For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 24, 2002
Remarks by the President in Alabama Welcome
Hitchcock Field
at Plainsman Park Baseball Stadium
Auburn, Alabama
5:33 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming. I
have the honor of being the second United States President to ever
visit Auburn University. (Applause.) The first was Franklin Delano
Roosevelt.
I don't know how he started his speech, but here's how I'm going to
start mine: War Eagle! (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: War Eagle, Hey! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank all you War Eagles for being here.
I particularly want to thank your President, President Walker. You did
a fine thing when you picked a native Texan to run Auburn. (Laughter
and applause.) And he's doing a fine job.
And I also want to thank so very much Stephen Renfroe, who's
running the baseball program here. (Applause.) We'll leave behind
some of my entourage to make sure the infield is smooth after we
leave. (Laughter.)
I particularly thank you all for coming. It's a huge honor to be
here. It's a great pleasure to be able to come and talk about some of
the challenges which face our nation, talk about why I'm so optimistic
that we can face any challenge before us, to talk about your duty as
citizens. You see, we're almost upon an election, and you have a
responsibility as American citizens to exercise your right, to exercise
your freedom, to go to the polls.
I think you have a duty to go to your coffee shops and your
community centers and your houses of worship and ask others to go to
the polls. It doesn't matter whether they're Republican or Democrat or
don't give a hoot about politics.
And I suggest when you go, if you're interested in your state and
you're interested in your country that you remind them to vote for Bob
Riley as your next governor. (Applause.) And as you're rounding up
those votes, as you show your interest and concern for our country and
our country's future, make sure you send to the United States Congress
a man I can work with, and that man is Mr. Mike Rogers. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Cheering.)
THE PRESIDENT: There's a lot of reasons you ought to be for these
two, but a real good reason is they both married well. (Laughter.)
Like me, they married above themselves. I'm honored to be with Beth
Rogers and the next first lady of Alabama, Patsy Riley. (Applause.)
Speaking about first ladies, Laura sends her very best.
(Applause.) She campaigned for Riley the other day in Mobile. I told
him he drew the short straw here.
I just spoke to her. We're -- it's raining in Crawford, Texas, and
that's where she is. She's on our place in Crawford. And tomorrow we
are hosting the President of China, so she's sweeping the porch.
(Laughter and applause.) But she sends her best. You know, when I
asked Laura to marry me, she was a public school librarian.
(Applause.) There's always one in every crowd. (Laughter.) And that
one in every crowd, like Laura, has got to have a good heart, cares
deeply about the school children. And, by the way, for those of you
who are going to Auburn and thinking about becoming school children --
a school teacher -- (laughter) -- or a public school librarian, I want
to thank you for that. It's a really important profession, it's a
noble cause. (Applause.)
You know, when I asked her to marry me, she wasn't interested in
politics -- and didn't like politicians. (Laughter.) Now she's the
First Lady of the United States and she is doing a fabulous job on
behalf -- (applause.) I'm really proud of her. People now know why I
asked her to marry me. A lot of them are wondering why she said
"yes." (Laughter.) But she sends her best.
I'm also honored to be here with a fabulous United States Senator
named Jeff Sessions. (Applause.) I like working with Jeff. We work
well together. We need more senators like him. One of my most
important responsibilities is to name good judges, is to find good
people to serve on the federal bench. I can count on his support. The
problem is, I can't count on a lot of senators' support. They've been
playing politics with my judges. I put good, honorable, honest people
on there whose job isn't to try to rewrite law, but to strictly
interpret the United States Constitution. They've got a lousy record
in the United States Senate. (Applause.)
No, they don't like those kind of judges up there, so they play
politics with them, petty politics. For the sake of a sound judiciary,
we need to change the leadership in the United States Senate.
(Applause.) I appreciate Congressman Terry Everett, I appreciate
Spence Bachus and Sonny Callahan, three fine members of the United
States Congress. And I'm glad they are here today. And I'm also glad
to be up here with Jo Bonner, who's going to take Sonny Callahan's
place, and he'll do just as good a job in the United States Congress as
Sonny did. (Applause.) But you've got some good ones. You've got
some good ones from Alabama up in Washington, and I'm proud to work
with them, and I'm proud to call them friends.
You've also got a fine slate of people running for office here,
good, honest, honorable Americans. I hope you get out and support
them. It's important.
You know when it comes to talking about the governor, I know
something about being a governor. I was one. And it seems like to me
that, particularly when you look around the State Houses, you want you
a governor who's going to elevate the discourse, who won't play the
same old, tired politics of name calling and slashing and burning.
You've got to have a governor who's willing to commit himself to change
the tone in the State House, to bring people together to get something
done on behalf of the citizens. You've got to have you a governor who
will be honorable and honest and full of integrity, and that next
governor is Mr. Bob Riley. (Applause.)
He's got his priorities straight. Education is to a state what
national defense is to the federal government. Therefore, you better
elect yourself a governor who makes education the number one priority.
(Applause.) And that governor has got to have the right attitude about
public education.
See, you've got to have a governor like Bob Riley, who is willing
to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, somebody who
believes every child can learn, somebody who's willing to set high
standards, somebody who refuses to leave any child behind. No, you've
got to have you a governor who sets high standards but also understands
that local control of schools is how you achieve excellence for every
child in the state of Alabama. (Applause.)
The federal government is going to send $700 million of your tax
money out of Washington, D.C., to help the schools here. And, in
return for that money, we're beginning to ask the fundamental question
as to whether or not our children are learning, whether or not they're
learning to read and write, add and subtract. See, that's a
fundamental question that Riley is going to ask as governor. You've
got to ask that question.
If you believe every child can learn, then it makes sense to want
to know whether every child is learning. And when they are, we'll
praise the teachers. But when we find children trapped in schools that
will not teach and will not change, you better have you a governor
who's willing to challenge the status quo. No child should be left
behind in the state of Alabama. (Applause.)
I appreciate I appreciate the fact that Bob Riley is an
entrepreneur. He started his own business. If you're worried about
jobs in the state of Alabama, it seems like you better have somebody
who knows what it's like to create a job. Somebody who's actually met
a payroll, somebody who can empathize with the small business owners of
the state of Alabama. And that person is Mr. Bob Riley, your next
governor. (Applause.)
And finally, I look forward to working with Bob when he's your
governor on one of the most important initiatives I'm trying to push in
Washington, D.C., and it's a faith-based initiative. It's an
initiative that understands that government can hand out money.
Government can't solve a lot of the harms and hurts in our society.
If you're really interested in saving people's lives, if you're
interested in a society which is compassionate, decent, we must empower
the houses of worship, the places of faith, to step in where government
has failed and to provide love and compassion. (Applause.)
I'm not talking about one religion; I'm talking about all
religions. All religions have heard the universal call to love a
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. Bob Riley and I
look forward to unleashing the great strength of the country, and
that's the compassionate hearts of our fellow citizens to solve some of
the needs and hurts in our society.
I'm also here to make it clear to you, as clear as I can for the
people of this district: you need to send Mike Rogers to the United
States Congress. (Applause.) And there are a lot of reasons why.
We've got some big hurdles in the country and I need a man up there
with whom I can work representing this great district.
One of the hurdles I face is that our economy isn't as good as it
should be. It's bumping along. Any time somebody is trying to find
work and can't find a job in America, I think we've got a problem. Any
time somebody wants to put food on the table and they can't find a job,
we need to do something about it.
Except our philosophy is different from some of them in
Washington. The role of government is not to create wealth -- the role
of government is to create an environment in which the small business
owner can grow to be a big business; in which people with the
entrepreneurial spirit flourishes; in which job creation is strong and
evident. And the best way to do that is to let people keep more of
their own money. (Applause.)
Here's the textbook we read from: it says that if you let a person
have more of their own money, then they're more likely to demand a good
or a service. And when somebody demands a good or a service in the
marketplace, somebody is likely to produce the good or a service. And
when somebody produces the good or a service, somebody is more likely
to be able to find a job. The tax cuts came at exactly the right time
in U.S. economic history. (Applause.)
And these tax cuts -- and that tax relief plan is good for small
business owners, it's good for your ranchers, it's good for your
farmers, it's good for working people, it's good for everybody. The
tax relief plan did something on the marriage penalty. See, we believe
the tax code ought to encourage marriage, not discourage marriage.
(Applause.) The tax code is putting the death tax on its way to
extinction, but there's a problem. See, the way the Senate voted it
out, that after ten years from the time of enactment, the tax relief
goes away. And that's not right. It creates uncertainty in the tax
code. It creates uncertainty for people wanting to plan their
business, to create jobs.
In order to make sure that our economy grows, in order to make sure
the job base is strong, you need to have a congressman who will join me
in making sure that tax relief plan we passed is permanent and doesn't
go away. (Applause.)
I look forward to working with Mike to make sure the country is a
stronger country. By the way, one way we need to make the country a
stronger country is to make sure our health care system works,
particularly for our elderly. Medicine has changed -- Medicare
hasn't. Medicine is modern -- Medicare is stuck in the past. For the
sake of a stronger America, for the sake of our seniors, we must reform
Medicare and provide prescription drugs for the elderly. (Applause.)
No, there are a lot of issues that we can work on together and I
look forward to working with him. I'm not going to have to worry about
his vote, and that's important. I know he stands solid and square with
the people of this district, and that's important. But the biggest
issue we're going to have to work on is protecting America. The
biggest issue we face, the biggest issue my administration faces and
future Congresses are going to face is the protection of you.
You see, there's an enemy out there which hates us. They hate us
because of what we love. And we love freedom. (Applause.) We love
freedom and we're not going to change. (Applause.) We love freedom
with every fiber in our body. We love the fact that people can worship
an Almighty God freely in this society. (Applause.) We appreciate
people's right to express themselves. We love the freedom of a
political process where people can vote. We love a free press. We
love every single thing about freedom and we're not changing.
And as a result, the enemy hates us. I want you to know that not
only does our love for freedom differentiate us from an enemy, our
value for life differentiates us from the enemy. You see, in our view,
everybody is precious, every life matters, everybody counts. But the
enemy we face is nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded killers who one
the one hand hijack a great religion and, on the other hand, kill with
impunity. (Applause.)
And so we've got a big chore ahead of us. It used to be that
oceans could protect America. I remember conflicts across the sea and
it didn't seem to bother us because oceans were there to guard us.
After September the 11th, 2001, we've learned a new lesson: that if
there's an enemy out there that hates us, the battlefield can come
home.
And it's a lesson we've got to remember. It's a lesson I'll
certainly remember. Which means that we not only have to be alert for
the known enemy, the obvious enemy, the killers that bombed Bali --
Bali -- or continue to try to take innocent life. But we've got to
worry about people who've been a problem for a while and are going to
be a problem over time. And I'm talking about Saddam Hussein.
He's a man who -- he's a man who told the world he wouldn't have
weapons of mass destruction. He lied and deceived the world. He's a
person who not only has weapons of mass destruction, he has used
weapons of mass destruction. He's used them in the neighborhood and
he's used them on his own people. This dictator has defied the world
over and over and over again. He also can't stand America, can't stand
our friends, can't stand our allies. He hates freedom.
I decided to go to the United Nations and make the case that it's
time to deal with this man, it's time to hold him to his word, it's
time to disarm him. It's also time for the United Nations to show us
whether or not they're going to be a body which can keep the peace;
whether or not they're going to be the United Nations or whether or not
they're going to be the League of Nations, an ineffective body.
(Applause.) It's their choice to make.
I hope they act. I hope they show the world that this body is
capable of keeping the peace. I hope they show the world that after 16
resolutions which were defied by Mr. Saddam Hussein, that the United
Nations finally acts in the name of a peaceful world. I hope that
Saddam Hussein hears the call for freedom-loving nations and does what
he said he would do, which is disarm. But if he doesn't, for the sake
of peace, for the sake of our children, for our children's children, if
he doesn't act, the United Nations will not act, the United States will
lead a coalition to disarm Mr. Saddam Hussein. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: I say that because I believe in peace. I say that
because we must be clear-eyed about the real world. I say that
because, I understand, after September the 11th, the world has changed
for America. I say that because our most important obligation is to
protect you. Which is why I went to the United States Congress and
asked them to join me in the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security.
See, there's over 100 agencies scattered about in Washington,
involved with protecting you. They're all over the place up there, and
it felt like to me that they ought to be under one organization. So
that if the number one priority is to protect the homeland, it becomes
the number one priority of scattered agencies. If protecting the
homeland is important, it seems like to me that under one umbrella, a
new department, that it will be easier to change cultures. And we're
making progress.
By the way, you need to know a lot of good people are working on
your behalf, at the federal level, at the state level, at the local
level. If we get any kind of hint, any evidence whatsoever that
somebody might be thinking about doing something to America, we're
moving. We're disrupting. We're denying. We're doing everything we
can to protect the homeland. (Applause.)
But we can do a better job. And that's why the House of
Representatives acted and I appreciate Bob Riley's vote and the other
congressmen here's vote to get that out of the House. But it's stuck
in the United States Senate. The Senate actually wants me to give up
some power in order to accept their version of the bill. They want me
to give up a power that every President since John F. Kennedy has had,
which is the capacity to suspend collective bargaining rules for the
sake of national security. And I'm not going to accept that.
(Applause.)
I need to be able to move people to the right place at the right
time to protect you. We've got a border issue. We need to know who's
coming into America, what they're bringing into America and are they
leaving America. (Applause.) We've got three agencies on the border:
INS and Customs and Border Patrol. They're full of fine people, really
good, hard-working Americans. But in some sectors they've got
different strategies, they wear different uniforms. We need a seamless
capacity to protect America. The Senate needs to give me the
flexibility and the authority to put the right people at the right
place at the right time to protect America. (Applause.)
But the best way to protect America, the best way to secure the
homeland, the best way to protect our families is to hunt the killers
down one by one and bring them to justice. (Applause.) And that is
exactly what we are going to do.
It's a different kind of war. In the old days, you could count the
number of tanks destroyed or ships that were sunk or airplanes shot out
of the air and you say you're making progress. This is a war where the
leaders hide in a cave, or they kind of hide in a dark corner of one of
these cities around the world and then they send youngsters to there
suicidal deaths. They don't care about innocent life. They're
cold-blooded killers. And, therefore, the best thing for us to do is
to get them on the run, to hunt them down and to bring them to justice,
which is exactly what is happening. (Applause.)
I want you to know that therapy isn't going to work. (Laughter and
applause.) The doctrine that says either you're with us or you're with
the enemy, it still stands. And there's a lot of good folks hunting
these people down. (Applause.) Sometimes you'll see us making
progress and sometimes you won't. We've probably hauled in a couple
thousand of them so far. And like number weren't so lucky.
The other day, a guy named Bin al-Shibh, he popped his head up --
(laughter) -- he is no longer a problem to the United States of
America. (Applause.)
No, we've got a lot of work to do. There's still a lot of heavy
lifting. There's still a lot of killers on the loose. But I've
unleashed one of the finest militaries in the history of mankind.
(Applause.) Yesterday, I signed the defense appropriations bill, it's
the largest increase in defense spending since President Ronald Reagan
was in office. (Applause.)
I did so because I wanted to send two messages: one, any time we
put our troops, our youngsters into harm's way, they deserve the best
training, the best equipment, the best possible pay; we owe it to our
soldiers and we owe it to their loved ones. (Applause.)
And I wanted to send a message to friend and foe alike: that when
it comes to the defense of our freedom, when it comes to answering
history's call, we're in this deal for the long haul. There's not a
calendar on my desk in the Oval Office that one day the date is going
to pop up and say, it's time to -- it's time to pull them in. It's not
the way I think, it's not the way America thinks. We've been called to
action. Our generation has been given a charge to keep. We are
responsible for this country's safety. We're responsible for our
freedoms. And the message I sent by signing that defense bill, to the
enemy: you've got a big problem with America, is what you've got.
I can't imagine what was going through their mind when they hit
us. (Laughter.) You know, they thought we were so materialistic, so
selfish, so self-absorbed, that after September the 11th, 2001 we might
have filed a lawsuit or two. (Laughter.) That's all we were going to
do.
No, they don't understand this country. They don't understand the
courage of our people. They don't understand the depth of love we have
for freedom. They don't understand that we're a nation full of
responsible citizens who understand we have a duty to future
generations of Americans. That's what they don't understand. And
they're going to pay a serious price for misunderstanding America.
(Applause.)
I believe out of the evil done to America is going to come some
incredible good. I believe that we can achieve peace if we are strong
and focused and diligent, if we remember that freedom is not an
American blessing, it's a God-given blessing for people all around the
world. If we remain true to our beliefs, we can achieve peace. We can
achieve peace for people here at home. We can achieve peace in parts
of the world which have quit on peace. We can achieve peace in the
Middle East, can achieve peace in South Asia.
No, amidst this talk about going to get them and hauling them in,
you've just got to know that I believe in peace. And I believe peace
is going to come. I believe peace is going to come.
And here at home, I know that out of the evil done to America can
come a more compassionate country. See, amidst our plenty, there are
pockets of despair and hopelessness. There are people when they hear
the word "American Dream," they don't know what you're talking about.
They don't have a dream; they're lost souls. Government can hand out
money, but it can't put hope in people's hearts. That happens when a
fellow American puts their arms around somebody in need and says, "I
love you, what can I do to help you, brother? How can I help you?"
No, the best way to fight evil here in America is to love a neighbor
just like you'd like to be loved yourself. See, it's the gathering
momentum of millions of acts of kindness and compassion which change
our country. (Applause.)
I met Shirley Rose Glisson today at Air Force One in Montgomery.
She came out because she is a she's one of the soldiers in the
armies of compassion right here in Auburn. She goes to Auburn United
Methodist. (Applause.) She decided she was going to start a food
pantry with members of her church. They now feed 30 hungry families.
It's this act and thousands of acts like it which define the true
character of our country.
You know, it's interesting about what happened on September the
11th. A lot of our citizens have taken a step back. They wonder what
life is all about. The most vivid example of the new American spirit
took place on Flight 93. People flying across the country. They heard
the plane was being used as a weapon. They were on their cell phones
to their loved ones. They said "goodbye." They said, "I love you."
They said a prayer. A guy said, "let's roll." And they drove the
plane in the ground to serve something greater than themselves.
(Applause.)
You've got to understand that patriotism patriotism or the
American spirit can be served all kinds of ways. It is more than just
putting your hand over your heart. It is serving a great nation. And
you can do so by helping somebody who hurts, somebody in need.
No, the enemy hit us. They had no idea who they were hitting.
There's no doubt in my mind that this great nation can lead the world
to peace. There's no doubt in my mind that we can have a more
compassionate tomorrow for everybody who lives in this country because,
my fellow Americans, we're citizens of the greatest country, full of
the finest people on the face of the earth. Thank you for coming. May
God bless you, and may God bless America. (Applause.)
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