For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 3, 2002
Remarks by the President at Illinois Welcome
Illinois Police Academy
Springfield, Illinois
11:50 A.M. CST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming today. It's such an honor
to be here and I'm glad I came. (Applause.) Jim said, if you come
over you might be able to say hello to a few of my friends.
(Laughter.)
I do have the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the wall of the Oval
Office. I do so because I think he was our country's greatest
President. (Applause.) I think he was our country's greatest
President because he understood that a united country is one that can
achieve big things. He had great faith in the American people. He was
willing to stand by principle. He understood his duty to future
generations of Americans. And that's what I'm here to talk about
today, the American spirit.
The American spirit is alive and well in America. It's the spirit
that says we're willing to defend our freedom no matter what the cost.
(Applause.) The American spirit says that we must serve something
greater than ourselves. The American spirit says that if you love
democracy you've got to go to the polls. (Applause.) The American
spirit says that there's obligations to our citizens -- by our
citizens to our country. And one of the most solemn obligations is to
exercise your right as a citizens in the United States to vote. I'm
coming to Illinois to make sure that all people hear this message,
Republicans and Democrats, people who could care less about political
parties. But when you get in that poll I've got a suggestion for you.
(Laughter and applause.)
For the sake of Illinois, for the sake of this congressional
district, for the sake of the country, put John Shimkus back in the
United States Congress. (Applause.) I appreciate Karen and the
Shimkus family; I appreciate their hard work on John's behalf. You
drew the short straw today, speaking about wives. Pretty soon after a
couple of stops I'll be joining up with Laura in South Dakota.
(Applause.) Shimkus really did want Laura as the speaker.
(Laughter.) Wise man. (Laughter.) But she sends her best, she sends
our love to our friends here in Illinois. Like me, she urges you to
support this good man for the United States Congress. (Applause.)
And while you're in that voting booth, support a good man for
governor. His name is Jim Ryan. (Applause.) He's got a record you
can be proud of. You've seen him in action; you know he can do the
job. A lot of folks around this state have written him off. I think
they spoke a little too soon, don't you (Applause.)
And I'm proud to say I'm for Jim Durkin for the United States
Senate. (Applause.) There's a lot of reasons why we need Jim in the
Senate, but let me give you one good reason. I need somebody to help
me fulfill one of my most awesome responsibilities, which is to pick
good judges for our federal benches. (Applause.) The current Senate
has done a lousy job on the judges. We've got a vacancy crisis in
America, which means Americans aren't getting justice. And that's not
right. We have a vacancy crisis because they won't give a lot of my
nominees a fair hearing. They won't give them a vote. They don't like
the fact that I'm naming good, honorable people who will not use the
bench from which to legislate, but will use the bench to strictly
interpret the Constitution of the United States. (Applause.)
I'm also proud to be up here with Joe Birkett, who's running for
the attorney general; Kristine Cohen for secretary of state; Thomas
Ramsdell for comptroller; and Judy Topinka to be reelected for your
treasurer. (Applause.)
I want to thank my friends, Jim and Brenda Edgar, for coming
today. (Applause.) They're a class act. (Applause.) I'm proud to
call him friend, I've known him for quite a while. I was going to say,
my old friend, but it might offend him. (Laughter.) I also appreciate
the Springfield High Marching Jazz Band for being here today.
(Applause.) And the Debby Ross Band for coming, too. (Applause.)
If you're 18 years old, you've got to vote. (Applause.) You make
sure you go vote. And take my advice when you're in there.
(Laughter.)
I want to thank you all very much for -- I want to thank you so
much for being involved in the political process. See, grassroots
politics decides who wins and who loses. I believe that. So much of
this stuff is done on TV and that's part of the process, but the person
who's going to win, particularly in this race, is the one who can get
their friends to the polls. So my call to you today is, take time out
of your day tomorrow, this afternoon, and on election day, and get
somebody to go to the polls with you. If you voted absentee, get
somebody to go to the polls on election day on your behalf.
(Laughter.) Don't be afraid of getting -- of talking to Democrats.
Democrats know a good congressman when they see one. John Shimkus has
done a good job in the United States Congress. (Applause.)
Make sure you don't forget to talk to independents. They care
about good government. My point to you is, is turn out the vote. Do
whatever it takes. Get on the phones, grab your neighbor, do whatever
it takes to get people to the polls, because we're supporting a good
slate of candidates for the different offices for which they're
running. These are good people and they need our help and they deserve
our support. (Applause.)
Let me talk about John a little bit. First of all, he's done in
office what he said he would do. That's refreshing. He's a good,
honest man. He's a hardworking fellow. He's represented this district
with class and distinction. He's an ally of mine, I can count on him.
I don't need somebody from this district where I have to look over my
shoulder, wondering where they're standing. I don't need somebody
having to run a focus group decide whether or not the President's
agenda makes any sense for the American people. (Applause.)
Not only has John done the job, not only do I call him friend, but
it seems like it makes sense to me to send him back to the Congress so
that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is from the state of
Illinois. (Applause.) It makes practical sense to me. (Laughter.)
It seems like it should make sense to people who live in this district
to understand that Denny Hastert is not only good for Illinois, he's
really good for the country, and his leadership has made an important
difference. (Applause.)
I need John up there because we've got some big hurdles to cross
here in America. We've got some issues that we've got to work together
on. Got some problems to solve. One of the biggest problems we've got
is there's some people in this country that can't find work, and that
troubles me. Our economy is kind of bouncing along, it's not as good
as it should be. It needs to be stronger, because any time somebody is
looking for work and can't find a job means we've got a problem. I
want people to be able to put food on the table. That's why it's so
important to have members of Congress who understand the role of
government -- it's not to create wealth, but an environment in which
the small business can grow to be a big business; in which the
entrepreneurial spirit of America can flourish. (Applause.)
John understands that one way to create an environment in which
there's job growth is to understand how important taxes are in the
equation for creating jobs. See, if you let people keep more of their
own money, they're likely to demand a good or a service. And when they
demand a good or a service, somebody is likely to produce that good or
a service. And when somebody produces the good or a service, somebody
is more likely to find a job in America. Tax relief is good for small
businesses, it's good for consumers, and it's good for job creation in
America. (Applause.)
Over the next 10 years, if these tax cuts are permanent, you'll get
$81 billion of your own money to spend. (Applause.) That means jobs
for the American people, that's what that means. And I want you to be
wary; I've learned to decode some of the talk in Washington, D.C. --
they say, let's revisit the tax relief. That means they're fixing to
get in your pocket. That's what that means. (Laughter.) John Shimkus
and I understand, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of small business
growth, we need to make the tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)
I appreciated his help on getting a trade bill through the
Congress. Trade is good for this part of the state. Trade means
people are going to be able to find work. Trade means when we're
selling those farm implement products overseas, somebody is going to be
likely to have a job in this part of the world. Trade is good for job
creation in America, and John Shimkus understands that. (Applause.)
Somebody told me Ray LaHood is here. I hope he is. He's a fine
Congressman from up the next district over. Where is Big Ray? There
he is. He knows what I'm talking about. (Applause.) He understands
what trade means. It also is good for your farmers and your ranchers.
When you're good at something you want to be able to sell it. We're
really good at growing crops. We're really good at raising cows and
hogs and chickens, and we need to be selling our food all across the
world. And that's what the trade bill will enable us to do.
(Applause.)
No, there's a lot of things we can do together. One thing John did
was join me in helping solve -- we had a confidence problem. See, we
were in recession, and then the enemy hit us, and that hurt. And then
we had some of our citizens forget what it means to be responsible.
They thought they could fudge the numbers on these corporate ledgers.
They thought they could hide the truth. They thought it was okay not
to be responsible in their positions of authority. I proposed a bill,
John supported me strongly on it, that now says to those kinds of
people in America, we're going to hold you responsible. You need to be
responsible to your employees and your shareholders. (Applause.)
No, there's a lot of work we can do to make sure people get back to
work. I'm not going to pay attention to the numbers; what I'm going to
pay attention to is whether or not the human being is working. That's
what I care about. And so long as somebody is struggling for a job,
you can rest assured we're going to be doing everything we can to grow
our economy.
John and I have worked together on some other key issues, one of
which is to make sure every child gets educated. (Applause.) We
passed a really good piece of legislation. I want to describe it to
you right quick because it shows you his mind, his philosophy. It
says, we believe every child can learn. See, we believe we want to set
high standards and high expectations. We're going to challenge what I
call the soft bigotry of low expectations. And we also believe that
the best way to achieve excellence for every child is to pass power out
of Washington and trust the local folks. We believe in local control
of schools. (Applause.)
But thanks to John's hard work, among others, we were able to get
$1.7 billion of federal money for the Illinois schools. And that's
important. But also what's important is, for the first time we're
asking the question whether or not the money is being well-spent.
(Applause.) It's a fundamental change in attitude coming out of
Washington, D.C. See, we now believe every child can learn; therefore,
we want to know if every child is learning to read and write and add
and subtract. For the first time, we're saying, why don't you show us
whether or not the schools are working. We want every child to learn,
we can believe every child can learn, so show us.
And when we find success, we'll praise the teachers. And I bet
there some teachers here, and we want to thank you for your hard work.
(Applause.) But when we find children trapped in schools which won't
teach and which won't change, for the good of Illinois, for the good of
America, we're going to demand something else happens. Because no
child should be left behind in America. (Applause.)
There's a lot of issues we can work on together. One of the big
issues that we need to work on is to make sure the Medicare system
works. Medicine has changed. Medicine is becoming modern. Technology
is changing medicine; new discoveries are changing how we cure people.
But Medicare is stuck in the past. See, medicine is changing for the
better, and Medicare won't change at all. Therefore, I need somebody
in Congress like John Shimkus who will join me in modernizing Medicare,
which means prescription drug benefits for our seniors. (Applause.)
There's a lot of things we can do, working together, to make sure
that America is a better place for everybody. But I need him in the
Congress, as well, to work on the biggest issue which we face, which is
to protect you. Homeland security is the biggest issue that this next
Congress and Presidents down the road will face. (Applause.)
And the reason why I say that is because there's still an enemy out
there which hates America. They just are. They can't stand, they
cannot stand what we believe in. They hate the fact that we love
freedom. (Applause.) We love the fact that in this great country you
can worship an Almighty any way you see fit. We love that.
(Applause.) We love the fact we have free elections, we have a free
press. We love every single aspect of freedom, and we're not going to
change. (Applause.)
And so long as that enemy is out there threatening the homeland, we
need to protect you. And we've got a lot of good people working
overtime to do so. We've got people at the federal level, and at the
state level and at the local level, doing everything we can to run down
any hint, any idea that somebody is thinking about hurting America --
we're chasing it down. We're denying, we're disrupting. But I think
we can do a better job on your behalf. And that's why I went to the
United States Congress and asked them to join me in the creation of a
new department of homeland security, so we can better coordinate all
the activities that are taking place at the federal level; so we can
change culture, if need be, so that people know that the number one
priority is your protection; so there's no doubt in anybody's mind who
are working on your behalf that this is the most important job we
have.
Thanks to John and members of the United States House of
Representatives, we got a good bill. The problem is it's stuck in the
United States Senate. It's stuck because they want to take away power
from the President, and here's the power they want to take away.
Presidents have had the ability since John F. Kennedy was the President
to suspend collective bargaining rules in any department of government
to make sure that -- when the national security is at stake -- to
make sure that we're able to do our job. See, I need to be able to
move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect
you. Certain work rules prevent that from happening. And the Senate
wants to keep those work rules in place.
To show you how short-sighted they are, as far as I'm concerned, I
would have the ability to suspend certain rules in the Department of
Agriculture; yet at a time of war, I would not have that ability for
the homeland security department. And that doesn't make sense. And
I'm here to tell you, I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the
United States Senate. (Applause.) We can't let the special interests
of Washington prevent us from doing what is necessary to protect the
biggest interest we have, which is the American people. (Applause.)
But the best way to secure the homeland is to chase these killers
down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. (Applause.) And
therapy won't work. (Laughter.) And we're making progress. See, I
asked our Congress to support me on the biggest increase in defense
spending since Ronald Reagan was the President. I did so because any
time we put our troops into harm's way, they deserve the best training,
the best pay, and the best possible equipment. (Applause.)
We're also sending an important message to friend and foe alike,
we're in this deal for the long haul. There's no quit in America when
it comes to the defense of our freedom. We understand our
obligations. We understand our duty to future generations of
Americans. No matter how long it takes, no matter how long the --
how much the cost, we will defend the freedoms of the United States of
America. (Applause.)
We're making some pretty good progress. Slowly but surely, we're
hauling them in. See, this is a different kind of battle we face. In
the old days you could destroy airplanes and ships and tanks, and you
know you're making progress. These people don't have that kind of
equipment. They hide in caves; they send youngsters to their suicidal
deaths. Therefore, it's important to make sure that doctrine that
says, either you're with us or you're with the enemy, still stands.
And the doctrine still stands. (Applause.)
We've hauled in a couple of thousand of them. And like number
weren't as lucky. In either case, in either category, they're not a
problem to the American people. We're doing our job.
It's important for us to be realistic about the threats we face.
Some would like to see the world the way they would hope it would be.
You can't have that in your President or elected members of Congress.
You've got to see the world the way it really is. And after September
the 11th, 2001, after September the 11th, 2001, the world changed. It
used to be that oceans could protect us from harm. We're in a
different world now; there's a new reality that we have to deal with.
Some may not like it, but you've got to deal with it in order to do the
most solemn job you have, which is to protect the American people.
The reason I brought up the threat from Iraq is because I
understand the new realities. I see the world the way it is. Saddam
Hussein is a threat to America. He's a threat to our friends. He's a
man who said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, yet he has
them. He's a man that not only has weapons of mass destruction, he's
used them. He's used them in his neighborhood; he's used them on his
own people. He can't stand America, he can't stand our friends and
allies. (Audience interruption.) He is a man who would likely -- he
is a man who would likely team up with al Qaeda. He could provide the
arsenal for one of these shadowy terrorist networks. He would love to
use somebody else to attack us, and not leave fingerprints behind.
So I went to the United Nations to say to that august body, why
don't we join together and hold this man to account. Why don't we hold
him to his word? Why don't you, instead of letting him defy you 16
times, why don't you hold Saddam Hussein to account and disarm him?
(Applause.) The United Nations can show us whether it's the United
Nations, or the League of Nations. Their choice to make.
And Saddam Hussein now has a choice to make. He said he would
disarm, he said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction; now the
time is coming close where he must do what he says he should do, is
going to do. But I'm going to tell you all something. And the
Congress spoke with one voice, loud and clear, that if the United
Nations cannot fulfill its duty, if it doesn't have the backbone
necessary to work together to keep the peace, and if Saddam Hussein
will not disarm, in the name of peace, in the name of freedom, the
United States will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein.
(Applause.)
I don't know what was going through the mind of the enemy when they
hit us. They must have thought the national religion of America was
materialism. They must have thought we were so self-centered and so
shallow and so self-absorbed, that after the attacks of September the
11th we might take a step back and file a lawsuit or two. (Laughter.)
They don't understand our character. They don't understand the nature
of this country. They don't understand the fact that when somebody
attacks us, when somebody tries to take away our freedom, that we're
going to react, that we'll be strong and diligent and focused. They
don't understand that out of the evil done to America can come some
great good, because of the nature of our country.
I want you to understand that my vision is one of peace. I want
the world to be peaceful, and I strongly believe that by being tough
when we need to be tough, compassionate when we need to be
compassionate, strong when we need to be strong, that we can not only
make America a more peaceful place, we can bring peace to the world.
(Applause.)
And here at home, we can be a better America. And that's
important, that while we work hard to make our country more secure and
more safe, that we can be a better country. You've got to understand
in this world, in America, people hurt, people are lonely, people are
addicted, people need help. John Shimkus and I and others in Congress
will work to pass laws to help, but you've got to remember that
government can hand out money, but it can't put hope in people's
hearts, or a sense of purpose in people's lives. Hurt can be healed
when a loving America puts their arm around somebody and says, I love
you, what can I do to help you. If you want to join the war against
evil, love your neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself.
(Applause.)
You can help in any kind of way. You can mentor a child; you can
make sure your school system works well; you can feed the hungry; you
can run a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop. There's all kinds of ways you
can help. Today when I landed at your airport, I met the Swartz
family -- Larry, Linda and Eric. They're involved with the Special
Olympics. Eric is an athlete, and he's a spokesman for the Special
Olympics. Larry volunteers as an assistant swim coach. Linda helps
with the bowling tournaments. There are all kinds of ways. And
they're here, by the way, with us. Where are the Swartzes? There they
are. I'm honored you all are here. Thank you for coming. (Applause.)
There's all kinds of ways to help. You see, the spirit of America
says that in order to be an American you've got to serve something
greater than yourself in life. Perhaps the best example came on Flight
93. These are average citizens flying across the country. They
learned the airplane they were on was going to be used as a weapon.
They said good-bye to their loved ones. They said a prayer. A guy
said, "Let's roll." And they took the plane into the ground, to serve
something greater than themselves in life. (Applause.)
The American spirit is strong and alive. The enemy had no idea who
they were hitting. Out of the evil done to America, I promise you is
going to happen, will be a more peaceful world. And out of the evil
done to America will be a better country, a more hopeful country, a
more optimistic country for every citizen who lives here. Because this
is the greatest nation, full of the most decent people on the face of
the Earth.
I'm honored you're here. Thank you for coming. May God bless, and
may God bless America. (Applause.)
END 12:20 P.M. CST
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