Mitchell to Little Rock for dinner and a morning meetingIt was important for me to get off on the right foot with the Democratic leadersI knew I had to have their support to succeed, and they knew the American people would hold us all accountable for breaking the partisan gridlock in WashingtonIt would require some compromise on my part and theirs, but after our meetings I was confident we could work together
On Wednesday, I went to Washington for two days to meet with President Bush, other congressional Democrats, and the Republican leaders in CongressMy meeting with the President, scheduled to last an hour, went almost twice that long and was both cordial and helpfulWe talked about a wide variety of issues, and I found the Presidents review of our foreign policy challenges particularly insightful
From the White House, I drove two miles into north Washington, to a neighborhood beset by poverty, unemployment, drugs, and crimeOn Georgia Avenue, I got out of the car and walked for a block, shaking hands and talking to merchants and other citizens about their problems and what I could do to helpEight people had been killed the previous year within a mile of where I stoppedI got food from a Chinese takeout where the workers operated behind bulletproof glass for safetyParents of school-aged children said they were frightened because so many of their kids classmates brought guns to
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