A Call For National Unity

At a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, President Clinton congratulated Russian president Boris Yeltsin and called for national unity on America's birthday: "This is a day when all Americans put aside business and political differences. Even though we take the blessings of liberty for granted, millions of people around the world would give anything to share them," Clinton said. The President noted that in a heartening endorsement of the new Russian democracy, two-thirds of eligible Russian voters had gone to the polls Wednesday. He also took time to claim credit for the continued robust growth in the U.S. economy, the rise in average American wages and the 9.7 million jobs created since he took office, reiterating his plan to make the first $10,000 in college tuition deductible: "I want every one who wants to, to be able to go to college." Perhaps feeling the sting of the multiple investigations underway into actions by Clinton aides and associates, the President took the time-honored course of blaming the media, in this case virtually accusing the press of unpatriotic negativism: "We can never say we have restored America until you can go home and turn on the evening news and not be numbed by what you see." -->