Not Another Teen Pregnancy
- Clinton starts the body of his speech by talking about "the first challenge:" strengthening America's families. He calls family the "foundation of American life" (17.2). BTW, "family" is a social issue often trumpeted by Republicans and conservatives.
- He thanks his own family, including his wife, Hillary. This could fairly be called an example of historical irony.
- Clinton challenges Congress to pass a law requiring so-called V-chips in TV sets, a parental-control technology used to "screen out programs they believe are inappropriate for their children." (21.1)
- Adding to this, he challenges the broadcast industry (i.e. TV, entertainment, and the media) to work with him to "improve what our children see on television" (23.2). Back in the early '90s, there was a lot of fuss over this stuff; gangster rap, raunchy music videos, and Quentin Tarantino were pretty new.
- The president asks cigarette makers to stop marketing their products to children. He would brag about "taking on Big Tobacco" a lot later in his career.
- Welfare reform takes center stage: Clinton expresses desire to reform the system in order to prevent families from becoming over-reliant on welfare.
- Clinton announces a new initiative to campaign against teen pregnancy, and keep the rate dropping. This was years before Juno.
- The family values section wraps up with a call to end domestic violence, and for "the fathers of this country" (30.1) (no, not Washington and Franklin) to provide greater support to their children, including paying child support. This stuff is all red meat for conservative-leaning voters.