President Bush's Policies Support America's Small Businesses
Remarks by the President to the National Federation of Independent Businesses
The J.W. Marriott Hotel
Washington, D.C.
1:20 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Go ahead and be
seated. (Applause.) Thanks for coming. Please be seated. I'm
honored you're here. Thanks for coming. Welcome to the Nation's
Capital. I'm honored to follow Denny Hastert. He is a fabulous
Speaker of the House of Representatives. I enjoy -- (applause) -- he
is a good friend and a really good leader. And I've enjoyed working
with him.
And I've enjoyed working with the members of the NFIB, as well.
(Applause.) I love to be in the presence of entrepreneurs.
(Applause.) Wait, who's minding the store? (Laughter.) I think if you
look back in your record, you'll find I was an NFIB member in Midland,
Texas, way back when. (Applause.) You're 600,000 strong, you have a
good voice here in Washington. I want you to know that. And you need
to make sure you continue to speak it clearly, because the policymakers
need to hear from you about the need for less regulations, good
taxation and less litigation in order for you to be able to do your
job. (Applause.)
I know you know this: You've got friends on Capitol Hill -- you
have a friend in the White House, too. (Applause.) There is a
practical reason why I'm your friend. One of the practical reasons is,
most new jobs -- by far, the vast majority of new jobs are started by
small businesses in America. See, I'm interested in our people
working. I want the American people to be at work, so they fulfill
their responsibilities as mothers and dads. And during a time of
slowdowns, which we have been through, it's really important to make
sure the small business sector of the American economy is strong.
And so I'm about to talk about some policies we put in place to
help you do your job better. The way I look at it is: what is good
for small business is good for America. (Applause.) We're here at a
time of great promise and great opportunity.
The economy has shifted into high gear, and that's good news. It's
good news if you're trying to make a living. (Applause.) It's good
news if you're trying to make a living, and it's good news if you're
trying to meet a payroll. (Laughter and applause.) Factories are
busier, families are earning more, home ownership rates -- the home
ownership rate is the highest ever in America. See, that is good news
if you're interested in promoting an ownership society in our country.
We want people owning their own business, we want people owning their
own homes. (Applause.) You and I know this, that if you own
something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country. The
more ownership there is in America, the more vitality there is in
America, and the more people have a vital stake in the future of this
country.
We've got economic challenges, we've got economic momentum, and
that's good. Because of the good policies, but more importantly,
because of your hard work, because of working to realize your dreams,
because of the spirit of the small business owner in the country, the
economy is strong, and it is getting stronger. (Applause.)
I want to thank Jack Faris for inviting me here. I'm honored to
come right around the corner. I appreciate Tom Musser, the Chairman of
the Board. I want to thank Dan Danner. He does all the work.
(Laughter and applause.) But most of all, I thank you all. I've seen
many of you as I've traveled the country. Part of my job has been to
sell a pro-growth, pro-entrepreneur economic stimulus plan. And I was
able to do so in your presence in different parts of America. And I
want to thank you for showing up then and showing up now. It's good to
see you again.
I think every one of you knows full well what this economy has been
through. And it's important for our country to remember what we have
been through, because we have been through a lot. That's why I'm so
optimistic about the future, because I've seen where we have come
from.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Four more years! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: I might as well quit on that note. (Laughter.)
Let me just remind you where we have been through -- what we have been
through. When I was the President-elect, sitting in Austin, Texas, I
had a group of business leaders come down and see me, including Jack
Faris. The universal message from those leaders was this: the economy
was in trouble. In early January, when we showed up here to go to
work, the economy was heading into a recession. The stock market had
been declining. Factories were laying off workers. And these were
tough times. And you know it, as well it as I. It's hard to be a
small business owner during a recession. It's hard to make your
payroll. It's hard to fulfill your obligations to your workers when
the economy is not growing, I understand that.
We began to recover somewhat, and then the enemy hit us on
September the 11th. The attack not only affected our psychology, the
attack affected the economy. And the two go hand-in-hand, as you
know. Parts of our economy came to a standstill right after September
the 11th, 2001. Remember, airports were shut down. The stock market
closed. We lost nearly a million jobs in three months.
And then we began to recover, because of policy and the spirit of
America, and then we discovered some of our corporate citizens forgot
what it meant to be a responsible American. They didn't tell the truth
to their shareholders and their employees. We came together here in
Washington, passed tough laws, and made it clear we're not going to
tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America. We will hold people
to account. (Applause.)
There is no question that we -- the economy was affected by
recession and attacks and emergencies, the "March to War," corporate
scandal, but we acted. We acted. I want to thank you for your help.
We acted together. We went to Congress and said, let's lower the taxes
on the American people. In order to get this economy moving, let's
make sure people have got more of their own money in their pocket.
See, I believe -- I think you may agree with me -- that the people
can use their money far better than the federal government can.
(Applause.) And so we cut rates across the board. We said to
Congress, if we're going to have tax relief, let's make sure it's
fair. If you have to have tax relief, let's make sure everybody who
pays taxes gets relief. And they listened, fortunately. The good news
about reducing the individual tax rates across the board was that it
helped small businesses.
You know what I know -- most small businesses pay tax at the
individual income tax rate, because if you're being a subchapter S
corporation, or other types of structures that, on the one hand, limit
your liability and, on the other hand, cause you to pay tax at the
individual rate level. About 90 percent of the small businesses across
America pay tax at the individual income tax rate level. And that's
important. In other words, if you're interested in trying to get out
of recession and recover from an attack, it's important to stimulate
the small business sector. And the definition of stimulate for people
out there who are trying to understand, when I say, stimulate, the
definition of stimulate means more money in your pocket. That's how
you stimulate growth. That's how you encourage confidence.
(Applause.)
We also helped families by doubling the child credit. We reduced
the marriage penalty. I've never understood a society which penalizes
marriage. It seems like you want to encourage marriage. (Laughter.)
But we released the marriage penalty. (Applause.)
And very important for the small business owner in America, we put
the death tax on the road to extinction. (Applause.) We had an
interesting debate here in Washington about whether we needed a death
tax or not. My position is, you shouldn't tax a person's assets twice,
once while they're living, once when they move on. (Laughter.) I
mean, it's your property, you built your business, and you ought to be
able to leave your business to whomever you chose. (Applause.)
And secondly, the people here in Washington must understand that
many times, when a small business owner passes on, the estate must be
liquidated, the company must be liquidated in order to pay the burden
of the taxes. Many times the asset is illiquid. There's good capital
worth, but they're illiquid. And the taxes are such that people have
to sell their business, sell something they've loved, sell something
they've tried to build up for the future.
Many moms and dads have got dreams about a -- of leaving their
businesses to generation after generation after generation. It's
become one of the great parts of the American heritage, isn't it,
whether it be a small business or a farm. People like that asset base
in their own family. And yet the death tax makes it, in some cases,
virtually impossible to do so. And getting rid of the death tax is a
very important part of making sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong
in America. (Applause.)
We also created new incentives for the small businesses by
quadrupling the annual expense deduction for equipment, up to
$100,000. And that's important. (Applause.) See, that's important.
It's an important part of stimulating the economy. We say, look, we're
going to encourage you to invest. And our fellow citizens must
understand that when small businesses invest, it means really what
you're doing is you're purchasing something that somebody has to
manufacture for you. And when they manufacture it for you, somebody is
more likely to find work. It has a ripple effect throughout our
economy.
The tax plan, that stimulation -- the economic stimulation plan we
passed was based upon a certain principle. It was based upon my
optimism about people making the right decisions throughout our
economy. See, I'm optimistic about our future because I've got great
faith in the small business entrepreneurs of America and the workers of
America. And the economic plan we put forth to Congress, which they
passed, is based upon that great trust and optimism and knowledge about
how the small business sector works and affects the future of the
country. (Applause.)
Some looked at the problems -- (Applause.) We had a debate here in
Washington, of course, and that's good, and that's healthy for
democracy. You like debates. You also like to win the debates.
(Laughter.) Some looked at the problems and offered familiar
solutions. They said, look, what we really shouldn't have done, is we
shouldn't have cut the taxes on the American people. We shouldn't let
people have more of their own money. It's kind of the old age -- it's
the age old argument, do you want more government, or more money in
people's pockets? I came down on the side of more money in the
people's pockets; others would have had it that they want to increase
the size of the federal government. I just don't think that increasing
the size of the federal government will help you recover from a
recession or emergency or corporate scandals.
They said it was probably best to isolate America from the world.
It was kind of a knee-jerk reaction to tough economic times, and say,
why don't we become isolationists, economic isolationists. I've
rejected that point of view, because that's too pessimistic, as far as
I'm concerned. And I'll discuss that in a minute.
In other words, they were quick about pointing out the problems,
but frankly, they didn't come up with many good solutions. And in my
judgment, there wasn't a better solution than letting people have their
money, stimulating the small business sector. And it's paying off.
(Applause.) The policies we have put in place have made sense.
Of course, recoveries don't happen overnight. Tax relief takes a
while to have an impact. And people got impatient. The critics got
impatient. You know, there was a lot of gloomy predictions around our
country. Let me take a look at a few of them with you, and see what's
actually happened, thanks to tax relief.
Let me take a look at a few of them with you and see what actually
has happened thanks to tax relief. We used to hear it said that
America was in a jobless recovery. That term seems to have fallen out
of use lately. (Laughter and applause.) Since August our policies
have helped American businesses create 1.4 million new jobs. We've
seen four straight months of manufacturing job gains. It's a clear
sign of a broad and strong recovery. Even after the recovery began,
some doubted whether it would really take hold. They predicted what
they called a "double-dip" recession -- there would be a recession,
recovery, and then another recession. Yet in the past year, the
economy has grown at the fastest pace in almost two decades. Since
last summer, we now have the fastest growing major industrialized
economy in the world. (Applause.) And the recession was one of the
shallowest in modern American history, thanks to you, thanks to your
hard work, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit being revived.
The critics made a few other predictions. They said businesses and
households would not spend their tax savings. Turns out business
investment is up more than 9 percent in the last year. Businesses are
investing. They're spending capital. An NFIB survey shows nearly
two-thirds of all small firms had capital spending projects in the last
six months. Households have used their tax relief to help drive our
economy forward as well. Consumption remained strong through the rough
times and has accelerated since the tax relief was passed.
Some of the pessimists looked at this economic progress and claimed
that the American families are still falling behind. Well, they didn't
offer much evidence, because, in fact, as our economy has come back,
American families are doing a lot better. Higher growth and higher
productivity are leading to better-paying jobs across America.
Families are keeping more of their own money.
Since the beginning of 2001, real after-tax incomes, which are what
people earn after inflation and taxes, have increased by 11 percent.
(Applause.) That figure matters a lot. Let me see if I can put it in
west Texas terms. That means you've got more money in your pocket.
(Laughter and applause.) And it's your money to spend. You get to
decide what to do with it, not the federal government.
Turns out when people have more money in their pocket, they make
decisions that suit their own needs, and at the same time has the
cumulative effect of stimulating our economy. It's the millions of
decisions by consumers and small business owners and investors which
drives our economy forward. It's not the decisions by bureaucrats in
Washington, D.C. that creates economic growth.
At every stage of our recovery, people were always looking for a
cloud to stand under, or some were looking for a cloud to stand under
here. One of my -- I read something interesting that I'd like to share
with you about an attitude that sometimes can take hold. On the
morning after D-Day in 1944, The Wall Street Journal ran a headline
that read: "Invasion's Impact: Marks Beginning of End of War Economy;
New Problems For Industry." (Laughter.) That's kind of an interesting
way to look at the liberation of Europe. (Laughter.) The economic --
there are modern-day economic pessimists around who are quick to offer
dire predictions and complaints. But you know what? They do not offer
pro-growth economic policies. They can find the dark cloud, but they
can't see the sunshine because they don't know where to take the
country, and they don't know where to lead. (Applause.)
You can't lead unless you understand the strengths of America, and
one of the great strengths of our economy is the small business sector
of our economy, and I intend to keep it strong and vibrant and alive.
(Applause.)
According to the NFIB, the small business optimism has reached a
20-year high at the end of 2003. And that's good. Things are
working. In your jobs survey, the last one you had, about half your
members were looking to hire. Half your members are saying, I see a
better future and I need somebody to help me make my business grow.
And that's positive news for American workers. It's positive news when
the small business sector feels a wind at its back, where the owners
are saying, I see a better day, therefore, I'm going to take a little
more risk; or I see a better day, I'm going to help find somebody to
help me make my business work better.
A guy named Mike Baldino from Fremont, Nebraska -- he's a NFIB
member -- he owns Kelly Closure Systems. They make steel buildings and
enclosures. He's a subchapter S -- his company is a subchapter S.
He's a subchapter S CEO. You know what that means. It means when you
lower income taxes at the individual level, it affects his cash flow.
He saved $30,000 last year. He's a small business guy, has $30,000 in
his pockets. He says he's going to invest. He's going to buy a
conveyor system, a new conveyor system. Our citizens must understand
that when Mike makes a decision like that and says, I want to buy a new
conveyor system because of the tax relief Congress passed, somebody's
got to make the conveyor system. And somebody's got to provide the
parts for the person who makes the conveyor system; in other words,
Mike's decision has a ripple effect throughout our economy. He said
this: he said, "I've been dragging my feet. The tax bill gave me the
incentive."
See, the tax bill, and it's essential for our citizens to
understand, when we passed the tax bill, it changed the decision-making
process of millions of small business owners. It changed the attitude
of the decision-makers in the small businesses of America. Not only
are you more optimistic than you had been in the past, you've got a
little more money to spend, too, which makes you optimistic. And it's
your decisions, it's the millions of decisions in the marketplace that
have helped define the economic recovery we're going through. And
Congress must understand that.
Mike added four new jobs. Now, that doesn't sound a lot to people
who think in terms of a lot of zeros. But it meant a lot to the four
people he hired. It meant a lot to Mike. (Applause.)
And when you think about it, there are a lot of Mikes out there who
own their own small business. It's the cumulative effect of small
business hiring practices that have helped create this momentum in job
hiring across the country. You know what I'm talking about. You've
hired one or two or three, 10, 20 people. And it's had an enormous
effect. It's changing the dynamic of our economy. People are getting
back to work. Small businesses are hiring. The future looks bright.
And the fundamental question facing the country is, how do we make sure
we continue to grow?
See, we've still got some problems. I want to discuss a few of
them with you. I might ask for your help in convincing your elected
representatives to perhaps listen to our point of view about how to
make sure this growth that we have going today not only lasts
throughout the political cycle; more importantly, lasts throughout the
decade. That's what we want. And the way I like to put it is, one way
to do so it to make sure America is the best place in the world to do
business. The best place for people to risk capital, the best place
for people to try to realize their dreams must be America if we want
our people working throughout the next decade.
And there are some things that we must do. First, there must be
certainty in the tax code. (Applause.) If you're a decision-maker at
a small business, you want to know what the future tax -- your future
taxes are going to look like, that's what you want to know. It's hard
to make a decision if you're uncertain about what next year's taxes
will look like, what the rates will look like. And so therefore, it's
very important for Congress to understand and listen to the
decision-makers. As you know, some of tax relief is set to expire this
year. And Congress must hear from you. They're going to continue to
hear from me. Instead of raising taxes on the American people at this
point, we ought to make sure the taxes stay where they are and stay
low. (Applause.)
We need to make sure the child credit stays where it is, the
marriage penalty stays down, the 10 percent rate stays in place.
That's what we need to make sure. It will send a signal. It will send
a signal that we intend to make the tax relief we put in place a
permanent part of the tax code so our small business owners can plan
for the future.
And by the way, the death tax could conceivably come back to life.
It's being phased out. It's going to be an unusual year. I think it's
2011 that it -- see, it fades out to 2010, then all of a sudden, it
shoots back up in 2011. I guess a lot of people are going to have to
be making some decisions in 2010. (Laughter.) Congress needs to hear
from you on this issue, I'm telling you. It's important to make sure
that the death tax goes away forever -- forever, that there's
permanency. (Applause.)
One of the challenges that we have as our economy shifts is to make
sure that we have a skilled work force to fill the jobs of the 21st
century. We're not going to be able to grow throughout the decades
unless we make sure our work force can do the jobs that are being
created. In other words, if you can't find workers to be able to do
the jobs that are necessary to compete in the 21st century, you'll look
elsewhere. And so one of the economic realities is to make sure the
education system works well. And I've worked with Congress to pass the
No Child Left Behind Act. It is a strong piece of legislation and I'll
tell you why. It sets high standards. And for the first time, it says
in return for federal money, show us whether or not a child can learn
to read and write and add and subtract.
See, you live with accountability all your life, don't you? It's
called the balance sheet and the income statement. A small business
person is held accountable every day. If you're in retail sales,
you're held accountable when you close the register that evening. If
you're in construction sales or building homes, you're held accountable
every day, based upon progress you've made on a project that you've
got.
The school systems need to be held accountable as well. And in
return for money, we've said all we expect is for a child to read at
grade level, starting at the third grade. That's not too much to
expect. As a matter of fact, it's necessary to make sure the work
force works. (Applause.)
But we've got other programs to make sure our kids are ready.
We've had a system, as you know, that has just simply shuffled some
through the system without asking the hard question about education
achievement and they need help now. And so we've got programs for
middle school kids and high school kids and intervention programs in
English and Math. We're working hard to promote science and
engineering programs, both in high school and college.
But one of the most important initiatives that we have put forth
here in Washington is to match up our community colleges with employers
looking for workers, is to say to the work force, you can go back to
school for a period of time -- we'll help you in most cases -- and
train for jobs which actually exist. I don't know if you're having
problems finding workers in your respective industries, but I can tell
you, the health care industry's looking for nurses. I mean, there are
a jobs where people are looking to fill jobs. And one reason why they
can't fill those jobs is because the education system hasn't
responded. The education system must be flexible, available and
affordable. And the best place to do that is in the community college
campuses all across America. (Applause.)
We're not going to be able to compete in the world and create the
jobs we want to create over the next decades if we strangle our small
business owners and large business owners with needless paperwork and
regulation.
The governments -- and I say governments, because I know the
federal government has got a lot of paperwork you need to fill out --
but so does the state government and local government. I can't
guarantee that we read all the forms we ask you to fill out.
(Laughter.) I would bet they don't read all the forms. (Laughter.)
And we've got to be mindful about what paperwork does to the job
creators. We want you hiring people, not hiring -- not filling out
paperwork. That's what we want. The Treasury Department has
simplified some tax forms, for example.
There's some practical things we must continue to do at the federal
level to make sure that we can compete and make sure people can find
work. Our workers must understand that if we overburden our people,
our entrepreneurs with paperwork, they're less likely to find a job.
The government has the responsibility to have oversight but not
oppressive oversight. (Applause.)
In order for America to be a competitive place, the best place to
do business, in order for people to be able to find work over the next
years, we must have a legal system that is fair and balanced. Today's
legal system is not fair and it's not balanced. (Applause.)
I want you to remind the people on Capitol Hill you cannot be
pro-small business and pro-trial lawyer at the same time. (Applause
and cheers.)
And the federal government can set an example of good tort reform
by passing a class-action reform, a reform where trial lawyers can't
shop for courts all around the country and a reform that, if there ever
is a verdict, the people who benefit are those who got injured, not the
lawyers. (Applause.) That bill is stuck. We need to help get it
unstuck and you can help. You can help by contacting your United
States senator-s. (Laughter.)
And we also need to reform our medical liability system. Now when
I came to Washington -- (applause) -- when I came up here, I said,
well, gosh, I think the best place to have reform on medical liability
reform is at the state level. And then I looked at the impact of what
the frivolous lawsuits were doing to federal budgets. You see, if
you're a doc and you're getting sued all the time, then you're going to
practice defensive medicine. It means you practice more medicine than
you need so if you ever get into a court of law, you can say, I've done
everything I could possibly do, some of which was not necessary except
for legal defense. And as a result of the lawsuits, or the threat of
being sued, or the settlements that happen as a result of filing
lawsuits, docs' premiums go up, too. And therefore, so does your cost
and so does the cost of the federal government.
So I decided medical liability reform was a federal issue that
required a federal solution, and worked with the United States House of
Representatives to get a good bill out, which says if you're truly
harmed by a doctor, you're going to be compensated. But these
outrageous settlements and these egregious awards must cease for the
sake of our small business owners.
I fully understand the pressure you're under when it comes to the
cost of health care. You've got employees that you want to take care
of. You have an obligation as an employer to make sure that somebody
working with you has got good health care. That's what you want more
than anything. And yet you know like I know the cost is going up. And
one way, a part of controlling the cost of health care, is for the
United States Congress to get rid of those frivolous and junk lawsuits
that's running up the cost of health care and pass federal medical
liability reform. (Applause.)
Another way to help small businesses is to pass association health
plans. (Applause.) Association health plans, see, they're
necessary. If you're a small business owner, a restaurant owner, say,
and lucky enough to be in the great state of Texas -- (cheers) -- there
you go -- it seems like you should be able to pool risk with a
restaurant owner in the state of Florida. Except in many states, you
can't do so. You know what I'm talking about. Big businesses are able
to spread risk, because they've got a lot of employees over which to
spread risk. Small businesses don't have that same purchasing power in
the marketplace. It makes sense to me to allow small businesses to
bind together in order to be able to better afford insurance for their
company. (Applause.)
As well, I want you to look into health savings accounts. This is
an innovative new product that has emerged as a result of me signing
the Medicare reform law. It's an interesting way for small businesses
to take care of their employees. Employees basically are able to
contribute tax-free into an account to help with routine medical
expenses and you pay for catastrophic care. The combination of the two
will save money. It also makes sure that the decision-making process
in medicine is between the doctor and the patient, not between federal
bureaucrats and the rest of the population. See, we must not allow the
federal government to run the health care system of America.
(Applause.)
In order for us to be competitive, in order for America to be a
great place to do business, we need an energy policy. We need to
become less dependent on foreign sources of energy. I proposed a plan
to the United States Congress several years ago and said, look, we have
got to do a better job of modernizing our electricity system, of
exploring for more energy in environmentally friendly ways in our own
country, by developing alternative sources of energy -- biodiesel,
ethanols -- I mean, listen, I would love to be able to leave behind a
legacy that says, gosh, the corn crop is up and we're less dependent on
oil from overseas. That would be a good thing to have happen, wouldn't
it? (Applause.)
And it's very possible. It's very possible. We must continue to
push research and development along those lines. And we've got to
encourage conservation. But we need -- the Congress needs to pass this
bill. I mean, all they've got to do is go to the gas pumps and take a
look at the price of gasoline and you begin to understand what it means
to be reliant upon foreign sources of energy. We need clean coal
technology. We need to be exploring for natural gas. We need to have
-- be able to deliquify liquified natural gas off our shores. We need
more energy in order to be able to have our economy strong, and at the
same time, make sure we're strong from a national security
perspective. (Applause.)
And finally, I want to talk about trade right quick. Do you know
that 97 percent of all U.S. exporters are American small businesses?
See, if you're good for -- good at something, we want to encourage you
to be able to sell your product everywhere. We're really good farmers
and ranchers in America. We ought to be selling beef and corn and
soybeans everywhere there's a market. We ought not to be afraid of
competition in America. I don't like unfair competition. And so, the
job of the President, it seems like to me, is to reject economic
isolationism, is to say to countries, our markets are open for you, you
open up your markets for us.
You see, all we want is a level playing field. Just give us a
chance
to compete. The chance to compete will be good for small
businesses. A level playing field will be good for you. It will open
up markets. It will give you more opportunity to sell that which you
make in places other than the U.S.
In my judgment, good trade policy means better jobs for the
American people. It's essential that we not become isolated from the
world. It's essential we be confident in our ability to compete. Give
us a level playing field, and America's entrepreneurs, small business
owners, farmers, ranchers and workers can compete with anybody,
anyplace, anywhere in the world. (Applause.)
What I'm telling you is, is that the economy's strong, it's getting
stronger. But it's important to keep thinking down the road and it's
important to recognize that which is necessary to make sure we can
compete. You want to be not only vibrant over the next four or five
years, you want to be vibrant over the next 20 years. The role of the
government is not to create wealth, but an environment in which the
entrepreneur can flourish. And I've just laid out five or six ways to
make sure that the entrepreneur can flourish in America.
We've got other challenges as well; I want to talk about two of
them right quick. One, we will win the war on terror. (Applause.)
Thank you. We will win it in the short-term because our troops will
protect America from harm. We've got great troops. Sergeant, I'm glad
you're here. The Chief of Staff of the NFIB's son is with us. He has
served in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm honored you're here,
Sarge. Thank you for your service. (Applause.)
Thanks to Sarge and others like him, we're running down al Qaeda,
we've removed terror regimes who defied ultimatums and we're doing the
hard work now of defeating terror in the long run by spreading freedom
and democracy. It's not easy work; I understand that. (Applause.)
It's hard to go to from tyranny to freedom. It's hard to be -- to
go from a country which had mass graves, and children being tortured in
front of their parents, guys whose hands were chopped off because the
currency was devalued. I remember the other day, seven people came to
see me and they had had their arms -- their hands cut off. They were
small business owners, just like you, in Baghdad. And the currency had
devalued and Saddam Hussein needed to blame somebody. So he found
these seven poor souls and he cut off their hands. And he marked their
foreheads with a X.
Fortunately, a filmmaker captured their story. And a guy in
Houston named Marvin Zindler -- he's a TV guy -- put a foundation
together, and had a foundation in place and saw the story and he flew
them over to the United States and they came with their new hands to
see me. A guy took his hand and put the pen in there and wrote, "God
Bless America" in Arabic. That's the kind of society that used to
exist. These seven people were overjoyed with the compassion of
America and thrilled with the thought of living in a free society.
This is hard work. But we've done hard work before.
After World War II, there were a lot of pessimists who doubted
whether or not Germany could ever rise from the rubble, or whether or
not Japan could ever be a democracy. Fortunately, we had optimists in
our country in those days who refused to listen to the pessimists.
Fortunately, we had people in those days who had great faith in the
values of America and great confidence that people deep in their souls
want to live in free societies.
And that's the challenge we're faced with today. The killers and
suiciders want us to leave Iraq, Afghanistan. They want us to renege
on our word. They want us to lose confidence. They will fail.
America will not be intimidated by these killers. We understand the
stakes. We understand that our long-term security depends on the
spread of free societies in parts of the world that are desperate for
freedom. We have great confidence in our belief that freedom is the
gift of the Almighty to every man and woman in this world. (Applause.)
We live in historic times. We live in historic times. This
economy of ours is changing and as it changes, it's getting stronger
and providing fantastic opportunities for people, opportunities for
those who dream the big dream and who work hard and take a risk. And
we have a chance to leave behind a legacy of peace by spreading
democracy and freedom. These are the challenges that have been placed
before us. We accept the challenges, and we know that for our great
country, the best days lie ahead.
Thank you for coming and may God bless you. (Applause.)