    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [January 14, 2002]
    [Pages 61-64]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Springfield, Missouri
    January 14, 2002

        The President. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Thanks for coming. I
    thought the Senator--I thought the
    Senator was going to offer me a pretzel. [Laughter] Not one of those
    ones that are hard to chew. Now, I see a lot of the students who are
    here. This gives me a chance to give you some good advice: Always listen
    to your mother. [Laughter] Mine used to say, ``Never swallow your
    pretzel until you've chewed it.'' [Laughter] I guess I wasn't listening.
        But it's great to be back here in the great State of Missouri and
    Springfield. I want to thank the Chamber of Commerce for hosting this
    event. It gives me a chance to share some of my thoughts with our fellow
    citizens as I work my way down the heartland of America. I started
    earlier in Moline, Illinois, at a factory that makes John Deere
    tractors. I am here to talk to farmers. I'm on my way down to New
    Orleans to remind people that much of what we grow and produce in
    America is shipped overseas, out of that port. I'm really here to remind
    people of the great values of our country, lived in your everyday lives.
        So I want to thank you all for coming. I'm grateful for a fine
    United States Senator and a good friend of mine, Kit Bond, for being here. Thank you for coming, Kit. I
    appreciate my Secretary of Commerce as well
    as the Secretary of Agriculture for joining me
    on this trip. Thank you both for coming. I want to thank Kenny
    Hulshof and Todd Akin, of the United States Congress, for being here today. I
    want to thank those two fine Members of the House of Representatives for
    coming. I see my good friend Jim Talent is
    here. I appreciate you coming, Jim; I'm looking forward to visiting with
    you on the way out to the next stop. I want to thank so very much
    Roseann Blunt for being here, the wife of your
    Congressman. The first lady of your fine State met
    me at the airport, and I want to thank Lori Holden for coming out to say hello.
        But most of all, I want to thank you all for taking time out of your
    day to be here to greet me. It's been an unbelievable experience to be
    your President.
        Audience member. [Inaudible]
        The President. Thank you. I'm so proud to come and be able to share
    some thoughts about how to make sure America remains strong and to make
    sure people who are trying to find work are able to do so. You know, my
    view about this is that the role of Government is not to try to create
    wealth. The role of Government is to create an environment in which
    people are willing to take risks, in which the entrepreneur is willing
    to expand through capital investment. The job of Government is to create
    an environment in which people are willing to create jobs, so people who
    want work can find work. And that starts with

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    making sure our Nation is safe, in order to make sure--in order to make
    sure that there's confidence in our economy and that the environment is
    good for job creation.
        My biggest job is to prevent the enemy from hitting us again, and
    that's exactly what I'm going to do. We take homeland security very
    seriously in America now. I put a good man in place, Tom Ridge, to make sure that anytime we get any hint that anybody
    would try to harm America again, we'll act, and we'll act strong. If we
    get any scintilla of evidence that somebody may try to harm America, we
    will bring them to justice.
        I want to thank the law enforcement officers and officials who are
    on alert. And we've got to remain on alert. You see something unusual
    happening in your community, contact the local law enforcement. We're on
    the look. But the truth of the matter is, the best way to protect
    America is find the enemy where they hide and get them.
        I am so proud--I am so proud of those who wear our uniform. We have
    given them a big task, and they're performing brilliantly. For those of
    you who may have a son or a daughter in our military, I want to thank
    you from the bottom of my heart. For those of you who have a husband or
    wife in the military or a mom or a dad, I want to thank you from the
    bottom of my heart. Our military is doing us proud.
        We have sent them on a difficult mission. It is getting more
    difficult as time progresses. After all, we've got our troops now
    looking in caves, looking in villages, scouring the countryside. When I
    first announced our mission, I told the American people it may take a
    while, that we must show discipline and resolve, and we must be
    steadfast in our purpose. And that's exactly what the American people--
    that's how the American people are reacting. And for that I'm grateful,
    and so are our troops.
        We had objectives that our troops have accomplished. One, we said,
    ``If you harbor a terrorist, if you hide a terrorist, if you feed a
    terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist,'' and the Taliban is
    paying a price. I hope you're as proud as I am of the pictures of joy as
    our troops have liberated the women of Afghanistan, the Taliban. We're
    not only fighting for freedom; we're liberating people from the clutches
    of oppression.
        And now we're after Al Qaida. They think they can run; they think
    they can hide from the mighty United States. But we're patient; we're
    strong; we're resolved. We're going to stay on the hunt until we bring
    them to justice.
        In order to make sure people can find work, we better make sure
    everybody in America is educated. I had an honor--I had the high honor
    of traveling our country last week with authors of a good education
    bill. It's one, by the way, that says every child can learn--every child
    can learn. We must teach children the basics. And in return for help,
    you must show us--just like you say here in Missouri--whether or not
    children can read and write and add and subtract. And if they cannot,
    let's correct problems early, before it's too late.
        It also says, inherent in that bill, the people who care more about
    the children in this part of the world are the moms and dads and
    teachers who live in this part of the world. We believe in local control
    of schools.
        I stood up in front of the American people there on this trip, and I
    said, ``You all may not believe this--certainly the people in the
    Crawford, Texas, coffee shop may not believe it when I say it--but Ted
    Kennedy did a fine job on this bill.''
    [Laughter] I never thought I would hear myself say that. [Laughter] Of
    course, he never thought I would say it. [Laughter] But I meant it--I
    meant it.
        It goes to show what can happen when Republicans and Democrats set
    aside their political differences and focus on what's right for America.
    Let me tell you what we need in Washington: We need people

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    to put party aside and say, ``America is the most important thing in
    Washington, DC.''
        In order to make sure people can find work, this Nation better--
    better knock down trade barriers. See, one of the things we're good at,
    really good at, is growing food. We're the best in the world. And it
    makes sense that if we're good at growing food, that we ought to be
    trying to sell it not only at home but, when we have a little extra,
    overseas.
        If you want to be--if you're good at something and the best at
    something, it makes sense to allow that product to be overseas. One of
    the things I'm fighting for and one of the things I think makes great
    sense is for this nation to be a free trade nation--not to be afraid to
    compete but let us compete. And when we can compete in a fair way, we
    can whip anybody when it comes to selling food.
        The other thing we need to do is to make sure we have an energy
    policy. We're a blessed nation because we can grow our own food, and
    therefore, we're secure. A nation that can feed its people is a nation
    more secure. Now, if you're secure when you feed the Nation, it seems
    like one of the things we ought to try to be more secure about, as well,
    is having an energy policy that makes us less reliant on foreign sources
    of energy.
        We can do a better job of conservation, and we will. We can do a
    better job of distribution, and we must. We can use some innovative
    products to provide energy, like ethanol. But one of the things we've
    got to do is to explore for energy in our own lands in an
    environmentally sensitive way.
        We had a trade bill bottled up in the Senate. I hope they move it
    when we get back. We've got an energy bill bottled up in the Senate. I
    hope they move it when we get back. It is in the Nation's interests that
    we move those two bills.
        And finally, in order to make sure people can find work--and I'm
    worried about the fact that the evil ones hit us and it caused people to
    lose their job--in order to make sure they can find work, we've got to
    have good, sound economic policy coming out of Washington, DC. And that
    starts with understanding how jobs are created.
        One way you can create jobs is to lower people's taxes. If people
    have more money to spend, it means somebody has got to produce more for
    them. And the producers then need to hire people. It's Economics 101.
    Except sometimes people in Washington haven't taken the course.
    [Laughter] We passed a meaningful tax cut, and now some of them want to
    take it away from you by delaying it.
        Audience members. Boo-o-o!
        The President. Yes, I agree. The best way--the worst thing to do is,
    in the face of this recession, is to not let people have their tax
    break. It doesn't make any economic sense. And that's why we're not
    going to let them--that's why we're not going to let them repeal this
    tax cut.
        And not only that, we can help workers who got laid off. We need to
    extend the unemployment benefits, and we need to help them with their
    health care. And we can do that, if we make our mind up to put people's
    lives ahead of partisan politics. But I'm going to remind the folks in
    Washington that what people don't want is an unemployment check; what
    they want is a permanent paycheck. And therefore we've got to put plans
    in place that stimulate our economy, that creates jobs, that says to
    employers, if you buy equipment, you get a little extra in order to help
    people find work.
        No, we can do a better job in Washington, DC, of addressing this
    economic downturn. And I'm confident when the people's voice rises up,
    the good folks up there elected to represent you all and everybody else
    will hear you loud and clear.
        One of the things that the evil ones didn't figure out was how
    strong we are. Oh, they knew we had a nice military, but they didn't
    think we'd use it. They made a bad mistake. But what they also don't

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    understand is the character of our Nation. They don't understand what I
    know, that the great strength of this country really isn't in our
    airplanes or guns; it's not in our stock market. Those are parts of our
    country that are strong, but the great strength is in the hearts and
    souls of our fellow citizens. This is a nation of a lot of character.
    It's a strong nation because we're strong people. It is a nation that is
    determined and patient, but it's also a nation that's compassionate and
    decent.
        The evil ones hit us, and they caused a lot of loss of life and a
    lot of anguish, a lot of fright and a lot of fear. But they also caused
    folks all across our country to search their soul about life. They
    caused moms and dads to ask the fundamental question of what was the
    most important thing for them. The good news is about America, moms and
    dads all across America are now saying, ``My most important job is to
    love my children with all my heart.''
        What the evil ones did is they reminded us that there are things
    important in life, such as loving your neighbor like you'd like to be
    loved yourself. People ask me all the time, what can they do to help
    fight terror. And one thing you can do is walk across the street and
    tell a neighbor in need you love them. If you find somebody who's shut
    in, just spend a little time. If you want to fight evil, mentor a child
    who needs to learn how to read, support your teachers, get involved with
    public education. If you want to fight evil, make a contribution to a
    local charity, go to your church or synagogue and mosque, and figure out
    how you can help a community become a better place.
        That's what's happening all across America. You know, folks, we're
    going to win the war, but we're also going to win because the goodness
    of America will overshadow the evil of those who take innocent life.
        It is such honor to be moving around the country, to be with the
    good folks who make the country strong. I want to thank you so very much
    for your hospitality; I want to thank you for your prayer. May God bless
    America. Thank you all. Thank you all very much, and God bless. Thank
    you.

    Note: The President spoke at approximately 1:15 p.m. in the BMP Hangar
    at the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport. In his remarks, he referred
    to Jim Talent, candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri; and Lori Hauser
    Holden, wife of Gov. Bob Holden of Missouri.