January 1, 2000
Web posted at: 1:26 p.m. EST (1826 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After staying up into the wee hours to welcome the arrival of 2000, President Clinton said in his weekly radio address Saturday he was grateful for a "jubilant and peaceful" global celebration and cited it as an example for a world that America was prepared to lead into third millennium.

Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to the nation after an all-night White House New Year's party in a joint address live from the Oval Office. It also was broadcast on television and, for the first time, was available as a video simulcast on the Internet.

"We're deeply grateful that the celebrations were both jubilant and peaceful, here and all around the world," Clinton said.

The Clintons praise the New Year's Eve celebrations across the globe

A White House spokeswoman said Clinton left the party at about 3:30 a.m.

He and Mrs. Clinton, who appeared a bit tired as they gave the radio address, also presided with daughter Chelsea at a celebrity-and-fireworks New Year's Eve gala at the Lincoln Memorial.

In their own weekly radio address, Republicans looked to the past to make a pitch for future GOP leadership in the United States.

North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer recalled the Republican Party's achievements from President Abraham Lincoln's fight against slavery to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush helping to bring about an end to the Cold War.

Schafer said Americans face new choices this year when they decide on a new president, 11 governors and hundreds of House and Senate members.

"Our challenge is to elect leaders for the next century who will continue to nurture the American spirit, leaders who understand and respect the values that have propelled the United States to our current position of strength and opportunity," said Schafer, who is chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

The Lincoln Memorial gala typified New Year's Eve celebrations around the globe in which fears of terrorism and computer breakdowns evaporated and partying took over.

"What is perhaps most remarkable about last night's celebration is the way it was shared all around the world. Millions of Americans and billions of others across the globe watched on television as midnight broke, first in Asia, then in Europe, then Africa, South America, finally here in North America," Clinton said in his radio address.

Such a universal celebration would have been inconceivable a century ago, and it illustrated global connections that are "the key to understanding where we're going and what we must do in the new millennium," Clinton said.

He said America was prepared to lead the world, exhibiting a confidence that the 20th century era dubbed by some as the "American century" would extend well into the next.

"We begin the 21st century well poised to be that guiding light ... never have our values -- freedom, democracy and opportunity -- been more ascendant in the world," he said.

He said U.S. goals should include promoting prosperity among trade partners, secure democracies, and cooperation against terrorism and environmental destruction.

Mrs. Clinton, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in New York, said America should set an example for other countries by raising the economic lot of its poor, improving education and promoting diversity.

"If we in America can extend prosperity to people and places in this country that have not yet felt it, then perhaps the global economy can bring a better life ... to 1.4 billion people who live on less then $1 a day," she said.

"If we can build one America and make our diversity our greatest strength then perhaps other nations will see the advantage of working to overcome their own ethnic and religious tensions," she said.

The White House said the last time the weekly Saturday address was televised was in May 1997.

Saturday, January 1, 2000

• Clinton grateful for peaceful New Year celebration

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