For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 8, 2002
Remarks by the President at Van Hilleary for Governor Luncheon
Knoxville Convention Center
Knoxville, Tennessee
12:23 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Thank you all very much. Well,
thank you for that kind introduction, Governor. (Applause.) There's
no doubt in my mind that Van Hilleary is the right man to be the
governor of Tennessee. (Applause.) And I want to thank you all for
coming. I feel comfortable in a state where the university is UT, the
colors are orange and white, and the political climate is friendly.
(Laughter and applause.)
I made a lot of friends here and I'm proud to be amongst you all.
Thanks for your prayers and thanks for your support. My only regret is
that Laura didn't come with me today. She sends her very best to
Meredith and Van, and sends her best to our buddies here in Tennessee.
I don't know if you know this or not, but when I married Laura she was
a public school librarian. She didn't care for politics. She didn't
like politicians. (Laughter.) And now she's the First Lady of the
United States, and she's doing a fabulous job. (Applause.) I'm
really, really proud of her, and we're doing great. We really are.
And I want to thank, for those of you who came through the line
here recently and said they pray for our family, that's the kindest
thing you can do for a President and his family.
I believe strongly that the character of a person matters, and I
believe Van Hilleary has the character necessary to be the kind of
governor that you can trust. He's a down-to-earth fellow that speaks
his mind. He is the kind of person who does in office what he said he
would do. He doesn't require focus groups or polls to tell him what to
believe. And he can get the job done, and that's what you want in a
governor. See, I know what it takes to be a governor, and he's got
what it takes to be your governor. (Applause.)
And I had the privilege of meeting Meredith, the next First Lady.
She's a school teacher. I think it makes a lot of sense to have a
school teacher as the First Lady for the state of Tennessee.
(Applause.) I think it -- it's also good to meet Van's mom and dad.
It kind of looks like he got saddled with the same kind of mom I've
got, somebody who will tell you exactly what she thinks. (Laughter.)
But I love the fact that they've got a strong family and they care for
each other a lot.
There's no doubt in my mind that Lamar Alexander will be a great
United States senator from Tennessee. (Applause.) And I'm not saying
that just because he married a Texan. (Laughter.) I'm saying that
because he's got a great record and a great heart. And we need him,
along with another great United States senator, and that is Bill
Frist. (Applause.)
Tennessee has had a great history of sending important senators to
the Senate. You've sent really fine people, and you will continue that
tradition with Lamar. I look forward to working with him. I look
forward to having somebody in the Senate who I can count on when it
comes to making sure the judges I name not only get a fair hearing, but
get appointed to the bench. (Applause.) We need people who -- we need
people on our bench who won't legislate, but will strictly interpret
the Constitution. I've got to tell you, the way the Senate is now set
up, they're playing politics with my good nominees. They're distorting
their record. And for the sake of a good, sound federal judiciary, I
need senators like Lamar Alexander in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
I want to thank Janice Bowling for running for Congress and soon to
be elected to the United States Congress. I appreciate her service and
her willingness to run. (Applause.)
I want to thank my old college classmate -- you used to call him
Bulldog, we call him Victor -- the Mayor of Knoxville, Mayor Victor
Ashe. I'm honored to call him friend. I appreciate his public
service. (Applause.) And I appreciate Mike Ragsdale who is a Knox
County Executive; and Beth Harwell who is the Chairwoman of the
Tennessee State Republican Party. I want to thank Jim Henry, who
tossed his hat in the ring, and has been so gracious about helping to
unite behind the next governor of your state.
I want to appreciate all the grassroots activists who are here.
Listen, I understand how politics works. You can't ever get elected
unless you've got people who are willing to put up the signs and dial
the phones and stuff the mailers. And on behalf of a grateful
President and a grateful soon-to-be governor, thanks for the hard work
you have done, and more importantly, thanks for the hard work you're
going to do. You see, we're about to the spring phase of the
campaign. And in order for Van to win, he needs you going to the
coffee shops and the community centers and talking it up. See, my
attitude is, when you find a good one, you've got to support him, and
you've got a good one in Van Hilleary. (Applause.) And he's counting
on you. And I want to thank you for the work you're going to do.
A couple of points I want to make about Van's agenda, his
platform. One, he's a -- he understands budgets. He's on the House
Budget Committee. If he can figure out the federal government budget,
you're darn sure he can figure out the Tennessee budget. (Laughter.)
But he understands you can't overspend. We share this common
understanding of whose money we spend. You hear these people in
Washington or probably in Nashville talk about, well, we're spending
the government's money. It's not the government's money, you see, it's
the people's money. In order to have fiscal sanity, you've got to
start with that attitude. (Applause.)
He understands agriculture. He knows the importance of value-added
agriculture. The thing I love about his agenda, though, is his focus
on education. It's by far the most important thing a governor will do
in any state. You see, educating the children of a state is really the
most important priority of a state. Teaching a child to read is the
new civil right. Teaching children to read is the beginnings of a
hopeful tomorrow. And you better have you a governor who's got the
right philosophy.
He talked about the No Child Left Behind legislation, which we
passed in Washington. It is a significant piece of education reform.
And I want to share the principles with you because, as this debate
goes on here in Tennessee, about who best to handle the public school
system of this state, you need to listen carefully to the words that
these candidates are talking about.
First, you need to have a governor who is willing to challenge what
I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. See, if you lower the
bar, if you believe that certain kids can't learn, if you believe the
inner city children are too tough to educate and, therefore, we ought
to have low standards, or you say a child whose parents does not speak
English as a first language cannot be educated, you will have the soft
bigotry of low expectations. You need to have a governor who believes
every child can learn and is willing to set the highest of high
standards for every person in the state of Tennessee. (Applause.)
It is important to understand one size does not fit all when it
comes to educational excellence. You've got to have local control of
schools. It's important, you can't have your schools controlled from
Washington, D.C. The crux of the -- one of the most important reforms
in the bill is we passed power out of Washington, we decentralized the
process, we trust local people. The same thing goes for the state of
Tennessee. You've got to trust the local folks. You've got to empower
the local teachers and principals and parents to chart the path for
excellence.
But the key to reform, as well, is the measurement. And that's a
fundamental difference, I suspect, in this campaign. If you believe
every child can learn, if that's what you believe, in your heart of
hearts believe that's the case, then you want to know whether every
child is learning. If you believe that every child can read, then the
next logical step is, show me, please. Show me whether or not the
children of this state are learning how to read and write and add and
subtract.
The No Child Left Behind legislation had as its cornerstone, it
said if you receive federal money, for the first time in our nation's
history, prove to us that you're succeeding. And if you are, there
will be plenty of praise for the hardworking teachers. But if we find
children trapped in schools which won't teach and won't change, you
better have yourself a governor who's willing to challenge the status
quo. If you don't measure, you don't know. If you don't measure,
you're not able to enforce high standards. If you don't measure, you
can't truthfully say to the people of Tennessee, I will make sure that
no child is left behind.
And so Van Hilleary gets it, in my judgment. He understands. He
understands there are no second-rate children in Tennessee. And when
he finds schools that will not change, you will have a governor who
will, for the sake of the children of this state, challenge the status
quo. (Applause.)
I look forward to working with Senator Frist and Senator Alexander
and Governor Hilleary to make sure America is a safer, stronger, and
better place. And I want you to know that I know we've got
challenges. I live with them every day. One of the biggest challenges
we face is to make sure our economy continues to grow. I'm an optimist
about our economy because I know the foundations for growth are
strong. Any time that you've got interest rates that are low,
inflation which is low, and productivity which is incredibly high,
we've got the ingredients for growth.
We've had a few things we've had to overcome -- we've had a
recession we've had to overcome. We've had some people in our society
that thought they could lie to the American people, to shareholders and
employees. I had the honor of signing one of the most comprehensive
corporate responsibility bills since Franklin Roosevelt was the
President. I appreciate the support of the House members and the
Senate. And here's what it said. It said there's not going to be any
more easy money in America. We expect you to be a responsible
citizen. We expect you to fully tell the truth. And if not, we're
going to let you serve some time. (Applause.)
The market is adjusting, and that's not good news for savers, which
means we've got to do everything we can to make sure that people can
find work. I took this page out of the economic textbook, and I think
Van shares it with me -- when times are slow, when the economy is
bumping along, one way to help create jobs is to let people keep more
of their own money. And there's a big difference of opinion in
Washington, D.C. about that. And the difference is, is that do you
increase the size of government, or do you let people have more money
in their pocket.
In order to stimulate small business and the entrepreneurial
spirit, it's important to let people keep more money so that they
demand a good or a service. And when they demand a good or a service
in the marketplace, somebody will produce that good or a service. And
when somebody produces that good or a service, somebody is more likely
to find work. The tax cuts came at the exact right time in American
economic history. (Applause.)
It's hard to explain this. Maybe Senator Frist can explain it
better than me, but the Senate agreed to the tax cuts, but they go away
after 10 years. On the one hand we giveth, on the other hand we taketh
away. It sounds pretty typical of Washington. After 10 years the tax
relief plan that we passed reverts back to where -- the tax rates
revert back to where they were last year. The marriage penalty that we
slashed goes back to where it was. The death tax, which is a terrible
tax -- it's a terrible tax on farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs
and small business people -- is no longer repealed after 10 years. For
the sake of economic growth, for the sake of job creation, and for the
sake of giving our small businesses the chance to plan and for tax
certainty, we need to make the tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)
And we need to control spending in Washington, D.C. There is a
danger -- it's an election year, and there is no budget in the Senate.
There is no constraint. I submitted a budget to the House -- to the
Congress that the House passed, which shows us getting back to balance
as quickly as possible if we're careful about spending the people's
money -- if we fund our priorities, but not get excessive. Without a
budget in the Senate, we have a potential problem.
The Congress must understand, if they're interested in job creation
-- and by the way, there's a lot of talk about that up there, and not
much action yet. But if they're interested in job creation, if they're
interested in making sure people can find work, they must not overspend
the people's money. There needs to be fiscal sanity in Washington,
D.C. (Applause.)
And there are other things we can do to strengthen the economy.
And I'll give you one practical idea. And that is, we need terrorism
insurance. There's $15 billion worth of projects that have been put on
hold or canceled in America because the manager of the project can't
get insurance. The terrorists struck and they can't get the insurance
necessary to cover for terror. And therefore, these projects are on
hold. There's over 300,000 jobs which are going vacant because these
projects aren't going forward.
And so I thought it made sense for the Congress to come together
and write a law that would provide a backstop. It's a good jobs
program. It's a way to immediately affect the lives of the good,
hardworking people who wear the hard-hats in America. They've been
talking about this issue now for a year. Before they go home, they
need to get a good terrorism insurance bill. If they're interested in
jobs, if they want people back to work, join me in getting a good
terrorism insurance bill -- one, by the way, that rewards the hard-hats
of America, not the trial lawyers of America. (Applause.)
Now, there's a lot we can do to work to keep this economy growing.
And I just want you to know I'm not going to rest until people can find
work. We're going to continue to build on the foundation of the -- of
economic growth. But my most important job is to protect America.
That's what's on my mind a lot, is how best to secure this homeland.
I have to tell you that because there's still an enemy out there
which would like to strike us. They hate us because of what we love.
We love our freedoms and we're not changing. So long as we love
freedom, they will hate us. Which means they're going to hate us for a
while, because we're not changing our attitude. And they're out
there. And they're looking around.
It's a different kind of war. In the old days, you know, you'd
measure infantries or air forces or flotillas, and you could tell how
big the enemy was or where they were or whether or not you were making
progress against them. This is a group of people, their leaders hide
in a cave or the dark corners of a city somewhere, and they send
youngsters to their suicidal deaths. They're nothing but a bunch of
cold-blooded killers. We value life. In this country, we say
everybody's precious, everybody counts. They don't value life.
They've hijacked a great religion and murder in the name of that
religion.
And so we've got to do everything we can to prevent the enemy from
hitting us again. The government's working long hours -- I say the
government -- the people in the government are working long hours to
run down every bit of evidence we get, every piece of intelligence.
And we're better coordinated than we ever have been to really secure
the homeland, to disrupt any cells that we think might exist. That
we're doing everything we can to let the enemy know that we know
they're there. And when we think they're there, we obviously respect
our Constitution, but we're moving. And we're moving pretty darn
good.
But there's a way for me to better protect you, and a way for
future administrations to better protect you, and that is to take all
the agencies involved with homeland defense and put them under one
Cabinet officer. And it sounds simple, except when you start stepping
on some bureaucratic toes. And the House passed a good bill, and the
Senate is wrestling with it now, because some senators really want to
micromanage the managerial process. They want to pass a book of thick
regulations that gets to make the managerial decisions for the homeland
security department.
And that's not right. It just doesn't make any sense to tie the
hands of the President and future Presidents when it comes to a matter
of deep national concern. I'll give you a couple of examples what I'm
talking about. On our border we need to know who's coming into the
country, what they're bringing into the country, and whether or not
they're leaving the country when they say they're going to leave it.
And yet we've got three fine agencies on the border. We've got your
Border Patrol, your INS and your Customs. They wear different
uniforms, sometimes they have conflicting strategies. We need to be
able to move people interagency. We need to be able to button it up.
We need to make it seamless. We need to be able to put the right
people at the right place at the right time. But you can't do that
under the -- one of the versions coming out of the United States
Senate. There's not the flexibility necessary to better enforce our
borders.
I'll give you another example. Customs people wear radiation
detection devices. They should. If you're interested in finding
weapons of mass destruction, you've got to have the device on your belt
necessary to do that. The union had said no, that in order to do that
it needs to go to collective bargaining. We don't have the time to
argue about whether or not somebody ought to be wearing a device to
better protect the homeland.
Listen, I believe these hardworking employees ought to be able to
have collective bargaining. But I also know I need the capacity to
manage the agency in a way so I can look the American people in the
eye, and say, we're doing everything we can to protect you. The Senate
must hear this. We will not accept a bill that does not give this
administration and future administrations the capacity to protect the
homeland. (Applause.)
The best way to protect the homeland, however, is to take the fight
to the enemy -- to chase them down, one killer at a time, and bring
them to justice, which is exactly what the United States of America is
going to do. (Applause.) And we are making progress. The doctrine
that says, if you're with us -- either you're with us, or you're with
the enemy, still stands. It's clear. It hasn't changed. And,
therefore, we still have this coalition of like-minded people or
friends that are joining us in hunting these people down.
Now, this is a different kind of war, as I mentioned. Sometimes
you will see progress on your TV screens or hear about it, and
sometimes you're just not going to know. That's the nature of the
war. Intelligence sharing is an integral part of being able to succeed
against the enemy. Cutting off their money is an integral part of
fighting the enemy. Arresting them or bringing them to justice is an
integral part of fighting the enemy.
The other day this bin al-Shebh showed up, or as I like to say,
popped his head up. He was the person that was going to be the 20th
hijacker. And we got him in Pakistan, thanks to work with the Pakistan
government and our own government. We ferreted him out. And he's no
longer a problem. He's no longer a threat to the United States and any
of our friends. (Applause.)
That's the kind of war we are waging in this part of the battle.
And I bet you we've hauled in a couple of thousand of these killers.
They're detained, they're no longer a problem. And like number weren't
as lucky, thanks to the United States military. (Applause.)
And there's quite a few more to go, there's quite a few more out
there. It's going to take a while. And that's why I've submitted the
largest increase in defense spending -- asked the Congress to increase
defense spending the largest amount since Ronald Reagan was the
President. Because I want to make it clear, a couple of things clear.
One, when we put our kids into harm's way, they deserve the best pay,
the best training and the best possible equipment. We owe that to them
and we owe it to their parents. (Applause.)
And I also want to send a message to our friends and our foes. It
doesn't matter how long it takes to defend our freedom, we will defend
freedom. There's no "quit" in America, that we understand the stakes.
The enemy made clear the stakes on September the 11th, 2001. And we're
not going to forget. You can hide in any cave you want; we're coming
after you. It doesn't matter where you think you can hide, the long
arm of justice of the United States of America will find you.
(Applause.)
And we've got some hills to climb, we've got some pretty tough
stepping to do to get there, but the country is ready for it. And the
Congress needs to get that bill -- the defense bill to my desk. We've
been talking about it now for -- for a while. And they're getting
ready to go home. The leadership has got to understand that the
country expects, and I expect, the defense bill -- in a time of war --
the defense bill to get to my desk. They need to stop playing politics
with the defense bill of the United States. (Applause.)
You need to tell your kids about America, and our not only desire
to answer history's call and to defend our freedom, but also that any
time our nation goes anywhere, we go not to conquer anybody, but to
liberate people. I think one of the great lessons of this -- of the
first phase of this war was in Afghanistan. And we're still there, by
the way, and there's still killers there, and we've still got troops
there, and we're going to be there for a while. But we went there, not
only to uphold the doctrine that says, if you harbor a terrorist,
you're just as guilty as the terrorists, but we also went because we
believe life matters not only in America, but everywhere. We believe
every child has worth. We believe every person has worth. And we
believe in freedom. We believe in freedom not only for ourselves, but
we believe freedom is God-given. We believe freedom is a right that
everybody should realize.
And you need to tell your kids that this country liberated people
from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in history. And
thanks to the United States and thanks to our friends and allies, young
girls -- many young girls go to school for the first time. It's an
important lesson for our children that in the defense of our own
freedoms, that this nation will fight if we have to, to free others, as
well.
I've got a problem, obviously, with Mr. Saddam Hussein, and so do
you. And that is, he poses a threat. He poses a threat to America, he
poses a threat to our friends, our Israeli friends, our friends in his
own neighborhood. He is a threat. And we've started a debate in this
country about how to deal with that threat. And it's a really
important debate. I don't view this as a political discourse or a
political debate, I view this as a debate about our future, the role of
the United States and the world about security and freedom. And I
welcome the debate, and I look forward to watching the Congress debate
this issue this week. I believe we're going to get a strong
resolution, backed by both Republicans and Democrats.
But it's their choice to make. Just like it's Mr. Saddam Hussein's
choice to make as to whether or not he will do what he told the world
he would do, which is to stop lying, stop deceiving, and disarm. He
told the world that he would not have weapons of mass destruction, and
yet for 11 years he has deceived the world.
I went to the United Nations. I want to share with you why,
because I really do want the United Nations to be effective. I don't
want the United Nations to be the League of Nations. I want the United
Nations to be an effective agent for peace. I want the United Nations
to be able to help deal with the new issues we face. It's their choice
to make, as well. See, for 11 years they've passed resolution after
resolution after resolution after resolution after resolution -- 16
resolutions, only to be defied by Saddam Hussein. And in the meantime,
he has gotten stronger.
And so the fundamental question facing the world is, do we deal
with this guy, or not. It's the world's choice to make. We'll see
whether or not the United Nations has the desire, has the backbone
necessary to uphold its own resolutions and help keep the peace. But
if they're unable to act, and if Saddam Hussein can't do what he said
he would do, which is disarm, this country will lead a coalition and
disarm him, for the sake of peace. (Applause.)
Committing our military into harm's way is my last choice. I say
-- I talk about military options as the last option, not the first
option, because I understand the consequences. But I want you to know
that if we have to commit our military -- and we may not have to, but
if we have to -- then we'll have the best plans. The full force and
fury of the United States military will be unleashed. And make no
mistake about it, we will prevail. (Applause.)
History has put the spotlight on this great nation. And I'm
confident this country will show the world and history our character,
our strength, our determination, our absolute love for freedom and the
values which we hold dear.
You know, the enemy hit us. I just can't imagine what was going
through their mind. I suspect they thought we were so materialistic
and so self-absorbed, so selfish that all we would do after September
the 11th was maybe file a lawsuit or two. They didn't understand.
They really didn't understand and they're going to pay a severe price
for not understanding.
See, this country, instead of stepping back and say, oh, gosh,
we're going to be terrorized, and so fearful we won't act, made the
absolute, decided effort to act in the name of peace and freedom.
Out of the evil done to the -- to our country is going to come some
good. And one of the good is going to be peace. You need to tell your
children, amidst all of the discussion and the debate they hear, there
is a strong desire by this President and my administration and our
country to achieve peace. I believe by remaining strong and focused
and determined and unrelenting in our desire to wipe out terror, we can
achieve peace for ourselves, and we can achieve peace in the Middle
East, peace in South Asia. I believe it's possible. I believe the
enemy has handed us an unbelievable opportunity to make the world a
more peaceful place, an opportunity which I intend to seize.
And at home, the enemy hit us. And instead of us falling down in
self-pity, we took a step back and made an assessment of that which is
important, and decided as a nation to fight evil by millions of acts of
kindness and decency. That a lot of people in our country stepped back
and realized that serving something greater than yourself in life was
an incredibly important part of being a patriotic American. You know,
as we fight to make -- work to make America a stronger place and safer
place, we've also got to work to make it a better place. It's
happening across our country now.
People understand that to fight evil, all you've got to do is do
some good. And it doesn't have to be majestic acts. Mentoring a child
is part of doing good. Going to a shut-in's home and telling them you
love them; recognizing that, in our society, there are people who hurt,
people who are addicted, people who wonder what the American Dream was
all about; and also recognizing that you can be a part of changing a
person's attitude and outlook by loving them.
See, government can hand out money. But it can't put hope in
people's hearts. It can't put a sense of purpose in people's lives.
That's done when our fellow citizens take it upon themselves to be
responsible for the society in which we live and love a neighbor just
like you'd like to be loved yourself.
No, the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they were hitting.
They've awakened a spirit of America here. The American spirit is
strong, evidenced most clearly on that fateful day when people were
flying across the country on Flight 93. They heard the plane was being
used as a weapon. They realized America -- that vast oceans could no
longer protect us and we were a battleground. They told their loved
ones goodbye. They used the word "love" a lot. They said a prayer. A
guy said, "Let's roll." They took the plane into ground to serve
something greater than themselves in life.
The American spirit is alive and strong. It's not only an
entrepreneurial spirit; it's a spirit of compassion and decency and
kindness. There is no question in my mind that this country can
overcome the obstacles in our way, and out of the evil done to America
will come great good, peace around the world and a hopeful, decent,
compassionate America in which each of us who lives in this country
understands the American Dream is meant for them.
I want to thank you all for coming. May God bless you and may God
bless America.
END 1:00 P.M. EDT
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