THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. It's nice to be back in Arkansas.
Thank you for that great hospitality. You know, when I was governor
you used to let me come across the river sometimes. (Laughter.) That
is, governor of Texas. And it's good to be back. I'm so honored to be
in this fine state with so many citizens. I'm here to give you kind of
a sense about how things are going, at least from my perspective.
Before I do I want to thank Senator Hutchinson for his hard work on
behalf of the people of Arkansas, and I want to thank him for his
friendship. (Applause.) I appreciate so very much Senator Blanche
Lincoln being here, as well. Thank you for coming, Senator Lincoln,
I'm honored to have you here. (Applause.) Congressman Boozman from up
north is here. Thank you for being here, John, I'm glad you're here.
(Applause.)
I hope they're here to get some of this update and not because they
want a free ride back to Washington. (Laughter.) By the way, it's a
nice way to travel I want you to know. I've known you're Governor for
a long time. I'm proud to call him friend. I'm really -- I know
you're grateful for the job he's doing as the Governor of this
important state, and I want to thank him -- (applause.)
Mike's invited me to his church today; I'm going out there to talk
about the need to be compassionate for people who hurt. And I can't
wait to go. Mike, I want to thank you for the invitation for -- to
give me a chance to herald the great faith that exists throughout our
country and the importance of faith in the lives of our citizens, and
the importance of faith to make sure our nation is as strong and as
decent and as hopeful in every neighborhood as conceivably possible.
(Applause.)
And I appreciate Tommy Thompson traveling with us today. Tommy is
the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a friend of mine, as
well. He's the former governor of Wisconsin, who understands that
welfare needs to help people help themselves. Tommy is doing a
fantastic job as our Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(Applause.)
Not on our traveling team is the most popular person in my family,
the First Lady of the United States. (Applause.) I know, the same
thing happened to my Dad. (Laughter.) But Laura was recently here in
Arkansas. She's talking about her passions of education and helping
people. And when I asked her to marry me, she was a public school
librarian in Texas, and she didn't particularly care for politicians or
politics. And here she is, First Lady of the United States. Thank
goodness, for the country. She's doing a great job. (Applause.)
The family's doing well. Barney, the dog, is in great shape.
(Laughter.) Spot, the dog, who was born at the White House when Mother
and Dad were there, is getting a little up in the years, but she's
doing well, too. She's used to the confines of the South Lawn. And I
invite her every morning into the Oval Office with me to start my day.
Kind of in the southern tradition, I'm an early morning person. I get
there about 10 until 7:00 a.m. every morning, and Spot makes herself
comfortable on the new carpet. (Laughter.) That's why Barney's not
invited in in the morning. (Laughter.) But we're doing great.
And before I begin the state of our union, or at least how I see it
right now, I want to thank all of you for your prayer. Many people in
this state and around our nation give the President the greatest gift a
President could receive, and that is prayer. And it's a
(applause). It's not a Republican prayer, it's not a Democrat prayer.
It's a prayer that's far greater than politics, and I know that. And I
want to thank you for that, and I want to thank you for praying for our
nation, as well, because we've got some challenges ahead of us.
And there are some truths to the challenges we face. What's
interesting is that we've been at war for nine months. And that's a
short time in the -- generally, in the history of war. It seems like a
long time to some. But not much time has passed, really, when you
think about it. And we're making good progress, though, we are. We've
got -- we're learning a lot. We're learning that there are people that
hate America because of our -- the fact that we love freedom.
That's what we've learned.
I remember some children asking me, how can we be attacked? Who
would want to hurt America? And the answer is, people that can't stand
freedom. They hate the thought of a nation being tolerant about
religion. They can't stand that we're allowed to worship freely in
America. That bothers them. It bothers them that we can have good,
open and honest political discourse. It bothers them we've got a free
press. It bothers them that we are the beacon to freedom, so when
people look around the world for what freedom means, they look to
America, and that bothers them.
We've learned that this enemy is nothing but a bunch of
cold-blooded killers -- (applause) -- cold-blooded killers who hijack a
religion. That's what we've learned. We've learned they're pretty
resourceful and pretty devious. They'll hide in a cave, thinking that
we'll quit. They're willing to send youngsters to their death, while
they themselves, are taking care of their own. That's who we're
dealing with. And they're patient, and they're still determined --
they're still determined. They've still got an army out there. Oh,
it's not the kind of army we're used to when you think about war;
certainly not the army that fought on the continent of Europe. Just,
as you know, I was honored to go to Normandy -- what an unbelievable
sight that is, by the way. And for all the World War II vets who are
here, thanks from the bottom of our collective hearts for securing our
freedom. (Applause.)
We've learned that the new enemy -- the enemy of the new wars of
the 21st century, they don't have lines of defense, they kind of meld
into society. They take advantages of either weakness or freedom.
That's what we've learned. And it's good to know that, it's good to
know that. And they've learned some stuff about us. They've learned
we're pretty tough when people come after America. (Applause.)
They've learned that when it comes to defending our freedom, we'll
defend it with all our might. That's what they've learned. They've
learned that we love freedom, and it is non-negotiable, our love for
freedom. (Applause.)
They have learned that the United States has got a great military.
(Applause.) They have learned that America is grateful for those who
wear our -- the uniform of our military. And they've also learned that
this is an administration that understands anytime with commit any of
our young to battle, they deserve the best pay, the best equipment, the
best training possible. (Applause.)
The enemy probably thought that we were such a weak society, so
materialistic and self-absorbed, that when they attacked that all we
would do is file a couple of lawsuits. (Laughter.) They've learned
that that's not the way we think, that we're resolved.
Much to their chagrin, they've learned that we're a patient nation,
that the people of this country understand what I know -- that this
struggle for freedom is going to take a while. As a matter of fact,
there is no -- there's not a calendar that says it's got to quit by
such and such a moment, that if things aren't wrapped up by this
election or this Super Bowl, or this World Series, that we're just
going to fold up and go on home; that we're a patient people. That the
American people understand that some days there will be moments of
great drama on the TV screens, and sometimes there's going to be, you
know, kind of a lull in the action. And that -- that we understand
that.
And that's important in this war, that American people much to
the chagrin of the enemy and much to the delight of a grateful
President understand that we face a new threat, the likes of which
we've never seen before, and that we will do what it takes to win the
war.
If there's a cave that needs to be searched, we'll search it. If
there's a country that needs to hear again and again you're either with
us or you're against us, they'll hear it. (Applause.) We're on an
international manhunt. And you just need to know, my fellow citizens,
that even though it may not be prominent in the news, I think about
defending this country every day, and that we're after them, one person
at a time.
Anybody who thinks they're going to hurt America is going to be
hunted down. The best way to defend -- (applause) -- the best way to
defend this country, the best way for me to do my most important job,
which is to protect innocent Americans, is to go on the offense and
chase them down one by one, and bring them to justice, which is
precisely what America is going to do. (Applause.)
And we learned that we've got some work to do at home, that we can
do a better job of defending the American people, which we are going to
do. We know we've got to do a better job on our borders, understanding
who's coming into the country, and who's leaving, and why they're here,
and why they haven't left. We know that we need to do a better job of
that, in order to defend the homeland. (Applause.)
We know we've got to make sure we're ready for whatever happens. I
want to thank the police and the fire and the emergency workers here in
the state of Arkansas for the important job you do -- (applause) -- and
let you know that part of our strategy is to make sure we've got a
first responders initiative and strategy that will make the homeland
more secure. We know we need to do that, and we're doing that.
We've got to make sure that we get the best intelligence possible.
In this new war, against this shadowy enemy, it's very important that
we gather as much intelligence as we can. We need to know what they're
thinking, and what they're planning on doing before they do something.
That's the best way.
And we also know that at home we need to do a change, and are now
changing, our law enforcement agencies from -- to a new strategy, one
that not only chases down criminals and arrests them, but a strategy
which works to prevent further attacks. So when you read about the
FBI, I want you to know that the FBI is changing its culture. The FBI
prior to September 11th was running down white-collar criminals -- and
that's good -- was worrying about spies -- that's good. But now
they've got a more important task, and that is to prevent further
attack. And so the FBI is changing, and they're doing a better job of
communicating with the CIA. They're now sharing intelligence.
My point to you is that whether it be at your airports or on a
border, or law enforcement, the whole mission of the federal
government, working in conjunction with the state and local
governments, is to protect the American people. (Applause.)
The enemy also knows that I'm really serious when it comes to
routing out harm before it hits America. I don't know whether that's
good or bad they know that, but they're learning that. They're also
learning we're the kind of team that does what we say we're going to
do. So when I said the other day that I'm concerned about these
countries which develop weapons of mass destruction, and we know they
hate America, and I intend to bring the diplomatic pressure or the
pressure of the world, and if need be, act, I mean it.
History has called this nation into action. History has put the
spotlight on America. History is going to write, did this country, in
its position -- unique position in the world, did we blink in the face
of terror, or were we willing to lead the world to a more free and
civilized society? And as far as I'm concerned, there's only one
answer to that question, and that answer is, this great country will
lead the world to a more safe and secure and free society. (Applause.)
No, this nation is plenty patient and plenty tough. And we're
ready, we're ready. But you know what else I've learned? That out of
evil can come some incredible good. Out of evil, out of the evil done
to our country, we have a chance to not only keep the peace -- and I
want the youngsters here to know, that when you hear about fighting,
it's because we want the world to be peaceful. Our goal is peace. We
never have sought revenge. This great country seeks justice.
(Applause.) And we want you to be living in a world that is peaceful,
so when you grow up, you can feel freedom, and be free.
But also at home, we have a chance to show out of evil can come
some incredible good. People say to me, what can I do to join this
great country in the war on terror? And my answer is, love a neighbor
like you'd like to be loved yourself. If you want to fight evil, do
some good. (Applause.)
You want to fight evil, help somebody who needs some help. And
those acts can be great acts, or they can be small acts. But they all
add up. Our society can be saved one heart and one soul, one
conscience at a time. And I recognize while one person can't do
everything, one person can do something to make a difference in
somebody's life. (Applause.)
You've seen how people have taken a look at their own lives and at
their own soul since 9/11. You've seen moms and dads recognize their
most important job, if they happen to have a child, is to love their
children, and remind them they love them. That's part of a
compassionate society. There are people all across this country who
are -- who hear a call to help somebody. It's not a government-issued
call, really, when you think about it, it's a call of conscience and a
call of heart. All the President can say, if you want to help, please
help, and I do that all the time. We've got the USA Freedom Corps,
Peace Corps, ways to help -- and AmeriCorps. And today we've got with
us Brenda Ross, who's a USA Freedom Corps honoree, full-time AmeriCorps
VISTA volunteer. She works in making sure people who need food get
food. She's working in Boys and Girls Clubs. I don't know where
Brenda is, but anyway, she is part of the soldiers in the armies of
compassion. (Applause.)
And you can join that army of compassion, too, by mentoring a
child. I told you, we're going to Huckabee's church excuse me,
Governor Huckabee's church I call him Huckabee. (Laughter.) This
is a church which is helping welfare recipients learn a skill so they
can work. There's nothing more there's no more there's no better
way to earn dignity than to work. And this church understands that.
(Applause.)
We can fight terror by feeding people who are hungry. We can fight
terror by loving the lonely. We can fight terror by insisting every
child learns to read. We can fight terror by doing good. And that's
happening all across America.
The great strength of this country is not really our military. The
great strength of the country is the people of America. The great
strength of the country lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens,
people who are willing to serve something greater than materialism and
selfishness; people who are willing to serve something greater than
yourself.
You know, that really came home to me most vividly on Flight 93.
Think about that: People got on airplanes, they're flying across the
country. And all of a sudden, the call comes and says, you're airplane
is going to be used as a weapon. And so they tell their loved ones
they love them; they said a prayer; they took the plane to the ground
to save somebody else's life. You see, it's that sense of serving
something greater than yourself that we all can do, that we all can do
-- by showing compassion and decency and love.
And as a result, we will show the world the true strength of
America. We're going to keep the peace by being strong militarily, and
by doing our job. And we will win the war by being a compassionate,
decent, honorable nation.
It is such an honor -- such an honor -- to be the President of such
a grand country. Thanks for giving me the chance. May God bless you
all. May God bless America. (Applause.)