President's Remarks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lapp Electrical Service, Inc.
Smoketown, Pennsylvania
3:16 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Thanks for having me.
Please be seated. Unless, of course, you don't have a seat.
(Laughter.) What a spectacular drive in here. As you know, we're on a
bus, and it's hard to park a bus in a small parking lot, by the way.
(Laughter.) But we drove through this beautiful countryside and saw
thousands of your fellow citizens there. They were so warm and
gracious in their hospitality. I'm sorry they're all not here so I can
thank them in person. Hopefully, somebody is recording this on a TV
camera, so they'll hear my thanks. But it is a really -- what a
special part of the world. And thanks for having me.
I'm here to talk about the fact that I'd like to be reelected
President for a reason. You know, I love holding the office. It's --
got a nice airplane to fly on and -- (laughter) -- housing is good.
(Laughter.) But I want to serve for four more years because I want the
country to be safer, stronger, and better. I have a reason to ask for
your vote. (Applause.)
And I'm going to spend a lot of time in Pennsylvania because I want
to carry Pennsylvania this time. It's an important state. (Applause.)
And we're going to. And we're going to. (Applause.)
I'm sorry that Laura is not with me. She's a fabulous First Lady,
a great wife, and a wonderful mother -- of my daughter, Jenna, who is
traveling with me today. (Applause.) University of Texas grad. How
about that -- in four years. (Laughter.) Laura sends her best. She's
campaigning herself. She is a -- she's come to realize what I know in
that you can make a difference in people's lives in so many different
ways in the positions that we're honored to hold. I remember the time
she gave the Afghan radio address -- radio address, my radio address,
and talked about women in Afghanistan. And it was such a comforting
and reassuring voice, I'm sure, for the women there who had been so
brutalized by the Taliban to hear the First Lady speak. But the
feedback from the radio address was really good. And she -- I remember
her coming back upstairs in the White House and saying, "Gosh, they
heard me." People heard that somebody in America cares for them; that
when we talk about young girls in America and our desire for them to be
able to realize their dreams, we also said the same thing about young
girls in Afghanistan and that message resonated.
And Laura was the messenger, and it made such a difference to those
ladies and women in Afghanistan who heard her voice that it, in return,
made a great difference for her. She knows what I know -- one, it's a
honor to serve our country; and secondly, you have an opportunity to
affect people's lives in a positive way. And that's exactly what she's
doing.
Now, I want to thank Joe Pitts for introducing me. Joe is a good,
strong, solid United States Congressman with a lot of integrity and a
lot of decency, and I'm proud to serve with him. I just want to thank
you, Joe, very much. (Applause.)
I'm traveling with the United States senior Senator Arlen Specter.
I'm proud to be traveling with him. I hope he wins, and I'd like you
to support him. (Applause.) We discarded Santorum somewhere up the
road. (Laughter.) Actually, he's off to York to greet us there, which
is our next stop. I want to thank very much members of the statehouse
who are here, particularly State Senator Noah Wenger. I'm honored
you're here, Senator, thank you for coming. I also want to thank --
(applause) -- thanks for being here. State Senator Charlie Dent, who
has tossed his hat in the ranks of the United States Congress, is
traveling today, as is congressional candidate Scott Paterno. Thank
you for coming, Scott, appreciate you being here. (Applause.)
I know we've got some grassroots activists who are here. Those are
the people who are actually going to turn out the vote and do all the
work. My job is to set the vision and explain to people what I want to
do for four more years. And the grassroots activists' jobs are to find
those who are willing to vote. I think there's a lot of potential
voters here -- at least it seems like it. There was a lot of signs on
the road. (Laughter.) A lot of friendly waves. So hope you garner
them up and remind them that we all have a duty to do in a democracy,
and get them to the polls, turn them out, register people. We've got a
website, georgewbush.com, which is a place where you can sign up and
get some marching orders and gives you something to do if you're
interested in helping the campaign.
I spend a lot of time thanking people who are campaigning on our
behalf because I know it's hard work and it takes time out of your busy
lives. And so the first thing I want to do is, for those who are
willing to help Dick Cheney and me, I want to thank you very much for
what you're doing. It makes a difference. And I'm confident, I'm
confident our work will pay off come November 2nd of this year.
You're probably wondering why would you -- I mean, I imagine we
could have drawn thousands of people. As a matter of fact, tonight in
York, we are -- going to have a giant crowd. But why would you forgo a
big crowd to come to this entrepreneurial haven to talk about the
issues confronting the country? And the answer is, is because this a
perfect example of what I try to talk about when it comes to the
economy. That's why I'm here. I'm here because our country's economy
is strong, because the entrepreneurial spirit is strong. And the
entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in this company, see. This is
a small business that succeeds because the owners and the fellow
workers work hard to make it succeed. It doesn't succeed because of
business -- I mean, government. It succeeds because of the business
acumen of the people running this enterprise.
And so I want to thank very much the Lapp family for their
hospitality. I am honored that you would host me today. It's not easy
to host people called President. (Laughter.) It's just about --
(applause) -- five buses, four vans, 200 policemen -- and here we are.
(Laughter.)
I want to thank Greg and Tim. Those are the Lapp boys. They
bought the business from their dad, who is with us, as well, and Mom.
Thank you all for being here. It was a wise decision. There's nothing
wrong with a couple of brothers following in a father's footsteps.
(Laughter and applause.)
I told you one of the things I'm running for is to make the country
stronger. A strong country really starts with having a country which
economy is healthy. That's a strong country. If you got a strong
economy, you've got a strong country. It means people are able to
work.
We had a tough time for a while, because the country was in
recession. That means it wasn't growing; it means it was going
backwards. It means employees were wondering whether or not they were
going to be working the next day. It means small business owners are
wondering whether or not they want to invest capital at all. In other
words, you don't grow unless you invest capital. People were nervous
during the recession.
Then we got attacked, and I'm going to talk a little bit about
making America safer. But we got attacked on September 11th. It hurt
our economy. In other words, you're in a recession, then we have an
attack. And the attack cost us a lot. It cost us dollars; it reminded
us that the world has changed dramatically from the world that we
thought we lived in. It was a tough moment in the history of this
country. Yet it was a moment that we were able to overcome, because
the great strength of America is the people of the country. They
refuse to be intimidated by terrorists. The entrepreneurs of our
country, although, set back some, still had that spirit within them,
the desire to grow their businesses and to provide employment
opportunities for people.
Then we discovered something else which hurt us, and that was that
some of our citizens forgot to tell the truth -- that they were given
positions of responsibility and they weren't responsible citizens. And
we uncovered corporate scandals. And we acted, by the way. Instead of
wringing our hands, trying to figure out what to do, we got together
with the Congress, passed tough laws. The message is clear now that we
will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America; that we
expect responsible behavior for those who are in positions of
responsibility.
And then another subject I'll talk about here in a minute, I made
some tough decisions to defend the country. And we went to war.
During a period of war, it's hard for the economy to grow because
people don't feel confident. The concept of war is negative, not
positive. I don't know if you remember, but we used to have on our TV
screens, "March to War," and if you're a small business owner or a big
business owner, when you're thinking you're marching to war, there's a
sense of uncertainty with that. People don't want to invest in an
uncertain environment.
All these became hurdles for our economy; we overcame them. I'm
confident one of the reasons we overcame them is because we cut the
taxes on the people who work in America. We let people keep more of
their own money. (Applause.) I say we overcame them -- you'd expect
me to say that, it's an election year. But others say it, too. After
all, the economy is strong right now, it's growing and getting
stronger. Obviously, there's more to do. But it's growing. Listen,
we added 1.5 million jobs since last August. That's a good sign.
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 5.1 percent. That's good news
for people who are trying to find jobs. Obviously, the unemployment
rate can go lower; we expect it to go lower -- because the
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. Manufacturing is up.
One of the great statistics in America is the fact that more people
-- the homeownership rate in the country is the highest ever. And that
includes amongst minority citizens. I'll tell you why that's great.
It's because when people own something they have a vital stake in the
future of the country. We want people owning things in America. The
idea of somebody owning their own home is just a fantastic part of
making sure the future of the country is a bright and hopeful future.
I mean, I love the idea -- think about people from all walks of
life being able to say, welcome to my home. This is my piece of
property. I own this. And today the homeownership rates are the
highest it's been ever. And I know it's good for the homebuilders.
It's also good for the homeowners. And that's a positive sign. In
other words, times are good. But there's more we can do. There's more
we can do.
Let me tell you one of the -- some of the reasons I have made the
decisions I made on the economy. And the best way to do it is to start
with the Lapp boys. That's what I call them, at least. (Laughter.)
When you cut taxes, it means people have more money to spend. And
first of all, principle one is it's not the government's money, it's
your money to begin with. (Applause.) And the second principle is
that when you have more of your own money to spend, you'll demand an
additional good or a service. And when you do that, somebody has to
produce the additional good or a service. That's the way the
marketplace works. And when somebody produces the additional good or a
service, it means somebody is likely to find a -- keep a job, and as
those additional -- as demand expands, people are going to need to
expand their businesses, in other words, hire more people, in order to
meet the demand. That's how I think the economy works. Others do, as
well. As a matter of fact, that's what the tax relief is showing us,
that the economy works that way.
One of the key components of economic vitality is the small
business sector of America. Now, two points on this. One, most small
businesses, just like Lapp Electrical, pay individual income tax
rates. A lot of Americans don't know that. This company pays taxes at
the individual income tax rate because of what they call a sub-chapter
S corporation. Or many small businesses are what they call sole
proprietorships -- they, too, pay tax at the individual income tax
rate. So when you hear me talk about cutting taxes, it is very
important for people to connect that small businesses. Most small
businesses pay taxes at the individual income tax rate.
Secondly, most new jobs in America are created by small
businesses. Therefore, it makes sense to put economic policy in place
that stimulates the growth in the small business sector. If you're
interested in creating jobs, if you're interested in people being able
to find work, and most jobs are created by small businesses, it makes
sense to have economic policy focus on small businesses. And that's
exactly what our tax relief plan did.
Now, there was a debate in Washington as to who ought to get tax
relief. My attitude is everybody ought to get tax relief. If you're
going to have any tax relief at all, the only fair thing to do is to
give everybody tax relief. I really don't think you want a government
that's fixing to cut tax rates that only these kind of people deserve
it. That means politics is getting to decide. Our policy said, if
you're paying taxes, all rates are reduced. And it's helped Lapp
Electric, and that's important.
I'll tell you why it's important -- because they've added five
workers since January. That's what I'm interested in. I'm interested
in people working. And so I come into this business and the two Lapp
boys say to me, I've added -- we've added five workers. Your tax
relief helped us. It enabled us to grow. And the definition of growth
is five new workers working here. And that's good news -- guess for
who -- the five people that are working. (Applause.)
Part of the tax relief plan also enables people to have what they
call bonus depreciation. In other words, it encourages people to make
investment. And so one of the reasons I came is to try to connect
investment to their decision-making to jobs. Greg and Tim told me
they're going to invest $80,000 this year. Part of it is because they
see a better tomorrow; part of it is because the tax code says if you
do so you'll get a little extra, a little extra help in the tax code.
And they're going to buy new mezzanines, budget trucks and service
vans. That's called investment. In other words, they set aside
$80,000, and they're going to do something with the $80,000.
Now, the way the economy works is that as they make a purchase with
the $80,000, somebody has to manufacture, or fix up, or take care of
the product they're buying -- in this case, a mezzanine, or a bucket
truck, or a service van. Somebody has to make that for them, which
means somebody is going to work as a result of the investment. So when
you hear people say, investment equals jobs, that's what that means.
They're making an investment; somebody has to manufacture the product
that they're purchasing, which means as the economy grows, more people
are going to find work. And the tax relief we passed said to them, if
you make an investment, you get additional tax relief. That's how it
works. That's why the tax relief we passed is so vitally important to
economic vitality and growth. Remember they're a sub-chapter S corp.
This is important because there is talk in Washington about raising
taxes.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes. I know. That's just the way they think
over there sometimes. (Laughter.) In other words, when you hear them
say, tax the rich in order to spend for -- in order to pay for bigger
spending programs, I want people to think about Lapp Electrical.
They're talking about raising the top rates, they're taxing small
businesses. The economy is strong. It's getting stronger. Now is not
the time to be taxing small businesses in America. Now is not the time
to be raising taxes at all. (Applause.)
Here's what Greg said about tax relief: "It helped us pull out of
the lull quicker than we would have." That's positive, isn't it? In
other words, they were in a lull. It's called recession. Actually, in
his case it was like neutral. "Now, we're so ridiculously busy," says
Greg, "that we need to hire more people to get everything done."
That's exciting news. There's a lot of Gregs all over America who are
ridiculously busy that they see a better future, that they're confident
that they're willing to invest $80,000. See, things are getting better
in America. The spirit is strong. The great entrepreneurial spirit of
America is vibrant. And we intend to keep it that way.
With us, as well, is Tim King. Thanks for coming, Tim. Tim is
sitting next to Jenna. He was a telecommunications technician, served
in the United States Air Force, lost his job last year. That's hard
when that happens. It's not easy, wondering what's going to go on.
Fortunately, the economy is growing. Fortunately, things are such that
Lapp Electric was willing to hire Tim. He's gainfully employed here.
In other words, the tax relief not only it encourages nice statistics,
but here's a fellow here whose life that I can say to you directly has
been improved. He said, "It's an excellent work atmosphere here. I
have a larger variety of work to do." He's working here because the
economy is getting better. I think he's working here because the tax
relief we passed has made a difference in stimulating economic growth
and vitality.
I appreciate you letting me use you as an example, and I'm glad
you're back at work. (Applause.) I'm glad you're with us.
There's about 900,000 small business owners in Pennsylvania that
enjoy a lower tax burden, thanks to the work we did. That's good
news. Tax relief also has an effect on American families. A lot of
times in Washington, we just -- well, we seem to overlook what tax
relief has meant for people. We talk about it. But what I like to do
is let people's own stories carry the philosophy.
Tim and Dawn Martin are with us today, from Lancaster. Thank you
for coming. I see you've got your two lads. I appreciate you bringing
them. As you can see, they're a young family -- Nathaniel and Ian.
Because of tax relief, the Martins saved $1,700 off their taxes last
year. Now, I know for a lot of them there in Washington, $1,700
doesn't seem like much. Just ask the Martins what it feels like,
though. That's what matters. It doesn't matter what people think in
Washington. What matters is what these people think. It's their
money. It's $1,700 more in their pocket. Here's what he said. He
said, "It makes us feel more comfortable." That's important. You
know, confidence has a lot to do with whether an economy grows. When
you're comfortable, you're confident, or more likely to be confident.
"We're able to put money aside for our children's future education."
One of the things the Martins know is that their most important
duty, their most important responsibility as a mom or a dad, is to love
their children with all their heart and all their soul. And I
appreciate that spirit of prioritizing your children's education. The
tax relief we passed enables them to do so. It makes a lot of sense.
By the way, part of the tax relief is the fact we raised -- comes
from the fact we raised the child credit to $1,000. Part of it
happened because we created a new 10-percent bracket, and part of it
happened because we're beginning to reduce the negative effects of what
they call the marriage penalty. I've always been slightly perplexed by
why you have a tax code that penalizes marriage. I mean, it seems like
one of the things that we ought to be doing in America is encouraging
marriage, not penalizing marriage. (Applause.)
And all those three tax relief packages are getting ready to
expire. See, Congress passed it, but in order to make the numbers
work, they said, well, some of it will expire. My attitude is it ought
not to expire, because if it expires, it raises taxes on the people
like the Martins. They're comfortable now. They're going to be not so
comfortable when the government gets back in their pocket for some of
the money that they expect is coming their way. I'm calling on the
Congress once again to make sure that these aspects, at the very
minimum, these parts of the tax relief plan, remain permanent, that
they don't go away, that they don't raise the taxes. (Applause.)
No, I'm upbeat about this economy of ours. But my job is not only
to think about today, but it's to think about what life is going to
look like five years from now, or 10 years from now. We have an
opportunity to do some things today to make sure that America is the
most competitive place in the world to do business so that people can
find work. Let me give you a couple of ideas right quick.
First of all, I'm concerned about what health care costs do to
companies like Lapp Electrical. Premiums are going up. There's some
smart things we can do. One, we have passed what's called health
savings accounts, which will enable consumers to be able to save
tax-free and have a better relationship -- for your medical expenses --
and better afford catastrophic care, which, by the way, will keep the
link between patient and doctor intact. (Applause.)
There is a philosophical debate going on in Washington about who is
the best decision-maker for health care. A lot of them up there think
that it's the federal government. Of course, I don't. I think it's
the consumers. I think it's the people. I think it's the patients
that should be empowered to make the decisions for what is best for
them.
I believe in association health plans. This is kind of a fancy
word for allowing small businesses to pool with other small businesses
to be able to spread risk so that their premiums are lower for their
employees. You can't do that today. The federal government needs to
allow Lapp Electrical to team up with the equivalent in Texas so that
there's purchasing power for small businesses. That will enable the
owners of this business to be able to have a more affordable health
insurance for their employees.
Finally, I'll tell you, in order to make sure we've got reasonable
health care costs, we've got to do something about the frivolous and
junk lawsuits. Listen, we're too -- there's too many lawsuits here
that are running up the -- (applause.) These lawsuits -- look, if
you're hurt, you ought to have your day in court, no question about
it. But lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit is running up the cost of
medicine and it's running doctors out of practice. You've got an acute
problem here in Pennsylvania, as you know. I remember coming to your
state and talking to doctors and hearing their stories about not being
able to heal here. And they want to. They want to practice their
trade. They want to help people. But they can't afford to stay.
When I first got to Washington, and I looked carefully at this
issue, as a former governor, I thought it was a state issue, and then I
realized how much it cost our federal government. The defensive
practice of medicine costs the federal government billions because of
-- we're providing a lot of money for Medicare and Medicaid and
veterans' health benefits. These junk lawsuits are costing the
taxpayers once at the state level, and another time at the federal
level. So I decided it was a federal issue and, therefore, called upon
a federal -- for a federal solution.
We got it out of the House. Of course, it's stuck in the Senate.
(Laughter.) Stuck in the Senate. A lot of the tort reform is stuck in
the Senate. I don't think you can be pro-small business and pro-trial
lawyer. You got to pick. I'm pro-small business. (Applause.)
A couple of other points I want to make right quick. In order for
the Lapp Electricals of the world to be able to grow, or any other
business in Pennsylvania to be able to grow, we got to have a
reasonable energy policy. People talk to me about the manufacturing
sector a lot, and, obviously I want manufacturing jobs to be -- to stay
here and for the manufacturing sector to grow -- which it's now doing,
by the way. But it's going to be hard for the country to maintain a
manufacturing base if we don't have reliable supplies of energy.
Imagine trying to run a manufacturing company with sophisticated
equipment, and you're not certain whether or not the electricity you
turn on is going to be available. Remember we had a blackout, and it
wasn't all that long ago. We need to modernize our electricity grids
if we expect to stay competitive.
We're very dependent on foreign sources of oil and natural gas. It
seems like to me it make sense to encourage conservation, to use
research and development to find alternative sources of energy, but
also to use the resources we have in an environmentally-friendly way.
Listen, we got a lot of coal; we need to be burning coal. We got the
ability to find natural gas in our own continent. We can do so in an
environmentally-friendly way. For the sake of economic security, and
for the sake of national security, this country must be wise about its
energy policy and become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
(Applause.)
We have been working on this for a couple of years. It's stuck in
the Senate. Well, actually it's stuck in conference -- that's not
fair. But the Congress needs to get together and get a bill to my
desk. They just need to.
Trade is a big issue. I know people are concerned about trade.
Here's the issue. Most Presidents prior to me agreed that we ought to
open up U.S. markets for foreign goods. You know why? It's good for
consumers. It's good for the American people. If you have more choice
in products, you're bound to get better quality at better price.
That's just the nature of the way the economy works. In other words,
there's more choice for consumers. Prices will be better, as will
quality.
The issue really has been whether or not other countries are
opening up their markets like we have ours. That's the issue, as far
as I'm concerned. And so my job is to say to China, open up your
markets. My job is to say to Europe, open up your markets. And we're
making progress. Just ask the farmers here in Pennsylvania what it's
like in the farm economy today. You know why? We're selling a lot of
farm product overseas. Look, we're good at something, we're good at
growing things, we ought to be selling things everywhere around the
world. My job is to say, open up your markets. If ours is open, yours
needs to be open. Just give us a chance to compete, and America can
out-compete anybody, anytime, anywhere. (Applause.)
And so we've got to reject economic isolationism. It just doesn't
make any sense for the future of this economy of ours. If we want
people working in America, let's be confident. Let's just make sure
the playing field is level, give our workers a chance. We've got the
most productive work force in the world. And a fair chance to compete
means America wins, as far as I'm concerned.
Finally, this economy of ours is also a changing economy. I don't
know if Tim found that or not, but there's different types of jobs that
are now becoming available. And therefore, we better have the ability
to train workers for the jobs which actually exist. A lot of times, we
got great, decent people willing to work, but they don't have the
skill-set necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
I'm thinking about, for example, when I was in North Carolina
seeing textile workers -- there you go. Thank you, sir -- (laughter)
-- seeing textile workers now working in the health care field because
they got the training necessary to change skill-set. And one place to
make sure that this is effective, that we're able to have that job
training effectively, is at the community college system.
Community colleges are available, they're affordable, and the best
thing of all is they're flexible. In other words, when the health care
system of a particular town says, gosh, I need nurses, the community
college ought to say, let me -- design the curriculum with me so I can
train workers. One of the key components of whether or not we're going
to be able to survive in the 21st century is whether we've got a work
force trained for the jobs of the 21st century. And that's the great
challenge of our country. And we've got the assets in place to do it.
I'm willing to put up money from the federal level to see to it that
the community college programs are vibrant and alive and active and
well for training these good folks for the jobs which actually exist.
So here are some ideas as to how to make sure America is
competitive, the best place in the world to do business, the best place
where the entrepreneurial spirit can continue to flourish and be
strong.
I also told you I want to be President again because I want to keep
America safer. That's my solemn duty, is to protect the American
people. It was a solemn duty that really became so evident on
September the 11th, 2001. I mean, the enemy hit us in a way that was
nearly impossible for anybody to dream that they would attack us, using
our own airplanes to kill thousands of innocent people, a sudden
attack. It says a couple of things about the nature of these people.
They are cold-blooded killers. They're not religious people. They've
hijacked a great religion. They think they're religious, but they're
not. Their hearts are filled with evil. They are -- you can't
negotiate with them. There is no peace treaty you can sign with these
kind of people. They've got a dim vision of the world.
I resolved then that I will do whatever it takes to defend
America. My duty is to do everything I can to protect our country. I
called a good man into action named Ridge. You might remember him.
(Applause.) His job is to see to it that the Homeland Security
Department functions well, and he's doing a great job. And it's not
easy. It's not easy. For the first responders who are here -- that
would be your firefighters and your police and your EMS teams -- I
thank you for the job you're doing. We're all working together. We're
on the front lines. (Applause.)
We're communicating better. We're sharing information better.
We've now got the FBI and the CIA sharing information. We've got
divisions within the FBI sharing information. Before September the
11th, we couldn't have the criminal division and the intelligence
division of the FBI even talking to each other about certain cases. No
wonder information slipped through the net. That's why we passed what
they call the Patriot Act.
So -- by the way, let me say something about the Patriot Act.
Nothing happens without court order. The same rules that we're using
to catch drug lords is now -- we're finally starting to apply to
terrorists. It's essential that these tools stay in place if we expect
to be safe.
Anyway, I decided then and there that I'd do everything to defend
the country. So we set up this Department of Homeland Security. But
we got to be 100 percent correct here at home, they got to be right
once. And therefore, the best way, really, to defend the country is to
stay on the offensive; is to find these killers before they get here;
is to use every
asset we have, everything at our disposal to hunt down these
evildoers and bring them to justice, which is exactly what I will
continue to do as your President. (Applause.)
We're making progress. Two-thirds of the known al Qaeda leaders
are -- have been brought to justice, and we're slowly but surely,
methodically, finding them and bringing them to justice. It's hard
work and we've got some really fine people working hard, really fine
people. A lot of them wear the uniform of the United States military.
(Applause.)
Politicians make a lot of promises, I know, and I've tried to do
everything I can to meet them. One of the promises I did make is that
help is on the way. When I -- 2000, Dick Cheney and I were
campaigning, we used to go to see the military -- go to a military base
or talk to military families. Our pledge was, help is on the way.
Help has happened. Our military is strong, vibrant, skilled. They're
getting paid better and they're getting housed better. They're getting
all they need, and that's what they deserve.
Listen, I -- as the Commander-in-Chief, I've got to be able to tell
the husbands and wives and the moms and dads, we're doing everything we
can, everything we can to make sure you've got what you need to help us
do our duty, which is to protect America.
A second lesson in all this business is that when a President says
something, he better mean it. In order to make the world more
peaceful, the President must speak clearly and mean what he says.
(Applause.) I said, if you harbor a terrorist -- I said the first
thing is we will find -- we will stay on the offense and bring al Qaeda
to justice. And then I said if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as
guilty as the terrorist. In other words, I was sending a message to
those who felt like that they could maybe give al Qaeda safe haven and
maybe we would just ignore it. But that's not how you make sure
America is secure. You not only have to deal with al Qaeda and their
affiliates and friends, but you have to say to people, don't provide
safe haven for them. In other words, you got to keep them on the run.
As you might recall, the Taliban in Afghanistan were providing safe
haven for these people. We gave them an ultimatum. They, of course,
didn't believe it. And we went in. And we went in to not only
eliminate the training bases and safe havens for al Qaeda to protect
ourselves, we also went in to liberate the people of Afghanistan from
the Taliban.
These people, as I mentioned to you earlier, are barbaric people.
America weeps when they know that young girls are brutalized by a
government. And that doesn't -- that's not our value system. We care
about human suffering. We're a compassionate country. And we also
understand that when people are free they're going to be peaceful.
And so we did a couple of things in Afghanistan. One, we liberated
the people. Secondly, we got rid of al Qaeda safe havens. And
thirdly, Afghanistan is now on the road to democracy, and Afghanistan
is an ally and a friend in our path to make America more secure.
And then, as you know, I looked at the intelligence and facts and
came to the conclusion that Saddam Hussein was a threat to America.
You see, because the other lesson of September the 11th is when we see
a gathering threat, that we've got to deal with it -- sooner, rather
than later; that we can't hope that a gathering threat just goes away.
That's the lesson of September the 11th.
And, therefore, I went to the United Nations and said, listen, I've
looked at this intelligence and it says he's a threat. I also, during
my talk, reminded them that the guy had actually used weapons of mass
destruction on his own people, and that he had harbored terrorists.
Abu Nidal is a terrorist. As you might recall he killed an American.
This guy Zarqawi got hospital aid there in Baghdad when Saddam Hussein
was in power. He was the guy running a poisons factory in northeast
Iraq. He's still in Iraq. He's the guy killing a lot of innocent
people, ordering suiciders, bragging about it, cutting people's heads
off. He's an al Qaeda affiliate. In other words, it was a safe
haven. And the Congress looked at the very same intelligence I did --
the exact same intelligence and came to the same conclusion -- he's a
threat. Interestingly enough, so did the United Nations.
Remember I went to the United Nations and said, we got a problem
here. As a matter of fact, it's such a problem that I think you
probably have passed over a dozen resolutions saying he's a problem,
and yet nothing has happened. And so I said, why don't we pass one and
really mean what we say. And so with a 15 to nothing vote, the United
Nations Security Council did just that. Fifteen to nothing said, he's
a threat. Disclose, destroy, or face serious consequences, is what the
United Nations said, a collection of nations.
So we all felt the same thing back there. And, of course, Saddam
Hussein defied. And he just ignored what the free world had to say
once again. Now, once you say something, you better mean it. At least
that's the way I think. And we said, serious consequences; we meant
serious consequences. I had a choice to make: Either trust this
madman, who clearly hated America, who had -- was fooling around with
terrorists, who had used weapons of mass destruction, and we had
thought had weapons of mass destruction -- take his word for it, or
defend the country. Given the lessons of September the 11th, I chose
to defend the country. And that's exactly what I would do again.
America -- America is a more secure place because Saddam Hussein is no
longer in power. (Applause.)
The Senate is looking at intelligence failures, and should. We all
ought to welcome an investigation about where we went right and wrong
with our intelligence-gathering. You know why? Because it's important
for a President and the Congress to get the best intelligence possible
in this war against these terrorists. One of the key components of
finding out who is going to hurt us is good intelligence. And there
are a lot of really good people working in our intelligence-gathering,
by the way -- dedicated, solid, fine Americans. They, too, want the
intelligence services to be as effective as possible. So I welcome
their investigation. I really do.
And like members of the Senate and the House, we thought there
would be stockpiles of weapons. We haven't found them yet. We do
know, however, and I just want you to remember, that the man had the
capacity to make weapons. He had the ability to make weapons. He had
the intent and the capability, which is why I say I would have done it
again, because he's a dangerous person.
The work is hard in Iraq right now. It's really hard because we're
trying to take people from a society run by a tyrant to a free
society. We've done this kind of work before, though. I want our
fellow citizens to remember that. After World War II, we helped to
rebuild Germany and Japan. And that wasn't easy. If you go back and
look at the history, you'll find that there was articles written about
how the reconstruction effort wasn't properly planned; why the
societies were still violent; how maybe Japan couldn't conceivably
self-govern because of its past history. There were a lot of skeptics
and pessimists about the ability of liberty to have a transforming
effect on societies. And I can understand that. It's hard work.
But, fortunately, my predecessors didn't listen to the skeptics.
And today, I'm able to sit down with the Prime Minister of Japan and
discuss key issues like North Korea. In other words, a former enemy --
former enemies sit at a table together and say, how can we work to keep
the peace, because there were people that preceded me that had great
faith in the ability of freedom to change societies.
The Iraqi people want to be free. We got a good leader there named
Allawi. He's a tough guy. He's a strong guy. He's dedicated to a
pluralistic, self-governing society. He's courageous enough to get
them there. He just needs America to stand by his side. The
terrorists have got -- they've got an advantage over us -- they don't
have hearts, and we do. They kill in the hope that we -- our hearts
will be so full with sorrow, like they are every time, that we'll
forget our promise, and that we'll leave. We're not leaving. We will
stand -- (Applause.)
Let me tell you an interesting story. I'm probably going on -- am
I going on too long? (Laughter.) Either Laura or Jenna will give me
the hook. (Laughter.) Let me tell you an interesting story. They
said that they've got some people from Iraq coming to see you. The
door opens up in the Oval Office --which, by the way, is a fantastic
place. (Laughter.) It's a shrine to democracy; it's a powerful
office. Just being in there is such an honor. And in walk seven
people who have had their right hands cut off by Saddam Hussein. These
were small business guys. And not only did they have their right hands
cut off, they had X's carved on their foreheads by the Hussein
henchmen.
The currency of the country had devalued and he needed a
scapegoat. So he found seven small merchants to blame the currency
devaluation on and punished them by cutting off their right hands. I
asked one guy, "Well, why you?" He said, well, he was a jeweler, and
he sold dinars to buy -- I think it was either dollars or euros so he
could get gold to use as a product for his jewelry. And they round him
up. Of course, no jury, no press looking after human rights, nothing.
He cut off seven hands off.
Interestingly enough, a documentary was made of these seven guys,
and the documentary was seen by a Houston newsman named Marvin
Zindler. He is the -- I don't know if you ever saw "The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas," the play. He's the guy, the newsman, that
discovered this place in central Texas. Anyway, famous in Texas, at
least. (Laughter.) But he started a foundation years ago to help
people. And he saw the story and he flew them over.
And so these seven guys walk in with new hands, as well, because in
Houston they had been outfitted because of the compassion of this
American. In other words, what a contrast, isn't it -- the brutality
of a tyrant, and the compassion of an individual citizen.
And they came in and one guy took a new hand -- they're just
learning to use their hands -- and he wrote "God Bless America" in
Arabic -- I nearly broke out in tears right there, it was such an
emotional -- I said, "Welcome to the Oval Office." I said, "I'm glad
you're here." I said, "You don't have to worry about America. When we
say we're going to do something, we'll do it, and we will stand with
you so your children can grow up in a free society, which will make us
more secure."
See, a free Iraq, free societies in the Middle East are in the
long-term interest of America. In the short-term, we get after them
with every asset we got. In the long-term, we defeat terror and
darkness with the light of democracy and freedom. That's what we
believe. Look what happened in Japan and Germany. And I'm telling you
it can happen. Anyway, I told these guys, I said, it's good you're in
the Oval Office, because I want to tell you something about our
society. The office of the President is bigger than the person. This
is a great place to meet because it's a chance to remind you that in
your new country, when you survive, the institutions you put in place
will be bigger than the people, and therefore, your society will be
stable and you're more likely to be free.
Now, finally, I want your vote because I want to make America a
better place, a better place. There's a lot of ways we can do so. I
want to make sure the education system works well. I'm telling you,
the No Child Left Behind Act is a good piece of legislation. We spent
more money than we ever have at the federal level. At the same time,
we said we trust local people to make decisions for their schools, and
we did something else that I thought was very wise. We said, show us
the results. For, too often we just spend money and hope for the
best. And guess what would happen? Kids whose parents didn't speak
English as a first language just get shuffled through the system -- the
hard to educate, inner-city kids, just move them through. Maybe
they'll learn, maybe they won't. That's not good enough for the 21st
century, and it's certainly not good enough for me.
And so we've raised the bar. And we said, you're going to get more
money, but now you're going to devise accountability tests to show us
whether the kids can learn to read, for example. We want every child
reading at grade level by the third grade. That's what we want,
right? Seems like a reasonable national goal to me. That's not too
hard to ask in America, to say, how about just reading at the 3rd grade
level? And if you don't, there will be remedial help, and the parents
will get more choice. In other words, there needs to be
accountability.
And it's working. We've raised the bar. We're saying, show us
whether or not the kids can read and write and add and subtract. We're
paying for curriculum that works. Listen, some reading programs work,
some of them don't. You know what I'm talking about. And the best way
to determine whether yours does is to measure. And that's what we're
doing with local control of schools. See, we called it the No Child
Left Behind Act. That's exactly what I mean. I don't want any
children left behind in America. I want everybody to be able to
realize their full potential. And so a better America is going to come
when our public schools get better, and they are. They are.
Another way to make sure America is a better place is to surround
people with love. The government is not a loving organization,
however. (Laughter.) Government is law and justice. Love comes from
the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens. Love is found in our
churches and mosques and synagogues. Love is found in those kind of
daily acts of kindness that take place all the time, not because of
governmental law, because many times because of a higher law. And it
happens in America every single day. The strength of this country is
the hearts and souls of the American people. And a President must
understand that. In order to be -- (applause.)
And so we started what I call the Community and Faith-based
Initiative, which says we're going to open up federal monies to
application for grants from faith-based organizations. I mean, if you
want somebody to quit drinking, sometimes you have to change his heart,
and therefore, change his behavior. (Applause.) Not every time. It
doesn't have to happen every time, but a lot of times. You change a
person's heart, good chance they're going to change their behavior.
And faith-based organizations are pretty good at changing hearts.
That's why they exist, isn't it?
And so government must be willing to allow faith-based programs to
access federal money, without causing the faith-based programs to
change their mission. How can you practice to be a faith-based program
if you cannot practice your faith? And so what I'm telling you is, is
that part of a changing and better America is for government to
understand -- or for the person, for the President to understand the
true strength of the country and be willing to rally that strength.
We're going to change America one heart at a time, one soul at a
time, because the American people are so loving and so caring and so
decent. And one of my jobs is to call upon that decency and to rally
the armies of compassion.
Listen, I am honored that you came out and given me a chance to
share with you my vision for a safer, stronger, better America. I'm
here to ask you for the vote. I'm working for the vote, because I have
something to do. I've got a reason to serve. There are things I want
to do to make this country the greatest country it can possibly be.
It's a honor to serve America. Thank you for coming, and may God bless
you all. (Applause.)