For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
September 9, 2004
Remarks by First Lady Laura Bush at a Victory '04 Rally in Duluth, MN
Bayfront Park
Duluth, Minnesota
3:25 P.M. CDT
MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Marcia, and thanks to everyone.
Thank you for your very, very warm welcome to Duluth. I'm so glad to
be here. It's such a beautiful day here in Minnesota, and I'm really
thrilled to be here today. (Laughter.) This isn't a beautiful day for
you all? This is a beautiful day for me. I want to also thank your
state auditor, Pat Anderson, for being with us. I think Pat's over
here. Thanks very much, Pat. (Applause.)
Also, congressional candidate, Mark Grotettum is here. Mark, thank
you very much for joining us. And Jim Stauber, thank you so much for
being our emcee today.
I also want to thank each one of you, all of the volunteers here,
for George W. Bush, the volunteers that are going to work so hard to
reelect George Bush for four more years. Thank you all. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
MRS. BUSH: We have just a few weeks left until Election Day on
November 2nd. It's really amazing how fast this campaign has gone.
Maybe it hasn't been that fast for you, but it has been for us. And
I'm here to thank you all and to encourage you to make sure people are
registered to vote. Turn out all your friends and neighbors and make
sure they vote. It's our duty as Americans to turn out at the polls.
And when you're doing it, I hope you'll encourage them to vote for
George W. Bush. (Applause.)
George and I first traveled together in 1978. He ran for Congress
in West Texas, which was our home district. We had both grown up in
Midland, Texas, together. It was quite a different campaign, needless
to say. He -- we drove together in his Oldsmobile Cutlass. And he was
the person behind the wheel. And we drove up and down the panhandle of
West Texas from Midland on the south to Hereford, Texas, on the north.
Believe me, you learn a lot about your husband when you spend that much
time in a car with him. (Laughter.) By the end of the campaign, he'd
even convinced me to vote for him. This time, I don't need any
convincing. (Applause.)
I've watched my as my husband has lead our country with strength
and conviction through some of our greatest struggles our generation
has ever seen. I've watched him take decisive action to lead us out of
recession with the largest tax relief in a generation. (Applause.)
Thanks to my husband's tax relief and his leadership, we've added
1.7 million jobs since last August '03. That's more jobs than Germany,
Japan, England, Canada and France added, combined. (Applause.)
The national unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4 percent, and here
in Minnesota, your unemployment rate is now down to 4.4 percent.
(Applause.) It's down nearly a point since last December, which is
really great. (Applause.) I think that also speaks to the good work
and the good workers of Minnesota.
Another really great statistic is that home ownership in the United
States of America is at an all-time high. And for the first time ever,
more than half of all minorities in the United States own their own
home. (Applause.) I think that's a great and encouraging statistic.
(Applause.)
I've also watched as our schools have improved with higher
standards of accountability and with increased funding, so that every
child in every neighborhood has a chance to succeed. And I've watched
as my husband has made the tough decisions that have helped safeguard
our children from terror and liberate people from tyranny. (Applause.)
We've been through some very historic times together in the last
four years. And these are also times of change that require new ideas
to move America forward. Last week in New York, President Bush
outlined his agenda for a new term. We know that families face new
challenges, and that government should respond to these changing
times.
Just think about it. Just a few decades ago in most families,
fathers were the primary bread winners. People worked in the same job
or the same company for 30 or 40 years. All those companies provided
health care and retirement benefits. Today, more and more families have
two parents in the work force, while single parents have the double
duty -- have to do the double duty alone. Two-thirds of all mothers
now work outside the home. Our way of life has changed dramatically.
Yet many of the systems that we rely upon, like health care,
retirement plans and work force training, have not changed. My husband
believes that government should help improve people's lives, not try to
run them. (Applause.) President Bush wants us all to have more
opportunities for ownership. He wants more Americans to go to college,
to get a better job, to own their own business, and their own health
care savings account or retirement.
All opportunities start with education -? and we all know that we
want our schools in the United States of America to be the best schools
in the world. We want our high schools to be so great that every
graduate is well prepared to go on to college or to join the work
force. We want to strengthen math and science education and broaden
Internet learning so that young people can compete in our
technology-driven world.
For workers who want to go back to school to learn new skills, the
President will work with community colleges to make career training
more available. And because higher education is the dream of so many
Americans, he will make Pell grants more available so millions more
Americans can get that college diploma. (Applause.)
Our graduates and workers need an economy with abundant opportunity
-? one in which businesses are growing and creating jobs. This
requires making sure that America is the best place in the world to do
business. And President Bush knows that starts with making tax relief
permanent. (Applause.)
To help small businesses, which are the engines of our economy, the
President wants to enable smaller companies to pool with other like
companies so they can purchase affordable health care for their
employees. And my husband wants to help American workers keep more of
something they never have enough of, and that's time -? time to play
with their kids, time to take care of their parents, or time to
volunteer in their communities. President Bush will work with Congress
to make flex time and comp time available so more Americans can better
juggle the demands of work and family. (Applause.)
And because now so many people change jobs several times during the
course of their careers, workers need health care and retirement
accounts that they can take with them from job to job. The President
is making health care more accessible with ideas like health savings
accounts. These plans enable people to save tax free for their health
care in accounts that they own, they manage, and they keep. And
because frivolous lawsuits raise the costs of health care and drive
doctors out of their practices, we need to reform the medical liability
system and reduce junk lawsuits in America. (Applause.)
The President also wants to strengthen Social Security for younger
workers, by giving them the opportunity at their choice to save part of
their Social Security taxes in personal accounts. Workers would then
be able to pass on this nest egg to their children and grandchildren.
(Applause.)
All of these issues are important. But as we grieve for the
families in Russia, and as we approach the third anniversary of
September 11th -- I believe what's most important is my husband's work
to protect our country and to defeat terror around the world.
(Applause.)
The terrible acts of September 11th showed us the threat we face.
But they also called us to the great work of promoting freedom and
democracy in far corners of the world. President Bush and I want all
of the men and women in our uniform and their families to know how much
we appreciate their sacrifice. We appreciate the dedication of
courageous Americans like Sergeant Bob James of the United States Army,
who is here with us today. (Applause.) Sergeant James can be proud
that as we do the hard work of confronting terror, 50 million more men,
women and children live in freedom thanks to the United States of
America and our allies. (Applause.)
After years of being treated as virtual prisoners in their own
homes by the Taliban, the women of Afghanistan now can leave their
house without a male escort. Some are being able to go back to work.
And after being denied an education, even the chance to learn to read,
little girls in Afghanistan are now in school. (Applause.) More than
10 million Afghan citizens have registered to vote in this fall's
presidential election, and more than 40 percent of that number are
women. (Applause.)
Because we acted, the people of Iraq are now free from the tyranny
of a brutal dictator. The Iraqi interim government is preparing for
national elections in January. We still face many challenges in Iraq
every day. But we know that the defeat of terror in Iraq is vital to
the defeat of terror around the world. (Applause.) And we have
pledged to stand with the Iraqi people during these historic and
hopeful times for their nation.
As we watch the people of Iraq and Afghanistan take the first steps
to build free countries, we must remember that building a democracy
takes time. Think of how long it took us in our country, even though
we were given almost a perfect document by our founders. But still it
took us almost 100 years after that document to abolish slavery. And
then almost another hundred years for the civil rights laws. Women
didn't get the vote in the United States until 84 years ago. So we
know that it takes a very, very long time. Our nation has not always
lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide
us. We are the beneficiaries of the works of generations before us,
and it's our responsibility to continue that work.
My husband believes that there is more to do to make our country
safer and stronger and more hopeful for every American. And he'll
continue the great and privileged work of leading America forward while
holding true to our timeless ideals. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
MRS. BUSH: All of you can contribute so much to our campaign by
getting out the word about the President's accomplishments and about
his plans for our future. Talk to your neighbors and friends, and
reach out to Democrats and Independents who appreciate strong and
optimistic leadership. Sign up with the campaign and make phone calls,
or go door to door. Everything you do to reach voters and to get them
to the polls will be a huge help for the President's campaign.
These are times of change for our nation but these are also years
of promise. We have great confidence in our ability to overcome
challenges. We've gained a new appreciation for the many blessings of
America, and we've been reminded of our responsibilities to the country
we love.
George and I grew up in West Texas, where the sky seems endless and
so do the possibilities. He brings that optimism, that sense of
purpose, that certainty that a better day is before us, to his job
every day. And with your help, he'll do it for four more years.
(Applause.)
Thank you all so much. And may God bless you and may God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 3:40 P.M. CDT
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