American cancer society houston

February 6, 1994

The President. Well, hello, everybody.

Audience members. Hello.

The President. Have you had a good time at the party?

Audience members. Yes.

The President. Did you play some games? Audience members. Yes.

The President. Some of you win?

Audience members. Yes.

The President. Well, that's good. I'm so glad to see all of you. I just came in from Washington on an airplane, and it was raining at the airport. And I'm glad to be here where it's dry. And I came in with your Mayor, Mayor Lanier, and Congressman Green. Who else is here? Is Congressman Washington here? Is anybody else here? Well, we're glad to see you, and I'm glad to be in Houston for a little while.

Audience members. That's all right.

The President. Yes, that's all right, isn't it?

You know, I--what's this? Is it for me? What's on that ring? What do you think? Do you all want to ask me any questions? You do? What's your question?

The Presidency

Q. What's it like being President?

The President. What's it like being President? Well, depending on what humor they're in, it can be a lot of fun. |Laughter~ Listen, you want to know what's fun about it, what's good about it? What's good about it is I get to go all over America and meet all different kinds of people and know that I have to work for all of them, people of all ages and all races.

It's good because I get to do things that help people and help solve problems. One of the things that we are doing more of this year is putting more money into medical research, something that you support, right? |Applause~ And another thing that I'm trying to do is to figure out how to put more money into medical research and, at the same time, make sure that health care is available to every child in this country, every child, including a lot of people who don't have it today.

So I get to see all different kinds of people and work on different problems and try to make life better. It's a wonderful job. Sometimes it's hard, but it's always a good job.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Well, you really get right to it, don't you? |Laughter~ His question was where are they? Here's the head of my detail. Do I like having Secret Service agents around me all the time? The answer to that is, the true answer is, yes and no. Yes, I like it because their job is to protect me and my family, and they do a wonderful job of it. And no I don't, sometimes I just like to be an ordinary citizen. I just wish that I could take my wife and daughter and walk down the street and go to the movie or go to a restaurant or go in a shop and go shopping and just be alone. But it's not going to happen for a few years.

Who else had their hand up over here? Yes, ma'am, what's your question? Your name is Danielle? You've got a great nose, Danielle. |Laughter~ What's your question?

Q. How does it feel to live in--

The President. In the White House?

Q. Yes.

The President. How does it feel to live in the White House? Well, it's a great honor. Do you know, every President since 1800 has lived in the White House. Every President except for George Washington has lived there. So it's wonderful to live there, because I carry all this history around. I go in rooms all the time, and I know every other President's been there.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. How old am I? |Laughter~ I am very old. How old do you think I am?

Q. How old are you?

The President. How old do you think I am?

Q. Forty.

The President. Forty--oh, bless you. |Laughter~ Bless you. Hey, hold on. Forty-six? Close.

Q. Forty-eight.

The President. I'm 47, 47.

Q. A hundred.

The President. One hundred--no. |Laughter~ Listen, one at a time. What's your question? Stand up--what's your question? I've got you--yes, hold on. What's your question?

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. What do I do? I've been asking myself that lately. |Laughter~ Well, first of all, I try to pass laws in the Congress that take care of the needs of the American people. I speak for the United States in the rest of the world. And I command the Armed Forces of the United States. Those are some of the things I do.

What?

Q. How do you like being President?

The President. I like it a lot. You'd like it, too, I think.

Q. What are your plans for the future?

The President. You mean for your future or for mine? For my future? You mean, what am I going to do when I grow up? |Laughter~

Q. When you're older.

The President. When I'm older.

Q. Yes.

The President. I'm just going to keep--I'm going to be the very best President I can be, and I'm not going to think about the future until I'm not President anymore.

Do you want to get down? Here, hold on, I've got your hand. Do you want to get down, or do you want to stick with me? Nice boots. Hey, look at these boots. Let's give him a hand on these boots. I love them. |Applause~ Better than mine. Do you like them better than mine?

Do you want to get down? You want to go down? Okay, I've got you.

Do you want to get up? Okay, you get up. You're next.

Okay, who's got another--go ahead, in the back.

Sh-h-h, I can't hear. Please be quiet so I can hear a question. Go ahead.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Yes, sometimes it's hard having a lot of responsibilities. Most of the time I like it, actually. I like being responsible for people and for their interests. But sometimes it's hard. Sometimes you just want to get up and not go to work and not have those responsibilities. But most days I really like it. It's a great honor to be responsible for other people.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Well, as President, I'm not supposed to express a preference, but I can tell you this: They earned it, didn't they? They did it by being good at what they did.

President's Activities

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. What do I drive? Believe it or not, one of the things that happens to you when you're President, they don't let you drive anymore. Some people think that I got hundreds of thousands of votes so I wouldn't be able to drive anymore. |Laughter~ The Secret Service drives me, but normally, they drive me in either a Cadillac or a Lincoln limousine that's bulletproof, where the doors and the windows are real thick like that.

Q. Did you ever have to wash dishes? |Laughter~

The President. Did I ever have to wash dishes? You bet. I bet I've washed more dishes than most people in this room. |Laughter~ But I even wash dishes now every now and then, but not often. But I don't mind that. I've washed a lot of dishes in my life, though.

Q. Why do you jog?

The President. Why do I jog? Because if I didn't, I'd get fat--ter than I am. |Laughter~ And because I like it.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Do I get worn out traveling? When I travel a whole lot, I get tired. But I like to travel because it's the only way I get to see people in the country.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Am I going to run in 1996? Don't bet against it. But I haven't decided yet.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Why are they so thick? Why are they so thick? So the bullets don't break through. That's right. Good for you.

Yes, ma'am, what's your question? How does it feel when you're flying? Have you ever been in an airplane? Well, the truth is, most of the time it feels like it does on the ground. It's calm and nice and fun. But when you take off, it's real exciting because you're going up like that. And then sometime when you fly through a storm and it jumps up and down, it's kind of scary. But most of the time it's just normal.

Q. I thought you were 51.

The President. I'm not 51. Sometimes I feel like I'm 151, but I'm only 47.

That's the first person I shook hands with. Let's get a question there. Listen. Q. |Inaudible~

The President. What's my bowling average? I don't bowl enough to have one, but I think it's like about 135, about 135 for the last 8 games I've bowled. But when I was in high school, I had a 168 average. And I'm starting to bowl again, so I'm trying to--I bowled 149 this morning. But I'm not very good. But I want to be good again. I like it.

Okay, anybody who hasn't had a question?

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. My favorite sport? For me, personally, I like golf because that's the one I play the most. But I like watching basketball.

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. My favorite movie of all time, ever? My favorite movie of all time is "High Noon." My second favorite movie of all time is a movie called "Casablanca." And the best movie I've seen this year is "Schindler's List"; that's what I think, in my opinion, closely followed by "Shadowlands."

Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Do I exercise? Yes, I go jogging five or six times a week, normally. And I have some weights I work out on, and I play golf as often as I can. The Secret Service jogs with me every day. And most of them are in better shape than I am and can run me to death. But sometimes I find one who is not in as good a shape as I am, and I enjoy that very much. |Laughter~ Q. |Inaudible~

The President. Yes, I want all of you who haven't shaken my hand before I leave, you come up here and shake hands with me. You certainly can.