[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[May 28, 1992]
[Pages 843-846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 843]]

Remarks at a Fundraising Dinner for Senator John McCain in Phoenix

May 28, 1992
    Thank you all very, very much for that welcome. May I pay my tribute 
to Jim Click. He's been a staunch supporter of the Republican cause for 
a long, long time, and I'm very grateful to see him again and grateful 
for that introduction. Of course, I'm proud to be at the side of John 
McCain and his wife, Cindy. I want to salute two from our Cabinet: 
Secretary Lynn Martin, our Secretary of Labor over here, who's doing a 
superb job, job training and a wide array of other issues; and then our 
irrepressible Secretary of HUD, who is going with me as we head back out 
to Los Angeles, but a man who is doing a superb job in this concept of 
homeownership, giving people a part of the action, Jack Kemp, our 
Secretary of HUD. And may I salute Governor Fife Symington and Ann; and 
of course, a special warm abraso for Barry and Susan Goldwater; and our 
chairman, Jerry Davis; Pastor Jackson, whom I've been privileged to be 
with before; Everett Alvarez, who today was announced as one of our 
cochairmen of our veterans effort, a great American.
    Brenda High, appropriately named for the way she did that ``Star-
Spangled Banner.'' It was outstanding. You can't help but be stirred 
when you hear a rendition like that of our great national anthem. And 
thanks to the--where is the band? I can't see them, but I understand 
you've got a great Chaparral High School band over here. Thank you for 
your music. And thanks to Shannon Marketic, Miss U.S.A., for the pledge. 
And out with us in the audience, a guy I visited with earlier on, a true 
Point of Light, Kevin Johnson of the Phoenix Suns, and all he does for 
the young people out here. And then another old friend who I had a 
chance to greet earlier on, Joe Bugel of the Cardinals, a great guy and 
a great sportsman. And I'm proud to see him.
    So it's a pleasure to be back, and I'm sorry Barbara's not here. And 
I will apologize; they told me that broccoli is on the menu, and I'm out 
of here as soon as I finish speaking. [Laughter] But seriously, we do 
have to head back out to Los Angeles, be sure we're following up the way 
we should there.
    But I'm glad to have this opportunity to express my appreciation to 
our Senator, and I say ``ours'' because Barbara and I feel like he's 
just part of us, Senator John McCain, for his help in fighting against 
that pork barrel spending back in Washington and for his leadership and 
support for the line-item veto. He is a man of principle. John, your 
leadership has been absolutely invaluable. And when I see it I say to 
myself, if only we had control of the United States Senate. On budget, 
on taxes, on health care, on the needs of older Americans, John McCain's 
efforts mean so much to me and so much to our country. They, of course, 
mean an awful lot to the great State of Arizona and to all Americans. 
You are lucky, indeed, to have him in the Senate, and we must have him 
back come fall.
    And of course, special tribute to Senator Barry Goldwater for his 
half-century of principled, and I use that word advisedly, principled 
service to our great country. What a record of achievement. What an 
example. What an accomplishment. Fifty years in public service, and 
underlying it all, character and integrity totally intact. I am proud to 
be his friend. I am grateful for his support. There have been some tough 
times in my political life, and one of them was 4 years ago. Barry came 
up there, suited up, got on a long flight and flew up to New Hampshire 
and bailed me out. I'll never, ever forget it. Not out of jail, but out 
of some political hot water up there. [Laughter]
    How about this backdrop? I like it very much, not only as a great 
art work, but coming from a city where Congress spends so much money, 
it's always good to see something in black ink. [Laughter]
    It was Barry who put it this way, ``Those who do not have courage 
want complicated answers.'' Well, Republicans are courageous

[[Page 844]]

people, and our solutions to America's problems are simple and 
effective, not complicated out of a maze of redtape. While the Democrats 
put their faith in adding new bricks to the old bureaucratic programs, 
and they try to do it every single day up there in the Congress, we 
Republicans are focusing on leaving our children and grandchildren three 
fundamental legacies that are integral to their own future: Strong 
families to sustain individuals, to nurture and encourage children, and 
to preserve our Nation's character and our culture; and then, number 
two, peace, in our schools, on our streets, and yes, all around the 
world; and then, third one, jobs, both for those who are seeking work 
and for graduates entering the work force.
    I might add, at long last our national economy is beginning to move. 
It's recovering, and consumer confidence, you might have seen it 
yesterday, is starting back up, is returning.
    These legacies, all of them don't always translate into sound bites, 
but they are definitely sound policy. Senator Barry Goldwater and 
Senator John McCain have both been at the forefront in helping to 
establish these legacies and in building a sound Republican policy, 
policy that sees problems as something more than excuses for new 
centralized, mandated programs. This is the message I will be taking to 
the American people in the fall, and this is the message that is going 
to win for us not only the White House but control of the Congress. You 
watch and see, now.
    What we are trying to do is to offer innovation and change. American 
industries lead the world in growth and efficiency. America is the 
world's leading exporter, producing $422 billion worth last year alone, 
$422 billion. Over the past 5 years, our exports have supported 7 
million jobs. These are impressive accomplishments, a record of economic 
growth and international competitiveness to make any country proud.
    Instead of excuses, we're offering education. More than one of four 
American workers has a college degree; another 20 percent have at least 
a year of college. Through this program we've got, the break-the-mold 
school program, and parental choice and choice for public, private, or 
religious schools for their children, I might add, our America 2000 
initiative for education: it is new; it is revolutionary, and it doesn't 
mandate it from Washington. It says let the communities, let the States, 
let the families have a say in deciding what kind of education is best 
for our own children.
    And yes, we are opening more and more doors of opportunity for 
Americans. And now we must address ways that we can strengthen our 
national spirit and return to the bedrock principles, faith, family, 
that made our Nation great. I would hate to be taking a case to the 
American people in the fall that was predicated on everything being bad, 
that the only way you can win is if the country's going to hell in a 
handbasket. We are America, and we are moving forward. And by fall we 
are going to show them that the positive message of change is the 
message of hope for the American people.
    John McCain and I have the responsibility to provide the leadership 
that we need, the country needs, to get back to sound principles upon 
which our Nation was founded, principles that helped make us the world's 
leading Nation and principles that gave us a standard of living that is 
the envy of the entire world.
    The cynics say that social conditions are too bad to turn around. 
And the skeptics say that faith and ideals are puny and inconsequential 
when put up against the problems that we face as a Nation. Well, I think 
they're wrong. I believe, along with Calvin Coolidge, ``there is no 
force so democratic as the force of an ideal.'' I believe that the 
forces of character, of compassion, and goodness will ultimately triumph 
over the forces that can only tear down and destroy.
    Tonight, as soon as we finish here, I'm going to be going back to 
Los Angeles to check on the progress of Federal aid efforts out there 
and to expand on my ideas for an urban agenda, an agenda of hope and 
opportunity in all our cities. I might say I am very proud of the rapid 
response of our Federal Agencies to that crisis out there: the Army, the 
Marines, there to restore law and order; the SBA and HUD and Labor

[[Page 845]]

and FEMA and Agriculture and HHS and others, too. They responded fast. 
We did it in a coordinated way, and all of them did very, very well.
    But I am less proud of the fact that the Congress has not moved on 
our program to bring instant hope to the cities, not just Los Angeles 
but the cities all across our country, on enterprise zones or on the 
other proposals that we've made that would instantly bring hope to the 
cities. I challenge the Congress right here and now: Please take action. 
Let's set the partisanship aside for just long enough to get something 
done to help people in this country.
    So let the others out there take their message of pessimism. They 
say that America's best days are behind us. The truth is that our Nation 
stands at a pinnacle of achievement that is unmatched. We are the 
unquestioned leader of the free world, which now includes more countries 
than ever before. All those new democracies are looking to America, to 
the United States of America, for leadership.
    Yes, there is much left to be done in our own country. But many of 
the changes that we are pushing are stuck up there on Capitol Hill. 
There was no one who wants to work cooperatively with Congress any more 
than I do. And from my very first State of the Union Address I held out 
my hand and said, ``The people didn't send us here to bicker; let's try 
to get something done.''
    I don't think there's anyone, I might say, who has been a better 
friend up there on Capitol Hill than John McCain because he understands 
these principles. He advocates them, articulates them. We bent over 
backwards to try to get the liberals who control the Congress to support 
our efforts to reform, reform programs that simply are not working 
anymore. We've tried to change things that aren't working. Now the time 
has come to change the control of the United States Congress itself and 
watch this country move forward.
    There is a mood for change. There was talk in all of them. The 
Nation needs an infusion of fresh, new Republican Congressmen and 
Senators who will be statesmen, like Barry Goldwater, like John McCain, 
leaders willing to try out new ideas. We unveiled this plan for the 
cities, and some cynics out there on the Democratic side are saying, 
``These aren't new. You proposed them before.'' They are new because 
they have not been tried. We need people who will put the best interest 
of the Nation first and foremost.
    There are other problems that Government alone cannot reverse. At 
the top of the list is action to restore the American family. Simply 
put, our children cannot dream the American dream when they are living a 
nightmare. Look at a few brief and sad facts. In comparison with other 
industrialized countries, the Census Bureau found that the United States 
has the highest divorce rate, the highest number of children involved in 
divorce, the highest teenage pregnancy rates, the highest abortion 
rates, the highest percentage of children living in a single-parent 
household, the highest percentage of violent deaths among our precious 
young. These are not the kinds of records that we want to have as a 
great country.
    Our Federal Government, of course, we have responsibilities. As 
President, I've got responsibilities in all of this. We must do more. We 
must do what we can. The American people must do those things that 
Government cannot do. Government can and must provide school choice, but 
parents must read to their kids and instill a love for learning. 
Government can and must fight crime, but fathers and mothers must teach 
discipline and instill values in their children. Government can and must 
foster American competitiveness, but parents must teach the kids the 
dignity of work.
    To paraphrase that great philosopher of the silver hair, Barbara 
Bush--[laughter]--what you teach at your house is more important than 
what happens at the White House. And she is absolutely right about that.
    So we're a country that has a lot of problems, big problems. But I 
am absolutely convinced we can solve them. We have laid the groundwork, 
and we've developed sound plans. We can transform America into the 
Nation we all want her to be.
    It hasn't been much fun in the political arena lately. We've been 
hammered out there a little bit. Somebody said that builds

[[Page 846]]

character. I said, I'm a little long on character and looking forward to 
a change.
    But let me tell you this. I am quietly confident about the election 
this fall. In sum, I am absolutely convinced as this economy moves back, 
as we sort out where everybody stands on these highly complex issues, 
when the country assesses the fact that we are at peace and that our 
children go to bed at night with less fear of nuclear war--and that is a 
major accomplishment of which I am very proud to have been a part--and 
it's when we get in focus the agenda, see who wants to pass this agenda 
of hope and opportunity and who wants to stifle it, when we take forward 
the values that you and I believe in to the American people again this 
fall on family and faith, I am absolutely convinced we're going to win 
this election. We are going to win it. We're going to transform our 
problems into challenging opportunities to realize the American dream.
    Thank you for your fantastic support for our great Senator. May God 
bless you, and may God bless the United States of America, the freest 
and greatest country on the face of the Earth. Thank you very, very 
much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 6:23 p.m. at the 
                        Phoenix Civic Plaza. In his remarks, he referred 
                        to Jim Click, Bush-Quayle Arizona finance 
                        chairman; Gerald Davis, chairman, Arizona 
                        Republican Party; and Richard Jackson, pastor, 
                        North Phoenix Baptist Church.