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April 16, 1997
Clinton Honors Robinson Amid Talks to Kids and Politicians
By JAMES BENNET
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EW YORK -- With the legacy of Jackie Robinson on his mind and several of New York's Democratic office-holders at his heels, President Clinton came to Brooklyn Tuesday to urge junior high school students to seize life's opportunities and Democratic donors to seize political ones.
Before heading to Queens to appear at Shea Stadium on Tuesday night, Clinton visited Andries Hudde Junior High School in Flatbush and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He was trailed by New York Democrats engaged in a running superlative skirmish to offer him the strongest public praise.
Flanked by loudspeakers and basketball hoops in the school's gymnasium, Clinton, still recovering from knee surgery, leaned his crutches against the lectern and led hundreds of occasionally shrieking and cheering students in a finger-pointing, lectern-thumping rally against smoking, celebrating the annual Kick Butts Day. He broadened his message into an appeal for the children to make the most of themselves. "You've got to get a good education, and you've got to take care of your mind and your body," he said. "And if you do, you'll be a champion, no matter what you do and no matter whether you're famous or not."
Several children said they were thrilled by the presidential visit. "I didn't think he was really going to come," said Donique Whonder, 11. Asked what she knew about the president, another 11-year-old, Shanna Williams, said: "I know that he smoked once -- but he didn't inhale."
An hour and a half later, it seemed a far different president who addressed about 60 donors to congressional Democrats under the glass roof of the Palm Room in the Botanic Garden. Clinton leaned heavily on his crutches and talked politics, speaking softly and even wearily, about his accomplishments and the Democrats' prospects for taking back Congress in 1998.
"With only 9,759 votes spread across 10 congressional districts," Clinton said, referring to the close margin in the 1996 elections, "the Democrats could be in the majority today." Clinton wrapped up his remarks in just six minutes, but not before noting, "I have consistently done very well in Brooklyn, as the members never forget to tell me, and I'm very grateful for that."
Reporters and television cameras were admitted to the fund-raising lunch only for the formal remarks, and before they appeared, Clinton may have been more animated as he greeted the donors.
The small audience, which was gathered at six circular tables in the sun-soaked room, included 11 Democrats from New York's congressional delegation. The event, which cost each of the roughly 60 donors a minimum of $5,000, was expected to raise $600,000 to $700,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Addressing the group before Clinton, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, the Manhattan Democrat, said that the Democrats owed some of their success to House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "Thank God we have Gingrich down there, pushing our numbers up!" he said.
Clinton, who steers away from endorsing Democrats during primaries, did not appear in public with the Democratic candidates for mayor.
But the leading candidates, Fernando Ferrer and Ruth W. Messinger, did meet Clinton briefly Tuesday night behind closed doors at the stadium. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a guest of the Mets owners, sat in the same box Tuesday night as Clinton.
Before both of his Brooklyn audiences Tuesday, Clinton illustrated his points by referring to Jackie Robinson -- though he slipped slightly at the school by saying he came to mark the 40th anniversary of Robinson's first game. Even as the president was correcting himself, what seemed like thousands of children shouted: "Fiftieth!"
Occasionally asking the students questions that brought shouted responses, Clinton laid out his vision of his job, describing his efforts to create opportunities and comparing himself and other politicians to Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager who brought Robinson to the majors.
He asked the children to imagine what would have happened if Robinson had not played well. "Just think what a downer it would have been if he couldn't play baseball," he said.
Clinton used Tiger Woods, the golfer, to make the same point. Clinton described the loving, disciplined home that Woods came from, and he added: "He still wouldn't have won that golf tournament unless he could hit the ball -- a lo-o-ong way."
In the same way, Clinton said, "It's up to you."
He continued, sweat shimmering on his face as the gym warmed up: "Because I can sit in Washington and work all day and all night long and make this speech until I'm blue in the face, and unless the children of this country band together and show solidarity with each other, and help each other resist peer pressure, and stand up for your future, and understand that your body is the most prized gift you've been given along with your mind and your spirit, nothing I do will amount to a hill of beans."
The anti-smoking event was broadcast to more than 4,000 schools. Mark J. Green, New York City's Public Advocate, who created Kick Butts Day, called it "an incredible flexing of the Democratic muscle."
Also joining Clinton on the podium, Rep. Charles E. Schumer, the Brooklyn Democrat, praised the president for his stand against tobacco and pointed out his own daughter, Jessica, a seventh grader at the school. "From one parent to another, thank you," Schumer said to the President.
But it was perhaps Rep. Major R. Owens, a Democrat from Brooklyn, who offered the most glowing praise. He hailed Clinton as "an extra-special president" and declared, "No other president has done as much for education as this one."
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