For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 24, 2002
Remarks by the President at Charlotte, North Carolina Welcome
Charlotte Coliseum
Charlotte, North Carolina
9:35 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. I'm glad to be back in
North Carolina, and thanks for such a warm welcome. (Applause.) I
want to talk about some things that are important. I want to talk
about the future of this great country. We've got some tough tasks
ahead of us. No question in my mind we can accomplish anything we set
our mind to; we're the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.
(Applause.)
I want to talk to you about how to make our country safer,
stronger, and better. And one way to do so is to send Elizabeth Dole
to the United States Senate. (Applause.) There is no question in my
mind she is the right person for the job for North Carolina.
(Applause.)
The senior Senator from North Carolina is retiring after a lot of
good years of service to our country. I admire his service --
(applause.) No finer gentleman in the United States Senate. He
represented North Carolina well. He's a credit to our country. And
the right person to follow Senator Jesse Helms is soon to be Senator
Elizabeth Dole. (Applause.)
She married well, and so did I. The truth of the matter is,
Senator Dole -- the male Senator Dole -- and I married above
ourselves. Laura sends her best. I just talked to her on the phone.
She's on our -- she wishes she could be here. She's on our ranch in
Texas. It's been raining, so she needs to sweep the porch, because the
President of China is coming tomorrow. (Laughter.)
But she's doing great. She sends her love to Elizabeth, her best
to all the candidates. She sends her best to all the friends of ours
in North Carolina. I'm really proud of the job she's done on behalf of
the American people. (Applause.)
I want to thank you all for coming, because it gives me a chance to
thank you for what you have done, and for what you're going to do. And
what I hope you do, and I think you're going to do, is go to your
coffee shops and your places of worship and your community centers, and
remind people that in America they have a duty to vote; that in this
country -- (applause) -- that in this country there is a
responsibility that comes with being a United States citizen. We
expect you to vote. We expect you to do your duty. And by the way,
when you're reminding them to vote, you might make a couple of
suggestions. (Laughter.)
One suggestion is Elizabeth Dole. (Applause.) When you're getting
on the telephone and when you're putting up the signs and when you're
mailing the mailers, the grassroots that makes a difference in an
election, make sure you do so -- if you're living in Robin Hayes'
district -- to send Robin Hayes back to the United States Congress.
(Applause.)
I appreciate Robin. I appreciate talking to him; I appreciate his
firm stands on national security. And he's kind of wearing me out when
it comes to jobs in North Carolina. (Laughter.) He cares deeply about
the people in his district and the people of this state. He cares
deeply about making sure people can find work. And I appreciate his
deep concern. I appreciate working with him to make sure our economy
continues to grow.
With us today, as well, is Congressman Cass Ballinger. He's
another friend. He's another good one you sent up to the United States
Congress from the state of North Carolina. (Applause.) And I'm real
proud of Sue Myrick. She's done a great job. (Applause.) She's a
fine soul. She's got those North Carolina values etched in her heart,
and she represents you well in the United States Congress. I want to
wish Carolyn Grant all the best, and hope for the folks in her district
realize she is the best candidate for the United States Congress.
(Applause.)
I'm thankful for the Mayor being here. Mr. Mayor, thanks for your
time. (Applause.) You've got a -- a couple of your relatives showed
up, Mayor. (Laughter.)
You've got a lot of great candidates running for your court,
particularly the Supreme Court. And I hope, as you're getting out to
work, you make sure you've got a bench that is strong, a bench where
people aren't on there to legislate, but to interpret the Constitution
of the state of North Carolina. (Applause.)
And speaking about benches, another reason we need Elizabeth Dole
in the Senate, besides the fact that she's going to do a great job for
North Carolina, is I've got to have United States senators who will
work with me to make sure our federal judiciary is strong. The record
-- (applause.) I'm picking good people to be judges, good, solid,
honorable people to be the judges on the federal judiciary; people who
will strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States. Not
people who will use the bench to write new legislation. (Applause.)
And the record of this United States Senate is a lousy record.
(Applause.) They have politicized the process. They have distorted
the records of many of our good candidates we put forward. They're
playing petty politics with the candidates that I put up there. We're
not getting a hearing fast enough. The percentage of judges is the
worst in modern history, percentage of judges approved. And that's not
right.
Let me tell you about one, Terry Boyle from North Carolina, I
nominated for the 4th Circuit Court. I nominated him a long while
ago. He can't even get a hearing. For the sake of a good, sound
judiciary, we need to change the United States Senate, and you can
start by electing Elizabeth Dole to the Senate. (Applause.)
You got a good shot if you go out and vote and you work hard to
capture the legislature. And that's important. So I'm here not only
to tout the candidacies of some fine people, but I'm here to thank you
-- thank you for getting to -- getting ready to get to work. We're
coming down the stretch. Candidates can't win without you. So do your
duty. Convince your neighbors to do their duty. And by the way, make
sure you not only talk to Republicans, but talk to some Democrats.
Some of these Democrats understand the difference between good
government and bad government. They know the difference between a good
candidate and a bad candidate. They know the difference between plain
talk and -- and somebody who is going to cloud up the issues. And
also find those who don't give a hoot about a political party, and turn
them out to vote. It's the right thing for America to do that.
(Applause.)
I appreciate so very much Elizabeth's focus on education. I share
the same focus. We share the same philosophy. It starts with the
belief that every child can learn. That's an important distinction.
It's important to have that ingrained in your heart. If you believe
every child can learn, it means you're going to insist upon high
standards and high expectations. It means you're willing to challenge
what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. If you lower the
bar, if you believe certain children can't learn, if you believe
certain inner-city kids can't possibly learn, if you believe children
whose parents may not speak English as a first language can't learn,
then you're willing to have low standards and low expectations. And
that's not right for America.
Secondly, Elizabeth and I not only believe you ought to set high
standards, we believe in local control of schools. ((Applause.) We
believe that you got to trust the local folks. Listen, the people who
care more about the children of North Carolina are the people of North
Carolina -- not people living in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
We're spending federal money on education. As a matter of fact,
North Carolina will receive $1 billion of federal monies. And that's
good. And it's monies targeted to people who need help. But for the
first time, we're starting to ask the question, are we getting a return
on our dollar spent?
See, for the first time the United States Congress has said, for
money spent, we expect every child to learn because we believe every
child can learn. Therefore, you got to show us whether or not the
children can read and write and add and subtract. And if not --
first of all, if so, we'll heap praise where it belongs. And that's on
your teachers and your parents and your principals who are working hard
to make sure there's a quality education for every child. But if the
accountability system shows that there are children trapped in schools
which will not teach and will not change, you better make sure you've
got public representatives who are willing to challenge the status
quo. No child should be left behind in America. (Applause.)
I look forward to working with Elizabeth on education matters,
based upon the philosophy I just outlined. I look forward to working
with her to make sure medicine works. Listen, medicine has changed;
Medicare hadn't. Medicine is modern; Medicare is stuck. And yet it's
an incredibly important program. It's a promise which we have made to
our seniors. It's a promise that we must keep for the sake of having a
stronger America and a better America. I look forward to working with
Elizabeth Dole to make sure that Medicare is modern just like medicine,
and the seniors have got a prescription drug plan. (Applause.)
We share the same view that if somebody is looking for work in
America, and can't find a job, that we need to do everything we can to
increase jobs in America, that we ought to be thinking about pro-growth
policies. Pro-growth so people can find work; not pro-growth so the
federal government expands. Pro-growth so that the person here in
North Carolina who's looking for work is able to put food on the
table. That's what we want. And one way to do that is to let people
keep more of their own money. (Applause.)
We read from the same textbook. It says, if a person has more
money in their pocket, he or she is more likely to demand a good or a
service. And when somebody demands a good or a service in our society,
in the marketplace, somebody is more likely to produce the good or a
service. And when somebody produces that good or a service, somebody
in North Carolina, or elsewhere in America, is more likely to find
work.
The best way to invigorate a sluggish economy, the best way to make
sure that people are able to find work, is to let people keep more of
their own money. The tax cuts that Elizabeth Dole supports will
provide -- (applause) -- will provide the people of North Carolina
over the next 10 years $28 billion in income tax and death tax relief,
$4.5 billion in child credit relief, $1.8 billion in marriage penalty
relief. Billions of dollars over the next 10 years to be in your
pocket so you can decide what to do with it, so you can help invigorate
the economy by just doing what you normally do, which is demand a good
or a service. (Applause.)
But the issue is alive and well because there are some in
Washington that do not want to make the tax relief plan we put in place
permanent. See, it's temporary. I need a United States senator to
join me -- with me to make sure that tax relief is permanent. How
can you plan if tax relief is temporary? How can you run your small
business if you're not sure what the tax rules are going to be? It
doesn't make any sense to say, on the one hand, we giveth; on the other
hand, we taketh away. We need a United States Senate that will make
the tax relief permanent. (Applause.)
I know it makes some of them nervous up there to hear us talking
about that. But they've got to understand that small business is the
engine of economic vitality for America. Seventy percent of new jobs
are created by small businesses. We want the entrepreneurial spirit to
flourish. We want small businesses to be able to grow to be big
businesses. And one way you do so is you let them keep more money in
their pocket. That's how you encourage small business growth. And by
cutting the individual tax rates, which most small businesses pay
because they're sole proprietorships or limited partnerships, we are
invigorating the small business sector of America. (Applause.)
I believe this economy is going to be fine, because interest rates
are low, inflation is low, and productivity is high. It's also going
to be fine because the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America.
That dream is a big dream for people. Today we've got with us David
and Helen Marie Berthold. They started their own business. It's
called Ehren-Haus Industries. It's a plastics and wire company. They
had a dream; they wanted to own their own business, they wanted to make
employment opportunities available in North Carolina. They worked hard
to build up their own business, and they're pretty darn good about it,
by the way. David and Marie won the 2001 Entrepreneurial Award from
the Chamber of Commerce. Marie is the National Association of Women
Business Owners Woman of the Year. They know what they're doing.
But let me tell you what they're worried about. They're worried
about over-regulation. They see reams of regulations coming out of
these bureaucracies at the federal and state level. I look forward to
working with Elizabeth Dole to make it easier for small businesses to
prosper, not harder for small businesses to prosper, by reducing
unnecessary regulations. (Applause.)
Let me tell you what else they're worried about -- and so am I.
They're worried that they're not going to be able to leave their
business to their family. If you're a farmer, or you're a rancher, or
you're a small business owner, the death tax is an incredibly punitive
tax. See, people work all their life to build up their small business,
like David and Helen Marie have done. You've got farmers here in North
Carolina worked all their life to build up their farms, and then want
to leave it to their child. But the death tax oftentimes prevents
people from doing that. It means a person's assets are taxed twice.
It means the federal government gets in between the owner of the asset
and the person they want to leave it to.
You need to have a United States senator who speaks plainly on how
bad the death tax is to America, and make sure that the death tax is
repealed forever. (Applause.)
Let me talk about one other issue right quick, about domestic
policy. And I worry about the cost of health care, and I'm worried
about the accessibility of health care. And one reason the cost of
health care is up, and one reason there's fewer doctors practicing
medicine is because there's too many junk and frivolous lawsuits
hurting our docs. (Applause.) We want people to have access to the
courts, but you can't have access to the courts when you've got
frivolous lawsuits filed all over the place. And you've got docs being
run out of business.
I was in Mississippi the other day, and I was talking to a young
doctor who had moved down to the Delta. He followed his heart. He and
his wife moved to the Delta from up north because they wanted to help
people who couldn't help themselves with medicine. The lawsuits, the
trial lawyers have made it so hard for this guy to practice
compassionate medicine; he said, I've had it, I'm moving back home.
Listen, we can have a health care system that's responsive. We
need a legal system that takes care of people who are injured. But we
need a law at the federal level, a medical liability reform law that
prevents the plaintiff's attorneys of America from driving up health
care costs and driving good people out of medicine. (Applause.)
No, there's a lot of work we're going to do together to make sure
that America is a stronger place, make sure the economy goes forward,
make sure people get educated. We've also got to make sure America is
a secure place, safer place. It's the biggest challenge we have right
now in America, is to protect the homeland.
You've just got to know that there's an enemy out there lurking
around which hates America. They just do. And they hate us because of
what we love. We love freedom, is what we love. We love to be able to
worship an Almighty any way we see fit in America. (Applause.) We
value our elections -- although the candidates may be getting a
little tired of it. We value open discourse. We value a free press.
We value freedom. And so long as we love freedom there's going to be
an enemy out there which hates what we love. You've just got to
understand that.
We're in a new era. Oceans no longer protect us. After September
11th, 2001, we learned a harsh lesson here in America that reality has
changed. It used to be when we were coming up or when we were younger
that two oceans could protect us. And there would be conflict
overseas, and the United States had the luxury of picking and choosing
whether or not we wanted to participate in the conflict. We had that
luxury. But it's changed. And America must understand it has
changed. No longer can we assume oceans will protect us. As a matter
of fact, quite the contrary. We must assume that the enemy is coming,
and we've got to do everything we can to protect the homeland.
That's why I started talking about the issue of Iraq. In the new
reality we must view all threats -- we must take all threats
seriously. We must have a cold, hard look at every threat facing
America. And the man over there in Iraq is a threat. After all he has
gassed his own people. (Applause.) He hates what we stand for. He
hates what America believes in. He has not only gassed his own people,
he used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. He's used
weapons of mass destruction on countries in his neighborhood. He has
told the world he won't have weapons of mass destruction; for 11 years
he's lied. Time and time and time again, he has lied. Time and time
and time again, the United Nations has passed resolutions telling him,
disarm. He's totally ignored the resolutions.
So here is our strategy. Our strategy is to make it clear to the
United Nations, we want you to be effective. We don't want you to be
the League of Nations. We want you to be an effective United Nations.
It's your choice to make. (Applause.) We're sending a clear message to
Mr. Saddam Hussein, we believe in peace in America. We want the world
to be peaceful, not only for ourselves, but for people in your
neighborhood. And so you must disarm. You said you would disarm, and
you must disarm. It's your choice to make.
We have made the call to the international community and to Mr.
Saddam Hussein, himself, to disarm. But, my friends, if the United
Nations won't act, if they're feeble in their responsibility, and if
Saddam Hussein won't disarm, the United States will lead a coalition in
the name of peace to disarm Saddam Hussein. (Applause.)
That's our responsibility. That's my responsibility to see as
clearly as I can see, to anticipate true threats to our homeland and
deal with them -- deal with them in a way that enables me to tell you
that I'm doing everything I can -- or we're doing everything we can
-- to protect the people. That's our most important responsibility.
(Applause.)
There is a lot of good people -- there is a lot of good people
working hard on your behalf; people at the federal level, people at the
state level, people at the local level, a lot of people. See, we're on
alert. We understand the realities. We remember and we're not
forgetting what took place. We saw what happened in Indonesia. We
understand the people we're dealing with. There's no therapy, by the
way, that can heal these people. These are cold-blooded killers.
That's all they are. (Applause.)
And so, therefore, we got to do everything we can here at home to
button up the homeland. So I asked the Congress to join me in setting
up a department of homeland security. A department that's -- whose
job it is to make sure that number one priority of agencies involved
with the homeland security is just that -- is your protection. We
need people under one agency, I felt, because in order to make sure
that that becomes the number one priority, that some cultures within
agencies need to change. And we could effect a cultural change better
if there was one agency involved with your protection.
We're making some progress. The House voted a good bill. And the
Senate is stuck. The Senate hasn't gotten a homeland security bill.
They're arguing over things. As a matter of fact they said, we'll get
you one, Mr. President, but you got to pay a price. And here's the
price they wanted me to pay: They want to roll back an authority that
every President since John F. Kennedy has had, which will allow me to
suspend some work rules for the sake of national security.
See, I need to have that capacity, like every President since John
Kennedy has had, to say that it's in our national interest that certain
work rules be suspended. Not that we're going to suspend collective
bargaining rights; not that people can't accumulate the way they see
fit; but that certain rules which may get in the way of our ability to
protect America need to be suspended. I'll give you an example.
We thought it was important for Customs agents to wear radiological
detection devices. After all, if you're worried about weapons of mass
destruction coming into America, you want your Customs people to have a
device that will help detect weapons of mass destruction. The union
heads said, wait a minute, you can't make these people wear that.
That's an issue over which we must have collective bargaining.
See, because I had the power to suspend the rules, after four
months' discussion, we got it done. But the Senate is stuck. They're
more interested in some special interests up there. And I'm not going
to stand for it. It's not right for America. (Applause.) I need to
be able to put the right people at the right place at the right time to
protect America, and Elizabeth Dole will be a strong ally. (Applause.)
The best way to protect America, however, is to hunt the killers
down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. (Applause.) And we're
making progress. But it's a different kind of war. Used to you could
measure progress based upon the number of tanks that no --
were out of commission, or number of airplanes you shot down.
These people we fight are people who hide in caves, or lurk around
the dark corners of parts of the world, and send youngsters to their
suicidal death. See, that's the new kind of army we face. And they're
tough. They're not as tough as we are, but they're tough.
(Applause.) They hide. You got to understand when you explain this to
your children -- it's important you do, and -- or people who are
questioning why this is going on -- you've got explain to them that
here in America we value life. Everybody counts. Everybody is a
precious soul. But they, the enemy, they don't value life. They've
hijacked a great religion and they murder. Innocent life doesn't
matter to them. It just doesn't count. It doesn't -- it's just not
on their radar screen.
And there's a difference. And therefore, we fight a determined
enemy. But the only way to deal with them is to keep our coalition
strong and to hunt them down. You know, I laid out a doctrine -- you
just got to know it still stands -- it said, either you're with us,
either you love freedom and with nations which embrace freedom, or
you're with the enemy. There's no in-between. And the doctrine still
stands. (Applause.)
Sometimes -- sometimes you'll see the progress on your TV
screens, and sometimes you're not going to see the progress on your TV
screens. It's a different kind of war. We're cutting off their money
when we can find it. We're sharing intelligence. And we're hauling
them in.
The other day a guy popped his head up, named bin al-Shebh --
(Laughter.) He's not a problem anymore. (Laughter and applause.) He
was a significant character because he wanted to be the 20th hijacker.
He was still out there plotting.
Slowly but surely, this great country -- with our friends and
allies -- are hunting them down and bringing them to justice. It
doesn't matter how long it takes, by the way. Yesterday I signed a
defense appropriations bill, right there in the Rose Garden. I said
two things about it. One, any time we put our troops into harm's way,
they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible
equipment. (Applause.)
And secondly, that was a message to friend and foe alike, it
doesn't matter how long it takes. The increase in defense spending,
the largest since Ronald Reagan, sends a clear message: We're in this
deal for the long haul. See, we understand freedom. We understand
responsibility. I don't know what the enemy was thinking when they hit
us. I can't imagine. They must have thought we were so self-absorbed,
so selfish, so materialistic that after 2001 -- September 2001, oh,
we might have filed a lawsuit or two. They didn't know. They don't
understand America. They don't understand America like I understand
America. When it come to the defense of our freedom, when it comes to
our obligations and duty for the future for our children, this country
will remain strong and this country will remain tough. (Applause.)
For those of you who have got relatives in the United States
military, you tell them their Commander-in-Chief has got all the
confidence in the world in those good troops. (Applause.) I'm glad
they're on my side.
No, we got a lot of work to do, but I want you to know -- I
firmly believe this -- that if we stay the course and do our duty,
fulfill our obligation, we can achieve peace. That's my dream. My
dream is not only for a peaceful America, but to bring peace in parts
of the world who have quit on peace.
I believe it's possible that we can achieve peace in the Middle
East. I have a clear vision on how we can get there. Going to have to
renounce terror. We have to remain true to our principles. We have to
remember that freedom is God-given, it's not United States-given; that
freedom is a universal value, not an American value. (Applause.)
No, out of the evil done to America can come some great good,
starting with peace in the world. And here at home, we can be a better
America. You just got to understand there are pockets of despair in
this country. People hurt. Places where people are addicted or lost.
People wonder whether or not the American experience, the so-called
American Dream, is meant for them. My attitude is, so long as one of
us hurts, all of us hurt. But I believe we can eradicate those pockets
of despair and hopelessness. I believe that -- not only by having a
good education system, good health care, making sure that the welfare
system is in place that encourages and helps people work. I believe we
can accomplish that. But we've got to understand the limitations of
government.
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. The way we
can change America, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time is
for each of us to understand people hurt and put our arm around them
and tell them we love them. If you want to change America, love your
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. (Applause.)
No, our vision -- Elizabeth's vision and my vision --
understands the great power of all faiths in our society. We
understand a universal law of love. And we understand that America can
change, that there are forces more powerful than addiction, there are
force more power than -- powerful than hopelessness, there are forces
more powerful than loneliness.
My call to our fellow Americans, if you want to join the fight
against evil, is do some good. Mentor a child -- just like your
Mayor does. Mentor a child. You can save Charlotte, North Carolina,
one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time. Be a Boy Scout leader
or a Girl Scout leader. Go to your Boy's Clubs or Girl's Clubs. Feed
the hungry. Find housing for those who need a home. There's all kinds
of ways you can help.
One person can't do everything, I recognize that. But each of us
can be that one person doing something to make sure that the enemy
which hits us understands that they hit the greatest, most powerful,
and, yet, at the same time, most compassionate country on the face of
the Earth. (Applause.)
Now, they hit us -- they didn't know who they were hitting. Out
of the evil done to this great country is going to come a more peaceful
world. And out of the evil done to this great country is going to come
a more hopeful day.
I want to thank you for your interest in our political process. I
urge you to get out the vote. In the meantime, may God bless you all,
and God bless America. (Applause.)
END 10:13 A.M. EDT
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