Excerpt from:
The White House Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release March 19, 1994
Remarks By The President In Abc Special "Answering Children'S Questions"
The East Room
11:30 A.M. Est
Mr. Jennings: Put your hands down for just one second. How many of you think that when you bring up a problem to the President that he can actually go and solve it? They're fairly practical about that, because there are only so many problems a President can --
The President: Yes. Some things I can do. Some things I can't do. Some things I can do if other people will help me. And it's very -- that's why I try to tell you what I can do and what I can't when you ask these questions.
Mr. Jennings: We'll be right back.
The President: We ought to say one thing about that when we come back.
Mr. Jennings: Which is?
The President: Which is what Pernell said, that --Teddy Roosevelt, who was President at the early -- the first President of the 20th century -- McKinley until 1901. Teddy Roosevelt said once that the greatest power of the presidency was the bully pulpit, the ability to talk about these problems and to give other people the chance to be heard. Some of you, like Cotton wants me to change a government policy here. But because of the bully pulpit of the presidency, because Peter came here, he can be heard by people who never saw a cattle ranch before and may not understand that problem.
And you get to ask me all kinds of questions. You got to -- Patience got to ask me the question she wanted to ask about abortion. Sara got to ask the question she wanted to ask about health care. That's because this is a bully pulpit. So even some things that I don't have legal authority over, it's still important for the President to talk about and to let others talk about and even disagree with the President on because that's the way America learns and grows and debates.
So I think it's very important. Like you asked -- you said the question about welfare. It's important for the American people to know that the reason most people don't get off welfare is because they or their children lose health care, not because they like being on welfare, not because they want a check from the government. Most everybody would rather be out working. But when you go to work and you lose the health care, then you wonder what you're going to do if your kids get sick. That's a real pain. So these are important things.