Then he burst out, Look, Governuh, youre going to...

Posted at 6:36 PM, Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Then he burst out, Look, Governuh, youre going to run for President next year, and when you do, were going to beat your brains out in Texas if you veto this billI knew I was getting older and more seasoned when I didnt slug himInstead, I smiled and said, You dont get itI dont like this billYou know gun control will never be a problem in ArkansasYouve just got a chart on the wall in your fancy office in Washington with this bill at the top and all the states listed belowYou dont give a damn about the merits of this billYou just want to put a check by Arkansas on that chartSo you get your gun and Ill get mineWell saddle up and meet in TexasAs soon as the legislature went home, I vetoed the billSoon afterward, the NRA began running television ads attacking meIt wasnt until I began writing this account that I realized that in my confrontation with the NRA lobbyist, I had acknowledged that I was considering running for PresidentAt the time, I didnt think there was a chance Id do itI just didnt like to be threatened After the session, Henry Oliver told me he wanted to leaveI hated to lose him, but after decades of proud service in the marines, the FBI, and local and state government, he had earned the right to go homeFor the white paddington chloe bag time being, Gloria Cabe and Carol Rasco took over his responsibilities I spent the next few months making sure our massive legislative program was well implemented and traveling the country for the Democratic Leadership CouncilBecause I was out there making the case for how we could regain mainstream, middle-class voters who have left the party in droves for twenty years, the press continued to speculate that I might run in 1992In an interview in April, I joked about it, saying, As long as nobody runs, everybody can be on the list, and its kind of niceIt makes my mother happy to read my name in the paper While I still didnt believe I could or should run, and President Bushs approval ratings were still above 70 percent in the afterglow of the Gulf War, I was beginning to think a DLC Democrat who could relate both to the partys traditional base and to swing voters might have a chance, because the country had serious problems that werent being addressed in WashingtonThe President and his team seemed determined to coast to victory on the wings of the Gulf WarI had seen enough in Arkansas and in my travels around the country to know America couldnt coast through four more yearsAs 1991 unfolded, more and more people came pleated miu miu handbag to share that view In April, I went to Los Angeles to speak to a luncheon for Education First, a citizens group dedicated to improving public educationAfter Sidney Poitier introduced me, I recounted three recent experiences with education in California that reflected both promise and peril for Americas futureThe promise I had seen more than a year earlier when I spoke at California State University in Los Angeles to students with roots in 122 other nationsTheir diversity was a good omen for our ability to compete with and relate to the rest of the global communityThe perils were evident when Hillary and I visited with sixth-graders in East Los AngelesThey were great kids who had big dreams and a deep desire for normal livesThey told us their number one fear was of being shot going to and from schoolThey also said they did practice drills crouching under their desks in the event of a drive-by shootingThe childrens number two fear was that, when they turned thirteen, they would have to join a gang and smoke crack cocaine or face severe beatings from their contemporariesMy experience with those kids had a profound impact on me On another California trip, this time to discuss education with the Business Roundtable, a modele de cartier roadster telephone company executive told me that 70 percent of his job applicants flunked the companys entrance examination, even though virtually all of them were high school graduatesI asked the audience if the United States, fresh from victory in the Gulf War, could hope to lead the postCold War world if childhood was dangerous and our schools were inadequate Of course, it was one thing to say the country had problems and quite another to say what the federal government should do about them, and to say it in a way that could be heard by citizens conditioned by the Reagan-Bush years to believe the federal government was the source of our problems, not the solutionMaking that case was the mission of the Democratic Leadership Council In early May, I went to Cleveland to preside over the DLC conventionA year earlier, in New Orleans, we had issued a statement of principles intended to move beyond the tired partisan debate in Washington by creating a dynamic but centrist progressive movement of new ideas rooted in traditional American valuesWhile the DLC had been criticized for being too conservative by some of our partys leading liberals, like Governor Mario Cuomo and the Reverend Jesse Jackson (who said DLC stood for Democratic tiffany heart charm toggle necklace Leisure Class), the convention attracted an impressive array of creative thinkers, innovative state and local officials, and businesspeople concerned about our economic and social problemsMany prominent national Democrats, including several prospective presidential candidates, were also thereAmong the speakers were Senators Sam Nunn, John Glenn, Chuck Robb, Joe Lieberman, John Breaux, Jay Rockefeller, and Al GoreBesides me, the governors there were Lawton Chiles of Florida and Jerry Baliles of VirginiaThe House members there mostly represented conservative constituencies, like Dave McCurdy of Oklahoma, or had an interest in national security and foreign policy, like Steve Solarz of New YorkFormer senator Paul Tsongas and former governor Doug Wilder of Virginia, both of whom would soon be running for President, were thereA number of talented black leaders participated, including Governor Wilder; Mayor Mike White of Cleveland; Vince Lane, the creative chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority; Congressman Bill Gray of Pennsylvania; and Congressman Mike Espy of Mississippi I opened the convention with a keynote address designed to make the case that America needed to change course and that the DLC could and should lead the rolex sport watch way