<nettime> [clinton Q&A]

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listen online: http://216.10.241.30/imc/nyc/realclintonbai.ram


AMY GOODMAN: Mr. President, are you there?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I am, can you hear me? 

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we can. You are calling radio stations to tell 
people to get out and vote. What do you say to people who feel 
that the two parties are bought by corporations, and that they 
are ... at this point feel that their vote doesn't make a 
difference? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: There's just not a shred of evidence to 
support that. That's what I would say. It's true that both 
parties have wealthy supporters. But let me offer you ... let me 
just give you the differences. Let's look at economic policy. 
First of all, if you look at the last eight years, look where 
America was eight years ago, and look where it is today. We have 
the strongest economy in history. And for the first time in 30 
years, the incomes of average people and lower income working 
people have gone up 15 percent after inflation. The lowest 
minority unemployment ever recorded. The highest minority home 
ownership. The highest minority business ownership in history. 
That's our record. 

If you look at our proposals, what do we propose to do? We 
propose a tax cut that helps average people, for child care, for 
long term care. For paying for college tuition. For retirement 
savings. We propose to invest large amounts of money in 
education, health care, the environment, in our future. And we 
propose to keep paying down the debt, because that keeps 
interest rates lower. 

What do the Republicans propose? A tax cut that's three times as 
big. Most of it goes to very wealthy people. The top one percent 
of the people get as much money as they would spend on health 
care, education and the environment combined. They propose to 
privatize Social Security, and if you add the two things 
together, we'll be back in deficits which means the economy will 
go down, you know, and interest rates will be higher for 
ordinary people. 

AMY GOODMAN: President Clinton ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: So look, I mean, that's just one example. You 
asked the question, there's not ... 

AMY GOODMAN: Right. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Look at campaign finance reform. The 
Democrats are for it, the Republican leadership kills it. 

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me just ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Look at the environment. The Dem- ... we've 
got the cleanest environment in history. The best environmental 
record in history. And the Republicans want to reverse our 
environmental record. So give me ... you can't give one example 
of where both parties are dominated by large corporations and 
therefore there is no difference. The American people's lives 
are a lot better than they were eight years ago. 

The truth is there is an ideological struggle between those who 
believe that the best way to grow the economy is to give more 
money to the wealthy, and the Democrats who believe that the 
wealthy will make more money if average people do better. 

AMY GOODMAN: President Clinton, since it's rare to get you on 
the phone, let me ask you another question. And that is what is 
your position on granting Leonard Peltier, the Native American 
activist, executive clemency? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I don't ... I don't have a position I 
can announce yet. I think that ... I believe there is a new 
application for him in there. And when I have time, after the 
election is over, I'm going to review all the remaining 
executive clemency applications. And, you know, see what the 
merits dictate. I will try to do what I think the right thing to 
do is, based on the evidence. And I ... I have never had the 
time actually to sit down myself, and review that case. I know 
it's very important to a lot of people, maybe on both sides of 
the issue. And I think I owe it to them, to give it an honest 
look-see. So part of my responsibilities in the last ten weeks 
of office after the election will be to review the requests for 
pardons and executive clemencies, and give them a fair hearing. 
And I pledge to do that. 

AMY GOODMAN: And you will give an answer in his case? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Oh, yeah, I'll decide one way or the other. 

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, do you support a moratorium on the 
death penalty, given the studies that show how racist it has 
been app- ... how ... how it has been applied in the (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I think in the case of ... I certainly 
support what the Governor of Illinois did. Because there was, uh 
... clear evidence in Illinois that a lot of mistakes had been 
made. In the case of the Federal Government, I have asked the 
Attorney General to conduct a comprehensive review and to let me 
... and to report back to us, on the racial disparities and on 
any question of guilt, on adequate assistance of counsel on all 
those things, to determine whether there should be a moratorium, 
and I haven't gotten her findings yet. Now so far, the only two 
cases which have come up have been deferred while we do this 
study. 

And so when that comes in and if it comes in while I'm still in 
office, then I'll make a judgement. And if it doesn't, I think 
that the next President I would hope would make the same 
decision, based on the merits, based on what the evidence shows. 
The disturbing thing to me is that there is not only an apparent 
racial disparity on Death Row, but also ... in the Federal 
Government ... but also way over half the cases come from a 
relatively small number of the US Attorney's offices. Which is, 
you know, it's disturbing. 

But again, let me just say this. If you are concerned about 
that, that's a good reason to vote for Al Gore and Joe 
Lieberman, and Hillary for the Senate. And for the people in New 
Jersey, who can hear you, for John Corzine. Because we know the 
Democrats care about these issues, and we know they're not very 
important to the Republicans. 

AMY GOODMAN: Vice President (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: So that's another example of another reason 
you ought to vote for the Democrats. 

AMY GOODMAN: ... Gore supports the death penalty. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: He does, but ... 

AMY GOODMAN: And Lieberman. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Yes, they do. But there is a difference in 
supporting it and thinking that you would carry it out even if 
you thought the system was fundamentally unfair. His opponent 
(Overlap) 

AMY GOODMAN: But the studies show that ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: But ... but the studies are not complete. 
Because the studies have to ... what the Attorney General is 
doing is not just looking at everybody that's been convicted, 
but everybody that could have been charged, that wasn't. There 
is a lot more stuff that needs to be done. And it may confirm 
the initial view of who is on the death penalty. But I think 
what ... you ought to look at that as compared with Texas, for 
example, where there was evidence that ... of lawyers falling 
asleep in their trials, were not enough to deter Texas from 
continuing to carry out the death penalty, which I thought was 
unacceptable. And so I think that if you are interested in 
having somebody that at least has the capacity to look at the 
fairness of this, you only have one choice. 

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I guess many people were quite disturbed that 
when you first ran for President, you went back in the midst of 
your campaign to Arkansas, and presided over the execution of a 
mentally impaired man. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Yeah, but let me ... let's go back to the 
facts here. He was not mentally impaired when he committed the 
crime. He became mentally impaired because he was wounded after 
he murdered somebody. And the law says that it is your mental 
state at the time you committed the crime, that is something no 
one else ever ... no one ever says that when they talk about it. 
Had he been mentally impaired when he committed the crime, I 
would never have carried out the death penalty, because he was 
not in a position to know what he was doing. That is not what 
the facts were. 

MAN: Because (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Effectively, if I had not gone home, I would 
have been accused of putting a tough decision off on somebody 
else. 

GONZALO ABURTO: President Clinton, my name is GONZALO ABURTO. I 
am a Latino living here in New York, on behalf of La Nueva 
Alternativa here at BAI. And I want to ask you why Latinas and 
Latinos in the United States should vote for Gore and Lieberman. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I think they should vote for Al Gore and Joe 
Lieberman for several reasons. First of all, we are committed to 
fairness for legal immigrants. And we are trying to pass a law 
right now, to guarantee that. And our opponents in the 
Republican Party are opposed to that, and that's ... and the 
Congressional leaders are opposed to it, which is another reason 
to vote for Al Gore, Joe Lieberman and for Hillary, for John 
Corzine in New Jersey. The Latinos should know that the 
Democrats favor fairness for immigrants. Secondly, we favor 
affirmative action. Thirdly, we favor hate crimes legislation 
and employment non-discrimination legislation. And the 
appointments of judges to the Supreme Court that would protect 
civil rights and human rights. 

And fourthly, let me say again, we have had an economic policy 
that has dramatically improved the lives of Latinos. When I 
became President, the Latino unemployment rate was 11.8 percent. 
Today it is 5 percent, the lowest in the history of the country. 
So if you are looking for somebody that wants to make sure 
everybody is part of America's present and future, Al Gore is 
your man. He also proposes to put more money into the schools in 
the poorest parts of our country to modernize the schools, to 
hire more teachers, to connect all the classrooms to the 
Internet. 

He proposes health care reforms that would provide medicine for 
seniors on Medicare and more health insurance for children and 
for the ... for the working parents of low income people. The 
Latino working families have the highest level of uninsured 
people of any population group in the country. So for all those 
reasons, Latinos should vote for Gore and Lieberman and Hillary. 

AMY GOODMAN: Yet despite massive protests in Puerto Rico, the US 
Navy continues to bomb, and you ... the island of Vieques. And 
you have authorized this, and ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now wait a minute. Wait, wait just a minute 
now. The United States Navy has an agreement with the government 
of Puerto Rico, the representative of all the people of Puerto 
Rico, to turn back ... if ... to turn back the western half of 
Vieques to Puerto Rico. To not have any live fire bombing. There 
is no live fire bombing going on there. And to terminate all the 
training within a couple of years, during which time they have 
to find a new place to train. 

So this ... this training that is going on now is subsequent to 
an agreement. Now, the Republicans in Congress broke the 
agreement, and instead of giving the Western part of the island 
to Puerto Rico, gave it to the Interior Department to manage. If 
I can't find a way to give that island, the western part of the 
island back to the people of Puerto Rico, and to honor the 
agreement that the government of Puerto Rico itself made with 
the support of the local leaders, including the mayor of 
Vieques, then the people of Puerto Rico I think have a right to 
say the Federal Government broke its word, and the training has 
to stop right now. 

But I think the training should stop because the people don't 
want it there. But we need a place to train, and we are in the 
process of finding another place. And we made an agreement with 
the Governor and the people of Puerto Rico, the elected 
representatives, to turn over the western part of the island, to 
invest a lot of money in helping to build up the tourism 
capacity and protect the environmental structure of the Vieques, 
and to otherwise compensate the people of Puerto Rico and the 
Island of Vieques, for the training in the past. 

So I think it was a good agreement, and I think the agreement 
ought to be honored. And I was disappointed that the Congress 
didn't fully honor it. But I think I can find a way to keep the 
commitment in the Federal Government anyway. And that is what 
I'm 

GONZALO ABURTO: Mr. President, what do you think about possible 
amnesty for undocumented ... (Inaudible) trabajadores 
indocumentados? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I think that, uh ... that's what I 
meant earlier. I've got a bill before Congress now, that would 
treat legal immigrants from Honduras, from ... from Guatemala, 
from Haiti, from Salvador, in the same way that the Congress has 
already voted to treat immigrants from Cuba and Nicaragua. I 
think that it's not right, the way we have treated a lot of 
these immigrant populations differently. I know there aren't 
many Liberians probably among your listeners. Most of them live 
up in the Rhode Island, Massachusetts area. But they also are 
being treated unfairly and I am trying to get them included in 
immigrant fairness. 

And again, I'm having a big fight with the leadership of the 
Republican Party in Congress. So the Democrats are for that, and 
... and the ... and the Republicans aren't. So that is another 
reason, if you care about that, that we need to have someone to 
... to stand up to them. And that means that we need Al Gore. 
And if ... I think the Democrats have a good chance to win the 
House and maybe the Senate. But if we don't win, it's very 
important that Gore be the President, because somebody has got 
to be there to stop the extremist Republicans in Congress. 

And therefore, we need every Democratic Senator we can get. We 
need Corzine in New Jersey. We need Hillary in New York. And we 
need most important, we've got to have Gore and Lieberman in the 
White House. 

AMY GOODMAN: President Clinton, UN figures show that up to 5,000 
children a month die in Iraq because of the sanctions against 
Iraq. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: (Overlap) That's not true. That's not true. 
And that's not what they show. Let me just tell you something. 
Before the sanctions, the year before the Gulf War, and you said 
this ... how much money did Iraq earn from oil? Answer - $16 
billion. How much money did Iraq earn last year from oil? How 
much money did they get, cash on the barrel head, to Saddam 
Hussein? Answer - $19 billion that he can use exclusively for 
food, for medicine, to develop his country. He's got more money 
now, $3 billion a year more than he had nine years ago. 

If any child is without food or medicine or a roof over his or 
her head in Iraq, it's because he is claiming the sanctions are 
doing it and sticking it to his own children. We have worked 
like crazy to make sure that the embargo only applies to his 
ability to reconstitute his weapon system and his military 
statement. This is a guy who butchered the children of his own 
country, who were Kurds, who were Shi'ites. 

He used chemical weapons on his own people, and he is now lying 
to the world and claiming the mean old United States is killing 
his children. He has more money today than he did before the 
embargo, and if they're hungry or they are not getting medicine, 
it is h is own fault. 

AMY GOODMAN: The past two UN heads of the program in Iraq have 
quit, calling the US policy ... US/UN policy, genocidal. What is 
your response to that? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: They're wrong! They think that we should 
reward ... Saddam Hussein says, I'm going to starve my kids 
unless you let me buy nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and 
biological weapons. If you let me do everything I want to do so 
I can get in a position to kill and intimidate people again, 
then I will stop starving my kids. And so we are supposed to 
assume responsibility for his misconduct. That's just not right! 
I know they ... you know, the truth is a lot of these people 
want to start doing business with Saddam Hussein again because 
they want his money. 

And, you know, they want his ... the money he earns from oil. 
But the ... it is an absolute fact that he has more money today 
than he did before the embargo. So if any child is without food 
or medicine, it is because he has made a deliberate decision to 
let them die, to try to build up pressure to lift the embargo so 
he can spend that money how ever he wants. He doesn't want to 
spend that money on his people. He wants to spend that money to 
become the military dictator of the Middle East again. 

Now, if people want to let him do it, that's one thing. But, you 
know, I have consistently supported changing and relaxing the 
embargo since I've been President, to make absolutely sure that 
he had enough money and enough freedom in the use of the money 
to rebuild the country economically, and to try to feed those 
children and get them medicine. There were a lot of problems 
with the embargo in the beginning. There were legitimate 
criticisms. 

But he now has more money with the absolute freedom to spend it 
on food and medicine and development, and medical care of all 
kinds, than he did before the embargo was put in. That's the 
fact. No one can dispute that. So nobody can figure out why 
there are problems among the children except that he won't spend 
the money on them. 

He spends the money on his own military, on his own crowd and he 
avoids spending it on a lot of kids who need it so he can blame 
us, so he can actually get total control over his money, so he 
can rebuild his apparatus. 

GONZALO ABURTO: Mr. President (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: And, you know, remember, this is the only 
guy, the only world leader today who has used chemical weapons 
on his own citizens. And the American people in my judgement 
should give him all the money he needs to take care of his kids. 
But should do everything we can, and even if we are alone, to 
try to stop him from being in a position of murdering his kids 
again, and murdering other children in the Middle East. That's 
what I believe. 

GONZALO ABURTO: Mr. President, are we going to see a substantial 
change in the policy to Cuba? Regarding Cuba? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, let me say we were on the way to that 
change. Back in 1996, we had a lot of changes in my first term, 
in our policy towards Cuba. And we were working our way toward a 
reconciliation. And the Cubans were working their way toward 
more openness, more freedom for their farmers, and their people 
and we were really making headway. And then, they illegally shot 
down those two planes, and four people died on the planes. And 
the Congress passed the Cuba ... the Helms/Burton bill, so-
called. 

And I don't have much flexibility to do much more. What I have 
done with Cuba is to use the maximum extent of my legal powers 
to promote people to people contacts with Cuba and the Cuban 
people. I do believe there that the Cuban people have suffered 
because of the embargo, and we should do more in the area of 
food, in the area of medicine, in the area of people to people 
contacts. 

And, you know, I believe that it is just a question of time to 
when the United States and Cuba are reconciled. And I think that 
the situation is tragic. 

AMY GOODMAN: How do you just (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: But it wouldn't have happened if Castro 
hadn't shot those planes down out of the air, in blatant 
violation of international law. It was just murder. There is no 
other ... there is no way to put a fine point on it. I mean, and 
we were ... sometimes I think he doesn't want the embargo 
lifted, because it is an excuse for the problems that he has 
with his own administration. Because he knew where we were 
going, he knew we were moving to reconcile. And he knew good and 
well that it was a total violation of international law to 
murder people who were in unarmed airplanes. 

AMY GOODMAN: How do you justify imposing the embargo against 
Cuba and lifting it against China, normalizing relations with 
China? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, first of all, China hasn't killed any 
of our pilots lately. They haven't murdered any Americans - as a 
matter of fact, the United States accidentally and tragically 
killed some Chinese citizens during our military campaign in 
Kosovo. And we have differences with China that we think can 
best be resolved. China is a nuclear power, and we think they 
have missile capacity. We have worked very hard with them to 
reduce the ... the threats of sales of missiles to renegade 
states, to ... to make the world a safer place. And they've 
worked with us on peace on the Korean peninsula, to help the 
North Korean situation. 

And we would ... as I said, I believe if Castro hadn't shot 
those planes down, and the Congress hadn't passed a law which 
prohibits me from doing anything with the embargo, that we might 
have made some real progress there. But it ... sooner or later 
this is going to happen, and the sooner the better. The sooner 
we can be reconciled with the people of Cuba, the better. But 
Mr. Castro is going to have to make some changes, and, you know, 
you can't keep just throwing people in jail for human rights 
violations and expect the United States to do nothing with this 
huge Cuban population here. I hope that we can make some more 
progress. 

And believe me, it would have happened if he hadn't shot those 
planes down. And sometimes I wonder if he shot them down just to 
make sure the embargo couldn't be lifted, because as long as he 
can blame the United States, then he doesn't have to answer to 
his own people for the failures of his economic policy. I wish 
it were different and maybe it will be under the next 
administration. 

AMY GOODMAN: Amnesty International has described what the 
Israeli forces are now doing in the occupied territories as ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Listen, I can't do a whole press conference 
here. It's Election Day and I've got a lot of people and places 
to call. 

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I guess these are the questions that may ... 
are very important to our listeners and these are the questions 
that (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I've answered them all. 

AMY GOODMAN: Right, and we appreciate that. And ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I have answered them all. Now let me just 
tell you, on the Israeli Palestinian thing, the Secretary 
General of the United Nations and I were together in Egypt. We 
agreed on a three-pronged strategy to end the violence and 
restore the peace talks. And with regard to the Amnesty 
International findings, what we agreed to do was to set up a 
fact-finding commission, to look into what happened, how the 
recent violence started, and what can be done to avoid it 
recurring. And the agreement was that that would happen as soon 
as the violence was stopped. And we have had some progress in 
the last two or three days. Everybody is working hard. 

And I think the ... the less I say right now, the better, 
publicly because I don't want to complicate things. I'm working 
my heart out to stop the violence, get the Commission appointed 
and get the peace process started. In the Middle East, which is 
something that I know more than a little bit about, the only 
answer to this over the long run is an agreement that covers all 
the issues that the Palestinians feel aggrieved by; guarantees 
the Israelis security and acceptance within the region; and is a 
just and lasting peace. That's the only answer to this in the 
long run. 

And we've just got to work through it. I have some hope that in 
the next few days we'll be able to do it. Mr. Arafat is coming 
to see me on Thursday, and Mr. Barak, is coming to see me on 
Sunday. And we'll try to get it resolved. That's all I can tell 
you now. And I think ... 

AMY GOODMAN: (Overlap) Why is ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: ... I think the United Nations will support 
... well, I know they will, the implementation of the agreement 
that we made at Sharn el-Sheik. 

AMY GOODMAN: Why not ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Which would ... 

AMY GOODMAN: Why not support a UN force in the Middle East for 
the illegal occupation of the territories? And at this point I 
think we are around 150 people being killed in the occupied 
territories, overwhelmingly Palestinian. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: You can support it if you want to, but the 
Israelis won't support it. And there was a war in which that 
happened. And if you want to make peace, then you have to do 
things that both sides can agree with. That's what a peace 
agreement is. And I do not believe that just as I don't think 
Israel can forever impose their situation in the Middle East, 
and they don't either which is why we started the Oslo Peace 
Process seven years ago; neither do I think that, you know, 
everybody else saying the UN is going to impose their will on 
Israel on its own territory will work out either. 

We've got to have a peace agreement here, that's the only way 
this is ever going to be resolved. And I don't think that we 
should do anything or say anything right now, except something 
that will stop people from getting killed, and get the peace 
process started again. 

AMY GOODMAN: Many people say that Ralph Nader is at the high 
percentage point he is in the polls because you have been 
responsible for taking the Democratic party to the right. What 
do you say to listeners who are listening around the area right 
now (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I'm glad you asked that. 

AMY GOODMAN: ... those concerns. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I'm glad you asked that, and that's the last 
question I've got time for. I'll be happy to ... answer that. 
What is the measure of taking the Democratic Party to the right? 
That we cut the welfare rolls in half? That poverty is at a 20 
year low? That child poverty has been cut by a third in our 
administration? That the incomes of average Americans have gone 
up 15 percent after inflation? That poverty among seniors has 
gone below 10 percent for the first time in American history? 
That we have the lowest African American, the lowest Latino 
unemployment rate in the history of the country? That we have a 
500 percent increase in the number of minority kids taking 
advanced placement tests? 

That the schools in this country, that the test scores among ... 
since we have required all the schools to have basic standard 
test scores, among African Americans and other minorities have 
gone up steadily? Now what (Overlap) 

AMY GOODMAN: Can I say that some people ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now, let me just finish. 

AMY GOODMAN: Let me just say ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now let me ... now, wait a minute. You 
started this and every question you've asked has been hostile 
and combative. So you listen to my answer, will you do that? 

AMY GOODMAN: They've been (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Now, you just listen to me. You ask the 
questions, and I'm going to answer. You have asked questions in 
a hostile, combative, and even disrespectful tone, but I ... and 
you have never been able to combat the facts I have given you. 
Now, you listen to this. The other thing Ralph Nader says is 
that, you know, he's pure as Caesar's wife on the environment. 

Under this administration, 43 million more Americans are 
breathing cleaner air. We have safer drinking water, safer food, 
cleaner water. We have more land set aside than any 
administration in history since Theodore Roosevelt. We have 
cleaned up three times as many toxic waste sites as the previous 
administrations did in 12 years. And we passed a chemical right-
to-know law that is a very tough law. It's the best 
environmental record in history. 

Al Gore's opponent, and one of the two of them are going to be 
President ... Al Gore's opponent has promised to weaken the 
clean air standards, and repeal a lot of the land protections. 
Now, those are the facts. People can say whatever they want to. 
Those are the facts. 

AMY GOODMAN: What people say is that you pushed through NAFTA, 
that we have the highest population of prisoners in the 
industrialized world, of over 2 million. That more people are on 
death penalty in this country than anywhere else. And that 
people are (Overlap) 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, all right. Okay, that's fine. 

AMY GOODMAN: (Overlap/Inaudible) ... opposed on them. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: That's fine. But two thirds of the American 
people support that. I think there are too many people in 
prison, too. I have called for a total evaluation of the people 
in the Federal prison system, a review of the Federal sentencing 
guidelines. I did my best to persuade Congress to get rid of the 
discrepancy between crack cocai- ... crack and powdered cocaine 
and the sentencing guidelines. 

I agree with that. Nobody ever said America was perfect. I 
disagree, I think NAFTA has been good for America. I think it's 
been good. It has helped to reduce illegal immigration, it's 
helped to provide a decent standard of life in Mexico. I think 
it has been good. I think the agreement we made to open our 
markets to Africa and the poor countries in the Caribbean were 
good for America. 

People complain about our trade agreements. Trade is at ... 
accounting for 30 percent of our economic growth, and we have 
the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. How can anybody make a 
serious case that trade's been bad for America? We have a 15 
percent increase in average income of ordinary Americans, the 
lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, and the lowest 
unemployment rate ever recorded among African Americans and 
Hispanics. 

Now, I don't think you can make a sane case that if we closed up 
our markets, that either Africa or Latin America or America 
would be better off. 

AMY GOODMAN: What about ... 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: The real problem you've got are the ... this 
country is in good shape. Now, I've talked to you a long time. 
It's Election Day. There are a lot of other people that ... 

AMY GOODMAN: We appreciate that. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: ... in America, and I've got to go. 

AMY GOODMAN: One last question, what about granting an executive 
order ending racial profiling in this country? 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I expect that we will end racial profiling. 
Here is the deal. The Attorney General is supposed to give me a 
report on that. I'm opposed to it. Al Gore is opposed to it. 
Here's the deal. Look, I had some ... I had two people who work 
for me in the White House, who were wrongly stopped, handcuffed 
and hassled the other day. I have spoken out against racial 
profiling and Hillary has made it a big issue in New York. 

And so here is the issue, and here is what we are working on. We 
are trying to find a way to issue orders, and reg- ... rules and 
regulations that end racial profiling, that clearly do not 
prevent law enforcement officials from investigating particular 
crimes. And there is a way to do it and we are working on it, 
and the Attorney General is working on it. But, you know, Janet 
Reno was a prosecutor in Miami, in Dade County, for 12 years. 
She dealt with a large African American population, a large 
Haitian population, a large Latino population. 

She had a great reputation with all of them. And she is trying 
to fashion a resolution of this that ends racial profiling, that 
clearly allows law enforcement to continue. And that is where 
this is now. This is going to be done. And we have to do it. 

AMY GOODMAN: Thank you for spending the time, President Clinton. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you. 

MAN: Thank you, Mr. President. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Goodbye. 

GONSOLO BUERTO: Goodbye. 

AMY GOODMAN: Goodbye. 

(HANGS UP) 

GONZALO ABURTO: That was Mr. ... 

AMY GOODMAN: Hasta la vista. 

source: 
http://www.democracynow.org/

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