For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 29, 2002
Remarks by the President at Steve Largent for Governor and James Inhofe for Senate Luncheon
Cox Convention Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
11:25 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. It's nice to be here in Oklahoma.
Thanks. I appreciate so very much the invitation to come and throw my
support behind a fine United States Senator, and a person this state is
surely going to reelect, and that's Jim Inhofe. (Applause.) And I'm
also honored to be here with Governor Largent. (Applause.) It's got a
nice ring to it.
Thanks for inviting me. There's not much that differentiates Texas
and Oklahoma -- maybe the Red River. A little difference of opinion
about football. (Laughter.) But I'm thrilled to be here to see so
many friends. I've always felt at home in Oklahoma, and I want to
thank you all for such wonderful hospitality. As my friend said, he
said, you got to remember when you're heading up there, civilization
ends at the Red River. And as my Oklahoma friends said, yeah, depends
on which side you're coming from. (Laughter.) But one thing is for
certain -- people on both sides of the Red River love America.
(Applause.)
I want to appreciate Don Nickles. He is a leader in the United
States Senate. I spent a lot of quality time with him. There in
the Cabinet Room, we're talking about important issues and plotting
strategy on how to get things through the Senate that are positive for
America. Don, he loves Oklahoma, of course, and he always reminds me
about the virtues of Oklahoma. But he clearly loves America, too.
He's providing important leadership for our country, and for that I am
grateful. And I, too, want to call you friend, and thanks for being
here, Don. (Applause.)
I appreciate so very much Kay Inhofe for putting up with Jim, and
for being such a good mom. The Inhofes are -- got fantastic values,
because they understand good values, first and foremost, start at
home. I'm honored to meet -- gosh, I don't know how many grandkids I
met -- eleven of them. Well, if they all get out to vote it's going to
be a landslide. (Laughter.) But I want to thank the Inhofe family. I
want to thank Kay. And I also want to thank the next First Lady of
Oklahoma, Terry Largent, in her support for her husband, Steve.
(Applause.)
All of us up here on this stage married above ourselves.
(Laughter.) I had the privilege of saying good-bye for a brief period
of time to our First Lady who's down there in Crawford. She is --
(applause.) She was born and raised in West Texas. That's kind of
like western Oklahoma, not a lot of native trees and not a lot of
water. But a lot of really good people. She's down to earth, she's
capable. You know, when I married her, she was a public school
librarian, and the truth of the matter is she didn't particularly care
about politicians or politics. And here she is. And what a great
comforting voice and what a great wife, and what a wonderful First Lady
we have. I am incredibly proud. (Applause.)
Anyway, she sends her love. She sends her love and she joins me in
thanking those of you who want to help these good candidates. Thank
you for what you've done, and what you're going to do, which is turn
out the vote, which is to go to your coffee shops and your churches and
your community centers and tell the people of Oklahoma you've got two
good ones in these candidates. It makes sense to send these people to
their respective jobs -- not for the good of Republicans, but for the
good of all the people in the great state of Oklahoma. (Applause.)
I want to thank the members of the Oklahoma congressional
delegation. I am proud to work with them on a regular basis. I'm
proud we have worked together to accomplish some things on behalf of
the American people. I want to thank Congressman John Sullivan, who is
here. I want to thank Wes Watkins, and we're going to miss you,
friend. (Applause.) Ernest Istook is here; thank you for coming,
Ernest. (Applause.) Frank Lucas is here --I appreciate you, big
Frank, for coming. (Applause.) And finally, another man we're going
to miss is J.C. Watts. I appreciate you, J.C. (Applause.) I'm sure
you'll be able to figure out how to get a hold of me if you need me.
(Laughter.) But thank you both for your service. And thank all the
congressional members for being here.
I was so pleased to see that my friend, Tom Cole, won a primary in
a convincing way. He beat a field of good people. But he's going to
be the next congressman replacing J.C. Watts. I thank you for coming,
Tom. (Applause.)
I appreciate your Lt. Governor, Mary Fallin, for coming today. I
appreciate her long service to the great state of Oklahoma. I
appreciate her working with my friend, Frank Keating, who's done a fine
job on behalf of the people of Oklahoma. (Applause.) I want to thank
the Mayor of Oklahoma City, Kirk Humphreys Kirk has done a fine job
for Oklahoma City. I'm proud to call him friend, and I know the people
of this city are proud to call him Mayor. (Applause.)
I thank Brenda Reneau, who is the head of your Department of
Labor. I also want to thank Chad Alexander, who's the Chairman of the
Republican Party. And again, I want to thank you all for coming.
(Applause.)
Most of all I want to extol the virtues of your next governor.
He's a solid citizen. He doesn't need a poll to tell him what to think
or what to believe. (Applause.) It's clear when you get to know Steve
that he's got his principles indelibly etched on his heart. He's got
his priorities straight. He has faith foremost in his life, and his
family are his two priorities. And then comes government. But it's
with -- those kind of priorities are important for a leader. And
that's what you're trying to figure out, who's the best leader for the
people of Oklahoma. Who has got a vision based upon principle, not
based upon polls. Who, will set the right priorities for the people of
this state. And there's no doubt in my mind that Steve Largent has the
right priorities for the people of this great state of Oklahoma.
(Applause.)
And his first priority -- his first priority is to make sure every
child in this state gets educated -- not just a few, not just some from
the big fancy school districts, but every child. That's his vision.
See, he understands what I know, that if you have low standards, you
get low results. If you don't believe every child can learn, then
certain children won't learn. And that's inexcusable to the state of
Oklahoma. (Applause.)
So Steve travels this state talking about setting the highest of
high standards with the belief that every child can learn. He also
understands that if the legislature micromanages the public schools, if
they decide to set all kinds of rules that require permission slips in
order for there to be local control of schools you won't get excellence
for every child. So, like me, he is a strong advocate of local control
of schools. (Applause.)
But as well, he understands what I know, you've got to hold people
accountable. You see, if you believe every child can learn, then
you're willing to say, let's see. If you believe certain children
can't learn, then you don't support accountability. If you believe
every child can learn, you're not afraid to measure, to determine
whether every child is learning.
You see, the accountability is so important to make sure no child
gets left behind. It's important also to make sure that you address
problems, early before it's too late. Steve knows what I know -- there
are no second-class children in the state of Oklahoma. (Applause.)
I appreciate his attitude about the role of government and the
entrepreneur. The role of government is not to create wealth; the role
of government should create an environment in which the entrepreneur
can flourish. (Applause.) Which means you've got to have wise tax
policy. See, you use your tax code in order to encourage the
entrepreneurial spirit. If you over-tax the entrepreneur, it
diminishes the capacity for the small business to grow and to create
good, vibrant jobs. He understands that.
And one of the big issues that he is going to take on is to reform
the workers compensation system here in the state of Oklahoma.
(Applause.) He also knows that by far the biggest engine of job
creation is small business. That's where most of the new jobs come
from in America, and therefore, we've got to have policy aimed at small
business. And one thing we've got to do, in order to make sure small
business grows, is to understand the role of the lawsuit in our
society. You need to have yourself a governor who's willing to look at
the plaintiff's attorney straight in the eye and ask for, and get, tort
reform in the state of Oklahoma. (Applause.)
I appreciate his values. I appreciate his vision. I appreciate
his background. I appreciate the fact that he's a winner. And I
appreciate that I'm on the stage with the next governor of Oklahoma,
Steve Largent. (Applause.)
And I appreciate being with a United States Senator who stands on
principle, who does what he thinks is right, and has lived up to his
word. He's a fellow that said, I'm going to Washington, I'm not going
to change. And he didn't. (Applause.) I think the thing that struck
me most about Jim in our conversation on Air Force One -- by the way,
it's not a bad way to travel -- (laughter) -- was that when he
described when his daughter was professor of the year. See, he's from
a family of teachers. His wife is a teacher, they raised some
teachers. Jim understands the importance of teaching. And for those
of you who have got family members who are teachers or you're teachers
yourself, I want to thank you from the bottom of our collective hearts
up here for what you do.
But he's a man who understands the importance of teaching in our
society. Teaching not only lessons of reading and writing, but
teaching right from wrong. (Applause.)
He understands the role of energy, the need for an energy policy.
See, the people of Oklahoma also understand that. We need an energy
policy in America. We need a policy that encourages conservation and
renewables, but we need a wise policy that makes sure we've got energy
here at home. It's in our economic interests that we promote jobs
through good energy policy, and it's in our national security interests
that we become less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil.
(Applause.)
We need to get us an energy bill. These two senators understand
that. We need to get that bill to my desk as soon as they get back
from the August recess. It's in our nation's interest that we do so.
Jim also was supportive of the tax relief plan that I campaigned on
and got through the Congress. And that was important. You see, you've
got to remember something about our economy. When we came in there,
the economy was just beginning to get into a recession. There had been
slowdown, but the first three quarters of my administration was in
recession. That means the economy was going backwards. Thankfully,
the last three quarters have been going forward. But one of the
reasons why, I'm absolutely certain one of the reasons why, is because
we let the people keep their own money. (Applause.)
We read from the same textbook. It's the textbook that says, if
you let the people have their own money they will demand a good or
service. And if they demand a good or service, somebody will produce
the good or service. And when somebody produces that good or service,
somebody is more likely to find jobs. The tax cut which needs to be
permanent, it needs to be permanent -- (applause) -- came at the right
time for the American economy. And I want to thank Jim for his strong
support.
See, he and I understand this -- when it comes time to spend the
money in Washington, we're not spending the government's money, we're
spending the people's money. (Applause.)
I want to thank Jim for his support of making sure our seniors have
got prescription drugs and Medicare. It's time to modernize an
important system. The system has lagged behind reality. Medicine has
changed; Medicare hadn't. And we need leadership in the Senate to make
sure the Medicare system meets the needs of our seniors, not only in
Oklahoma, but all around the country. And I want to thank you on that,
Jim, very much for your leadership. (Applause.)
And finally, we need to get him back up there so he'll support some
judges that I nominated. (Applause.) I found fine people to serve on
our bench; good, honorable, honest people. We named one, Pricilla
Owen, recently. She's smart, she's capable, one of the top students
when she was in law school at Baylor. She got elected twice -- I think
twice, but I know she got elected at least twice statewide in Texas,
with overwhelming numbers. She's a very, very smart and capable
woman. But somehow, some of them up there don't like her. I guess
maybe they don't like the fact that I nominated her. But this isn't
right for the judicial system, for them to be playing politics with a
fine, smart, capable woman. And we need people like Jim Inhofe up
there to defend my judicial nominees in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
And I need him up there because he is a strong voice for the
defense of this nation. He's one of the leading advocates for national
defense in Washington. (Applause.) We both understand that history
has now called us into action. History has now said to America, you
must defend freedom. And that's exactly what this country is going to
do.
I submitted the largest increase in defense spending since Ronald
Reagan was the President. And I did so for two reasons: One, I want
to make it absolutely clear that any time we put one of our soldiers
into harm's way, that person must receive the best training, the best
possible pay, the best equipment. We owe it to our soldiers and we owe
it to their families. (Applause.)
And I appreciate Jim Inhofe's strong, strong support for that
defense budget. He's one of the leaders on the floor of the Senate.
He also understands that we need to send that increase up there because
we want to make it clear to our friends and allies and foes that we're
in this deal for the long pull. There is no calendar on my desk that
says, by such and such a date we're quitting. See, when it comes to
the defense of freedom, when it comes to the defense of the values we
hold dear, this United States will be relentless and tough, and we will
be victorious. (Applause.)
My most important job now is to defend innocent life in America.
The enemy has taken the battle to us, and they're still there. These
are haters. They're nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded killers. You
need to tell your kids -- people say, well, what do I tell my children
-- you tell your children, because this nation loves freedom, they hate
us. Because this nation values each and every life -- see, every life
is important to America. Every life is noble. Every life is
worthwhile. That's the exact opposite of the enemy. They don't value
life. They're willing to take innocent life just like that. They've
hijacked a fine, fine, and important religion just to cover their
murderous ways.
And remember, it's a different kind of enemy. You see, you used to
be able to measure the strength of an enemy by counting his tanks, or
airplanes, or ships. These are the kind that go to a cave and send
youngsters to their suicidal death. That's the kind of people we're
fighting. But there's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough
to hide. No matter how long it takes, one by one we're going to hunt
them down and bring them to justice. (Applause.)
And that's what that defense budget says. That's what that defense
budget clearly says. And that's why, as soon as the Congress gets
back, they need to get the defense bill to my desk and not play
politics with the defense of the United States of America. (Applause.)
No, that's the best way to defend the homeland, is to hunt them
down. In the meantime, I've got to have a department of homeland
security that more enables me to tell the American people we're doing
everything we can to protect the homeland. I mean, we need to know
who's coming in the country, what they're bringing in the country, and
if they're leaving the country when they say they're going to leave the
country. We need to have the capacity to put the right people in the
right place at the right time to defend America.
I readily concede I didn't run on the platform, vote for me, I
promise to make your government bigger. I did say I'm going to try to
make it work better. And so when I got up there and realized there's
over 100 agencies involved with homeland security I knew it would be
hard to hold people account with that many agencies scattered all over
Washington. So I made a proposal to the Congress. I said, join
together, and let's have a department that works.
The House responded, and I want to thank the House members here.
These two senators have responded. The problem is, is that there's
other senators in Washington who want to micromanage the process. See,
they put their own turf ahead of the security of the American people.
They're more interested in special interest in Washington than the
interest of homeland security. I will not accept a homeland security
bill that ties the hands of this administration or future
administrations to defend the homeland against the enemy. (Applause.)
My point to you is Jim understands this. He doesn't need -- he
doesn't need a special meeting at the White House to understand this.
See, he understands it right off the bat. And that's why it's
important that you reelect him. He also understands that there's going
to be some tough times ahead for America. There just are. If you're
in this for the long pull, if you're fighting an enemy that hides in
the shadows of the world, it's going to take a while.
We owe it to our children, however, that we keep going on. That's
who we owe it to. But not only to our children; we owe it to children
all around the world. We will enforce doctrine -- one doctrine says,
you're with us or you're with them. And we work hard to keep this
coalition of nations together. It makes it easier to share
intelligence and to haul them in when we can find them. And by the
way, we've pulled in over -- a couple a thousand of them, a couple of
thousand al Qaeda types, and terrorist leaders are no longer
circulating around. By the way, about equal that number weren't as
lucky.
We've got a lot of work to do. We've got a lot of work to do to
also enforce that doctrine that says, if you harbor one of them, you're
just as guilty. If you harbor a terrorist you're as guilty as the
terrorist. (Applause.)
So it's important to have senators and members of the House who
understand the need for this nation to be steady and resolved and
determined, and honest about the difference between good and evil. It
also is important to have leadership that understands that we must not
allow the world's worst leaders to develop and harbor the world's worst
weapons.
I've got a lot of tools at my disposal, and I'm a patient man. And
I'm a patient man. But I understand that history gives us an
opportunity to make the world more peaceful. See, out of the evil done
to America is going to come some incredible good. And you need to tell
your little ones that part of that good is a more peaceful world; that
there's going to be some steep hills to climb between now and then, but
by being tough and strong, patient, smart and wise about using our
assets and all the tools at our disposal, that we can make the world
more peaceful for generations to come.
By fighting terror where we find it, and by rallying people to join
us, I believe the evil done to America, out of that evil will come
peace. I also know here at home that we'll be a better America.
I don't know what went through the minds of the enemy when they
attacked us. They probably thought we were so materialistic, so
selfish, so self-absorbed, so greedy, that all we'd do after September
11th is maybe file a lawsuit or two. They didn't understand the
character of this nation. They didn't understand that if you try to
take away our freedoms, we're going to respond. See, we love -- we
love freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They hate things;
we love things. They act out of hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek
justice out of love. (Applause.)
They also couldn't have possibly realized that the evil done to
America would waken a spirit of compassion in this country. See,
people say to me, how can I join the war on terror. I say, just love
your neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. If you want to
fight evil, do some good. If you want to fight evil, put your arms
around a child and say, I love you, I'd like to mentor you, I want to
help you. You see, in this land of plenty, there are pockets of
despair, addiction and hopelessness. I understand full well government
can hand out money, but it cannot put hope in people's hearts. It
can't provide a purpose for people's lives. No, that is done when our
fellow citizens take the time out of their life to love somebody.
That's when that happens.
See, America is changing, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a
time. Because our fellow Americans have now understood -- understand
-- that being a patriot is more than the Pledge Allegiance, pledging
your allegiance to one nation under God. A patriot is somebody who is
willing to take responsibility for their lives; willing to love a
neighbor; willing to mentor a child; willing to go to a shut-in and
help somebody in need; willing to feed the hungry; willing to be a Boy
Scout leader -- willing to change America one soul, one conscience at a
time. And that's what's happening here in America. (Applause.)
America has understood that each of us can't do everything, but
each of can do something to make our country a better place. Perhaps
that was best illustrated on Flight 93. Citizens flying across the
country; they realized their plane was going to be a weapon. They told
their loved ones they loved them. They said a prayer -- a guy said,
"Let's roll." They saved lives. They served something greater than
themselves.
No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some
incredible good: peace, and a more compassionate, decent, hopeful
America for everybody -- I mean everybody -- who's lucky enough to call
themselves "citizen" of this great country.
We're going to succeed; there's no question in my mind. On my wall
there's a painting of a West Texas scene by Tom Lee. He said, "Sarah
and I live on the east side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side,
not the sunset side. It's the side to see the day that is coming, not
to see the day that has gone." I see a day that is coming that is
fantastic for America, because we are the greatest nation on the face
of the Earth.
God bless, and God bless America. (Applause.)
END 11:55 A.M. CDT
|