For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 17, 2002
Remarks by the President at 2002 Unity Luncheon
Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel
Atlanta, Georgia
12:15 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. I'm glad you all are
here. Thanks for coming, and thanks for such a generous Georgia
welcome.
You know, coming down on the airplane today, we were visiting about
the politics here in Georgia and a couple of the citizens from this
great state told me my picture seems to be on the TV screen a lot.
(Laughter.) That a lot of people are using my image during the
campaign. Well, I'm here to clarify a few things. (Applause.) The
voters shouldn't be confused. For the sake of Georgia, for the sake of
the United States, Saxby Chambliss needs to be the next United States
senator. (Applause.)
No, the voters shouldn't be confused. For the sake of Georgia, and
for the sake of a great public school system, Sonny Perdue needs to be
the next governor of Georgia. (Applause.)
I appreciate you all coming. I want to thank you for what you're
going to do. First, I want to thank you for what you have done, which
is come today. (Laughter.) And what you need to do is go to your
coffee shops, your places of worship, the community centers, and let
good people of Georgia understand that when you find two good ones, two
good candidates like these two, they've got to work and vote on their
behalf. Grassroots politics is going to win this election.
(Applause.)
And there's another secret weapon in the case of these two men's
campaign. That's their wives. (Applause.) They both married well.
Like me, they married above themselves. (Laughter.) I'm so proud that
Julianne Chambliss is with -- standing by Saxby's side. She's a great
mom. She's going to be a fabulous Senate wife. And I've got to tell
you, I'm real proud of Mary, as well. Mom and grandmom -- she's going
to be a great first lady for Georgia. (Applause.)
You drew the short straw; Laura's in Mobile, Alabama. (Laughter.)
But she sends her very best. She's doing great, by the way. You know,
I like to remind people that when I married her, she was a public
school librarian in Texas. She didn't like politics, she didn't care
for politicians. (Laughter.) Now she's the First Lady of the United
States, and doing a magnificent job. (Applause.)
I appreciate members of the congressional delegation. All but one
decided they wanted to fly on Air Force One, so I had coffee with them
this morning. (Laughter.) But it's a fine group of individuals
representing Georgia in the United States Congress: Congressman Jack
Kingston, Matt Collins, Johnny Isakson, Bob Barr, Nathan Deal, Charlie
Norwood and John Linder. I'm proud of that -- (Applause.)
I'm proud of that delegation, and I hope -- and I feel -- like the
good folks around Georgia will be wise to add to the delegation,
starting with Phil Gingrey from the 11th congressional district.
(Applause.) Clay Cox is running for Congress. We need to get Clay in
there. (Applause.) I'm real proud of the chairman of the Georgia
Republican Party, my longtime friend, Ralph Reed. I want to thank
Ralph for his leadership. (Applause.) Alec Poitevint is the national
committeeman. He also is a longtime friend. My friend Fred Cooper,
and Eric Tanenblatt all work hard to make sure our party is vibrant and
alive and well; make sure our party not only is organized at the
grassroots level, but make sure our party sends out a message that all
are welcomed, all who believe in the philosophy of personal
responsibility, local control of your schools, limited government,
compassionate government are welcome into our party. All are welcome
to vote for these good candidates who are running. We don't care what
party you have. We don't care whether you're a Republican, Democrat,
or independent. What we care is you support these good candidates
because they're the right people at the right time for the state of
Georgia. (Applause.)
Sonny knows what I'm talking about. Sonny knows what I'm talking
about. After all, he used to call himself a Democrat. (Laughter.)
And that's okay. I'm used to Texas politics. We had a lot of folks
who called themselves one party label, but they -- we all felt the same
about things. Sonny represents Georgian values. He is a down-to-earth
fellow; he's a plain speaker. When he says something, he means it.
(Applause.) He might not be the prettiest fellow to look at --
(laughter) -- but he can get the job done for all the people in
Georgia. (Applause.)
And that means having a school system that leaves no children
behind. (Applause.) Sonny's got a good education plan. It's one that
makes sense. It's one that's going to challenge the soft bigotry of
low expectations. It's going to set high standards. Sonny is going to
support the teachers of Georgia. (Applause.) Sonny isn't going to try
to micromanage the process from centralized government. He believes in
local control of schools. (Applause.)
And Sonny is the kind of no-nonsense fellow who will hold people to
account. You see, he'll be willing to -- he'll be willing to measure
to determine whether or not each child is learning in Georgia. And
when he finds children trapped in schools which won't teach and won't
change, he won't be bound by special interests. The only interest he
cares about is the children of the state of Georgia. (Applause.)
He knows what I know; the role of government is not to create
wealth, but an environment in which the entrepreneur or small business
owner can flourish. (Applause.) Seventy percent of new jobs in
America are created by small businesses. And it seems like if you're
worried about your job base, that you want to have somebody who's been
a small business person running your government, somebody who's
actually done what a lot of others talk about. I think the fact that
Sonny started his own business in the field of agriculture is one of
the strongest reasons why the folks of Georgia ought to send him up to
the capital. (Applause.)
He also understands how important it is to have good roads and an
efficient infrastructure. He's a practical man; he's a down-to-earth
fellow who has asked the questions, how do you get the job done. He
doesn't wait for a focus group. (Laughter.) That's not his style.
That's not how they raised them in south Georgia. (Applause.) If
you're worried about your infrastructure, it seems like to me you want
somebody who's licensed to fly a plane, who can drive a bus, or knows
how to operate a truck. And that man is Sonny Perdue. (Applause.)
And I'm proud to be here. I'm proud to say as loud and clear as I
can, I'm for Sonny Perdue because he'll make a great governor.
(Applause.)
And there's no doubt in my mind you've got to make sure that Saxby
Chambliss is your United States senator. (Applause.) Saxby is a
leader. He's a leader, he can make things happen. I've watched him --
I've watched him closely. I worked with him on the education bill, a
fine piece of education reform. He brings a deep compassion for
education. He and I understand the role of the federal government is
limited, but the role of the federal government must be active. It
says this: When we spend federal money we expect there to be good
results. If you believe every child can learn like we do, if you want
to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, that finally we've
begun to ask the question, what's happening -- with all that money
we're spending, what's happening? Why don't you show us whether or not
our children can read and write and add and subtract? Why don't you
show us whether or not our children have got a bright future? And if
so, I promise you, we'll praise the teachers. But if not, we expect a
return on behalf of the taxpayers' dollars.
This piece of reform was substantial reform. And Saxby Chambliss
was one of the leaders in the House of Representatives to make sure
this bill got passed. (Applause.)
He understands what I know; medicine has changed, but Medicare
hadn't. Medicine is modern; Medicare is old and needs to be reformed.
Saxby Chambliss is one of the leaders in the United States Congress to
make sure that Medicare changes with medicine, and that seniors have
got prescription drug benefits. (Applause.)
I'm for Saxby because he will help me make sure that the judges I
nominate get a fair hearing and get confirmed. (Applause.) My job is
to -- my job is to put good, honorable, hardworking, intelligent,
capable people on the federal bench; people who will not use the bench
to serve as a legislator, but people who will sit on the bench to
strictly interpret the United States Constitution.
And the record of this Senate is a lousy record. (Applause.) If
you look -- if you look at the record, the percentage of my nominees
who have been approved and look at the reason why they haven't, you'll
find that they're playing too much politics in Washington, D.C.
(Applause.) They're slow playing the process. And when some of my
really good nominees got a hearing, they distorted their records. They
listened to the small groups of special interests in Washington, D.C.
For the sake of a good, sound federal judiciary, I need a United States
senator who will stand strong for my nominees, and that is Saxby
Chambliss. (Applause.)
We've got some challenges ahead of us. No question one of the
challenges is to make sure people can find work in America, that we can
build on the foundation of economic growth. I'm optimistic about our
economy's future because I know when interest rates are low and
inflation is low and the productivity of our great work force is high,
we can grow our economy. I believe strongly that the future is a
bright future. But we've got a lot of work to do -- together, we've
got a lot of work to do.
And there are some clear-cut things that the Congress can do. And
one of them is to understand the significance of tax relief when it
comes to economic vitality. Saxby and I read the page out of this
economic textbook, that says if you let a person keep more of their own
money, they're 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 that good or
a service, somebody is more likely to be able to find work.
And so we passed tax relief. Some people were enthusiastic about
it, some weren't quite so sure. And we got it passed. But the reason
the issue is still alive is because there's a quirk in the Senate
rules. This is a tough one for me to explain to you. It's like the
Senate giveth and the Senate taketh away. (Laughter.) You see, after
10 years, the tax relief plan reverts back to where it was when we
started relieving the taxes. So that creates uncertainty. It's hard
if you're a small business person to plan, with uncertainty. It's hard
for an economy to be steady if there's an uncertain tax code.
One of the big issues in this campaign is who understands what I've
just described, and who's willing to join the President in making sure
the tax relief plan is permanent. And that person is Saxby Chambliss.
(Applause.)
No, I will continue to work on our economy, helping to make sure
our workers can find work. There's a lot of things we can do. We need
an energy bill; we need a terrorism insurance bill; we need to make
sure Congress doesn't overspend. Listen, every idea sounds like a
genius idea in Washington. (Laughter.) The problem is they all cost
billions. I've got to make sure I've got members of the House and
members of the Senate who understand we need to set priorities and make
sure we don't overspend. For the sake of economic vitality, there
needs to be fiscal restraint and fiscal sanity, which means you better
have a United States senator who understands that when we're spending
money in Washington, we're not spending the government's money, we're
spending the people's money. (Applause.)
Economic issue is a big issue. There's no bigger issue, however,
than protecting the homeland. (Applause.) I say that because there's
an enemy that still lurks out there, a enemy which hates America. And
they hate us because of what we love. They hate us because we love
freedom. They hate us because we hold dear and deeply love the idea
that anybody can worship an almighty God any way he or she sees fit.
They hate the idea of a free press, free political discourse. That's
what they hate. And so long as we love our freedoms, they will try to
harm our country.
We've got a new task ahead for America, and that is to do
everything we can to protect the American people. It used to be that
oceans could protect us. We used to be able to sit back here in
America and feel safe and confident, because there's two vast oceans to
protect us from potential enemies. But that has changed, after
September the 11th, 2001. And that's why it's essential for our
country not only to deal with the threats we see today, but to deal
with threats we may see in the immediate tomorrow.
That's why I called upon the United Nations and our United States
Congress to deal with Iraq before it becomes a -- before we get hurt.
Oceans no longer protect us. The threat is real. The threat's alive.
I want to thank Saxby and other members of the United States
Congress for joining me in passing a strong resolution so that the
United States speaks with one voice. It's not up for Mr. Saddam
Hussein to do what he said he would do, to disarm. It's now up for the
free nations of the world to show some courage and backbone, and disarm
him. (Applause.)
There are real threats that we face, and therefore, my most
important job is to do everything we can to protect the homeland. A
lot of people are working hard to do just that; they really are. We've
got a lot of good agents at the CIA and FBI, and state police and local
police, first responders, all of them working hard to do everything we
can to protect the American people. When we get a hint, any bit of
evidence, we're moving, we're disrupting, we're denying. We're aware
of the threat. And so we're on -- we're on full game all the time.
That's our job. We take it seriously.
But I need the tools necessary to do the job better. And that's
why I went to the United States Congress to work with my to develop a
office of homeland security, so that we could better coordinate amongst
the many agencies involved with securing the homeland; so we could set
clear priorities amongst the agencies involved with protecting the
homeland; so if need be, we could change cultures so that some point in
time I'm more able to say, and future Presidents are more able to say,
we're doing everything in our power at the federal level to protect
America. It's our most important and solemn duty.
I laid the initiative out, and thanks to the strong leadership of
Saxby -- he understands this issue really well -- thanks to his
leadership amongst, with others in the House of Representatives, the
House responded quickly and passed a significant piece of legislation,
an historic piece of legislation.
The Senate hadn't acted yet, because in order to pass the
department of homeland security there's got to be a price for it. And
that price will be to roll back important authority that every
President since John F. Kennedy has had to act in the interests of
national security. For 40 years, Presidents have had the ability to
suspend labor rules in every department in the federal government when
our national security is at stake. Now the Senate leadership wants to
roll back that authority in a time of war for one department, whose job
it is, will be to protect the American people during that war.
If the Senate had its way, I would have the authority to suspend
the work rules in the Department of Agriculture, but not in the office
of homeland security. The Senate Democrat leaders want to tie the
hands of this department as we determine who to hire, who to fire, and
whether or not people can be moved. Any President must have the
capacity to put the right people at the right time at the right place,
in order to respond to threats to our homeland. (Applause.)
The Senate debate revolves around whether or not there ought to be
a thick book of rules micromanaging the process. I'll give you an
example. Right after September the 11th the Customs Service wanted to
quickly assign its best, more qualified inspectors to the northern
border. The union leaders objected. They said we had to bargain over
these assignments. We had to take time to hash it out, rather than
moving our best to where we thought we needed to move them,
immediately.
No, I'm not going to accept a bill which will tie the hands of
this President and future Presidents to be able to carry out one of our
most solemn duties, which is to protect the homeland. (Applause.)
There's no question in my mind, if Saxby Chambliss were in the Senate,
I would not have to worry about his leadership or his vote on this
important matter. (Applause.)
The best way to secure the homeland, however, is to hunt the
killers down, one person at a time, which is exactly what the United
States of America is going to do. (Applause.) The war on terror is a
different kind of war. The old World War II vets who are here -- and I
want to thank you for your service -- will remember the days when we
could measure progress based upon tanks destroyed or battleships sunk,
or aircraft shot down. This is a different kind of war. We're
fighting cold-blooded killers who hide in caves and send youngsters to
their suicidal deaths. And they're willing to kill innocent people
anywhere.
See, there's a huge difference between us and them. We value life,
we say everybody counts, everybody is precious. They've hijacked a
great religion and are willing to murder in the name of that religion.
That's the way they are. And there's only one way to deal with it.
Therapy isn't going to work. (Applause.) And that's to find them,
that's to find them. That's why this coalition of freedom-loving
nations is incredibly important. That's why it's absolutely essential
that we continue to remind people, either you're with us or you're with
the enemy. That's why it's essential that we continue to make sure
that when we say something, we mean it and the world knows we mean it.
(Applause.)
Next week, I'm going to be signing a defense appropriations bill.
I want to thank the members of Congress, I want to thank Saxby and
others for getting this bill to my desk before they go home. It's
important for us to send a message that we're going to make sure our
troops have got the best pay, the best equipment, the best possible
training. Any time we put somebody in harm's way, we owe it to them
and we owe it to their loved ones to support them. And that's exactly
what this defense bill does. (Applause.)
And the second message we're going to send when I sign that bill is
to friend and foe alike, it doesn't matter how long it takes, we're
staying the course. When it comes to the defense of our freedom, there
is no timetable, there is no calendar. When it comes to making sure
our children can grow up in a free society, in a free country, this
great land will do whatever it takes to secure our freedoms.
(Applause.)
No, we're making progress. We're hauling them in one at a time.
We've got over a couple thousand of them, and maybe that like number
wasn't quite so lucky. Sometimes you'll see us making progress and
sometimes you won't. Sometimes those people who chatter on the cables
will be talking about it, sometimes you're just not going to hear.
It's a manhunt, one at a time. And at the same time, we're going to
deny them sanctuary. If we find them lighting somewhere, we're going
to ask the host country to move them on. Either you're with us, or
you're with them. (Applause.)
We're making good progress. I'm working hard to make sure America
is a stronger place and a safer place, but we've all got to work
together to make sure America is a better place, too. And there's some
things government can do: Make sure every child is educated; make sure
our health care systems work; make sure people are treated with respect
and dignity; to make sure we change the tone in our National Capital
and our state capital, get rid of all this needless politics, bring
people together, achieve big objectives.
But a lot of what is going to make America continue to be the
greatest country in the world depends upon you. If you want to fight
evil, love your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. If
you're interested in doing some good, if you're interested in joining
me and Sonny and Saxby in making sure that those pockets of despair and
loneliness and hopelessness get eradicated, the surest way to do so is
to put your arm around somebody in need, and say, I love you, I love
you.
Government can hand out money, but government cannot put hope in
people's hearts, or a sense of purpose in people's lives. (Applause.)
That's why I'm such a strong believer in the faith-based initiative, an
initiative which will empower people of all faiths in America to do
what they've been called to do, to help a neighbor in need, to love
somebody.
See, it doesn't take much to help change America, it really
doesn't. Helping somebody who's hungry, mentoring a child, going to a
shut-in's house and saying, what can I do to help, running a Boy Scout
or Girl Scout troop, it all adds up. It's those millions of acts of
kindness and generosity that take place on a daily basis in America
which truly defines the hopefulness of our country.
See, the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they were hitting.
Oh, they probably thought we'd file a lawsuit or two. (Laughter.)
But, instead, they hit a country which is strong and tough; a country,
by remaining strong and tough and always remembers what we love, and
that is freedom, that we can achieve peace.
I believe America will lead the world to peace. (Applause.) And
at the same time, here at home -- same time here at home, we can make
sure, by following our hearts, by being the compassionate country we
are, to make sure this American experience shines brightly for every
single citizen who lives in our country.
No, they hit us. But out of the evil is going to come some
incredible good, because this is the greatest nation, full of the
finest people on the face of the Earth. May God bless you and may God
bless America. (Applause.)
END 12:41 P.M. EDT
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