FAREWELL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CLINTON

8:00 P.M. January 18, 2001 u<`da E

THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, tonight is my last opportunity to speak to you from the Oval Office as your President. I am profoundly grateful to you for twice giving me the honor to serve -- to work 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 at American renewal.

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. u<` E

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 college aid, and more people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better. Higher standards, ater ccountability 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, ater 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, ause 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.

uUlsda E

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 cut 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 ome 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.

Hillary, Chelsea and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next President, George W. Bush, to his family and his administration, in meeting these challenges, and in leading freedom's  marching this new century.

As for me, I'll leave the presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived, and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead.

My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position　higher or a covenant more sacred than that of President of the United　States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of　citizen.

Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America. u<`da E

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