[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[November 2, 2002]
[Pages 1988-1993]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Tampa, Florida
November 2, 2002

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks a lot. Thank you all. 
Jeb and I are sure glad we came. You're lifting his 
spirits, and I appreciate that more than you know.
    I want to thank you all for coming. I'm traveling the country, 
reminding people about the American spirit, the fact that no matter what 
the cost, we'll defend our freedom; this American spirit that says to be 
a patriot, you've got to serve something greater than yourself; a spirit 
of America that says we love freedom, and if you love freedom, you have 
a duty to vote.
    If you love our country, it doesn't matter what your political party 
is; you have an obligation to participate in democracy. I've come into 
this important State to urge people from all walks of life, from all 
political parties, to do your duty next Tuesday. But when you get in 
that voting booth, I've got a good suggestion for you. [Laughter] For 
the sake of the Florida taxpayers, for the sake of the Florida 
schoolchildren, for the sake of dignity and integrity in the office of 
Governor, send Jeb Bush back to Tallahassee. And 
you might as well send Frank Brogan back with 
him. They make a great team, on behalf of all the citizens of this 
State.
    One of the things Jeb and I share in common, 
besides a fine mother who's still telling us what to do on a regular 
basis--[laughter]--is, we both married above ourselves. We both have got 
great wives. I'm honored to be here with the great first lady for 
Florida, Columba Bush, and of course, a 
University of Texas law school student--Hollywood handsome, I might 
add--a great man, George P. Bush.
    You drew the short straw tonight. You got me instead of Laura. [Laughter] She's campaigning up north, and you got 
stuck with the President. But she sends her love. She sends her love to 
Jeb and Columba. She sends 
her best to all our friends in Florida. And like me, she reminds you: Go 
to the polls, and take some friends to the polls so this good man can 
serve you for 4 more years.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

[[Page 1989]]

    The President. And that's another reason I've come today, is because 
I want to urge you to help Jeb. See, I want you to 
go to your houses of worship tomorrow, go to your coffee shops on 
Monday--go to your coffee shops, go to your community centers. Tell 
anybody who will listen what a good man you've got in your Governor. I 
want to remind you, make sure you don't ignore Democrats.
    See, they don't want their taxes raised--a lot of them don't. 
Democrats in Florida know the difference between somebody who tells it 
like it is and somebody who just tells it any way he sees fit. 
[Laughter] Democrats in this State want good government. They want 
somebody to do what he says he's going to do in office. Independents 
want the same thing. So starting tomorrow, round up people and tell them 
to go to the polls on Tuesday. Jeb's counting on 
your help, and so am I.
    And you won't be wasting your time. You watch and see what happens 
next Tuesday, thanks to your hard work, thanks to his good message, 
thanks to his great record. Not only are 
Republicans going to turn out in droves, but this man is going to get 
independent vote, discerning Democrat vote; wise Democrats are going to 
come his way. And you're going to have 4 more years of a great Governor 
in Jeb Bush.
    I want to thank a couple of Members of Congress who are here. I know 
Bill Young is here. I call him ``the 
Chairman.'' See, he runs the Appropriations Committee in the House of 
Representatives. Not only do I call him ``the Chairman;'' I call him 
``sir.'' [Laughter] He's a powerful Member from Florida, and he's a 
great Member from Florida. I'm proud to call him friend, and I'm proud 
he's here.
    Mike Bilirakis is here as well, a fine 
Member of the United States Congress. These are two of the good ones, 
and you've got a fine person running for Congress as well. Her name is 
Ginny Brown-Waite. We need to send her to 
the United States Congress. So when you're out there rounding up the 
votes for Jeb, don't forget Ginny.
    I'm also proud to be up here with a member of my Cabinet. I wanted 
somebody to work with me to close the housing gap in America. Too many 
of them are minorities--don't own their house. Too many of them don't 
own a home. We're going to close that gap. It makes sense to encourage 
people to own something in the great country called America. We want all 
people--[applause]--there's nothing more--there's nothing better than 
owning your own home. Too many of our African Americans don't own a 
home. Too many Hispanics in this country don't own a home. And so I 
called upon a Floridian to help me close that homeownership gap.
    I picked a solid American, a man of great success, a man who 
represents the best of the country. After all, his parents, when he was 
a little boy, put him on the boat to escape the clutches of Fidel 
Castro, so he could grow up in freedom, and now he's a member of the 
President's Cabinet, Mel Martinez.
    I'm also proud to be up here with the great General Norman 
Schwarzkopf, the man who set the example.
    Finally, I want to thank the good folks here at the University of 
South Florida, particularly President Judy Genshaft for her hospitality, and all the good folks who put up 
with us today. It's a great place to celebrate the candidacy and the 
soon-to-be victory of Jeb Bush. We thank you for 
your hospitality.
    The thing you've got to remember about this good man who's your 
Governor is, he did in office what he said he would 
do. See, that's important. We've got too many in the political process 
who just say things, just kind of float something out there and hope it 
sounds good, hope somebody might bite on it, hope it convinces people, 
but have no intentions or capabilities of getting it done. That's the 
exact opposite of your Governor. He said he was going to work to improve 
education for every child in the

[[Page 1990]]

State of Florida, and he has fulfilled that promise.
    See, he's got the right mindset. He believes 
every child can learn; that's what he believes. And therefore, he's 
willing to ask the question: Can every child read; can every child 
write; can every child add and subtract? And if not, he's willing to 
challenge the status quo. You have a Governor who will not be captured 
by special interests. You have a Governor with one interest in mind, to 
make sure that no child in the State of Florida is left behind.
    We're going through some tough economic times in America. We're kind 
of bumping along, is how I describe it, just bumping. And that's not 
good enough for this country. Anytime somebody who wants to work and 
can't find a job, it says we've got a problem. But there are some bright 
spots in this Nation about job creation. And the brightest of all bright 
spots is right here in the State of Florida. This man, he just doesn't talk about jobs. You're creating them 
here.
    He and I understand this: The role of 
Government is not to create wealth but an environment in which the 
entrepreneur can flourish, in which the small business can grow to be 
big businesses. No, you've got the right man if you're worried about the 
economic vitality of your State. You've got the right man if you're 
worried about job creation. That man is Jeb Bush.
    Been tough budget times for a lot of States. It's tough economic 
times. Remember, we went through a recession. And then the enemy hit us. 
Then we had a little problem with some of our corporate executives. 
[Laughter] They forgot what it would mean to be a responsible leader. 
They forgot what it means to tell the truth. Some of them thought they 
could fudge the books, shade the numbers. Those days are over with.
    Thanks to Members of Congress here, I had the ability to sign the 
toughest law, the corporate reform law, since Franklin Roosevelt. 
There's not going to be any more easy money, just hard time when we 
catch you fudging the numbers and not doing your responsibility.
    But as a result of these tough times, revenues have dwindled in 
States, and it's been hard for some Governors to manage the budget--not 
the Governor of Florida. This man managed the 
budget during tough economic times. He took on the tough tasks to make 
sure your money was spent properly. He understands what I know: When 
you're talking about money in Tallahassee or money in Washington, it's 
not the Government's money; it's your money. And Jeb Bush is a good 
steward of your money.
    It should be clear to the people of Florida from all political 
parties that the man knows what he's doing, that 
the man is a plain speaker, that the man cares deeply about the citizens 
of this State. When he hears of hurt, he doesn't go around and say, 
``Well, if you're hurting, I'll only try to help you if you're a 
Republican.'' He cries when anybody hurts. He's got deep compassion for 
the citizens of Florida, an honest man, who's brought integrity and 
dignity to the office. He's the kind of guy that will make you proud. 
He's the kind of guy that you need to send back to Tallahassee as a 
reelected Governor of Florida.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Jeb has handled tough problems 
in Tallahassee, and we're going to handle tough problems in Washington 
on your behalf. I talked about the economy. I'm worried about people not 
being able to find work. We'll do everything we can to make sure job 
creation is strong. And the best way to do that is to let you keep more 
of your own money. Those tax cuts we passed came at the right time in 
American history.
    Now, when you hear them talking about in Washington up there, ``Oh, 
we better revisit the tax cuts''----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!

[[Page 1991]]

    The President. ----that just means they're fixing to try to get in 
your pocket. For the sake of economic vitality, for the sake of growth, 
and for the sake of jobs, we need to make the tax cuts permanent.
    No, there's a lot of issues we'll be working on. We'll be working on 
health care issues, of course. We've got to make sure Medicare works. 
Medicine has changed. Medicine is modern. Technology has changed 
medicine. New discoveries have changed medicine. But Medicare is stuck 
in the past. It hasn't changed. For the sake of fulfilling our promise 
to seniors, I need to have people in Washington, DC, with whom I can 
work to modernize Medicare, which means prescription drugs for the 
seniors of the State of Florida.
    No, there's a lot of issues we need to work on. But the biggest 
issue of all is to protect you. You see, there's still an enemy out 
there that lurks around. They hate us. They hate us because of what we 
love. We love the freedom to worship. We love the freedom to speak our 
mind. We love every aspect about freedom, and we're not changing. And so 
long as we love, they hate. And so we've got a task ahead, and that is 
to protect you. That's why I went to Congress and said, in spite of the 
fact that a lot of good people are working hard--you see, anytime we get 
a hint, any piece of evidence that somebody is thinking about doing 
something to America, we're moving on them. We're disrupting them. We're 
denying them.
    But the threat is real. And therefore I went to Congress and said, 
``Give us a Homeland Security Department, so we can better coordinate 
the agencies involved with protecting you. Give us something to make 
sure that we can change cultures, so that people get the message that 
our number one responsibility in Washington, DC, is to protect the 
American people from further attack.'' The Members of the House 
responded, but it's stuck in the United States Senate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Yes, and it's stuck in the United States Senate, and 
you need to know why it's stuck in the United States Senate, and you 
might let some of your Senators know why it's stuck. It's because they 
want me to give up power that Presidents have had since John F. Kennedy.
    See, Presidents since John F. Kennedy have had the capacity to 
suspend some collective bargaining rules, in any Department of the 
Federal Government, for the sake of national security. In other words, 
I'll have the capacity--I do have the capacity today, unless the Senate 
has its way, for me to take some rules and set them aside so we can 
better protect you. And that's the issue, and I'm not giving up that 
power, for the sake of the American people.
    But the best way to protect you is to hunt these killers down, one 
at a time, and bring them to justice.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. Therapy won't work. [Laughter] I asked Congress for a 
big increase in defense spending. I want to thank Chairman Young for leading the way. I had the honor of signing a 
defense appropriations bill, which increased defense spending, the 
largest increase since Ronald Reagan was the President, and there's two 
reasons why. I want you to hear the reasons.
    One, anytime we put our troops into harm's way, they deserve the 
best pay, the best training, and the best possible equipment. And 
secondly, you need to know and our friends need to know and our enemy 
needs to know, we're in this deal for the long haul. There's not a 
calendar on my desk in the Oval Office that says on such-and-such a 
date, we're pulling them in. No matter how long it takes, no matter what 
the cost is, we will defend freedom. History has called us into action, 
and we're not going to tire. We're not going to quit until we have 
defeated the agents of terror and until America is safe and our friends 
are safe.

[[Page 1992]]

    And we're making progress. This is a different kind of war. In the 
old days, you know, if you destroyed an enemy's tanks or sunk his ships 
or knocked down airplanes, you knew you were making progress. A lot of 
these folks don't have tanks. They hide in caves. They send youngsters 
to their suicidal deaths. So therefore, the doctrine that says, ``Either 
you're with us, or you're with the enemy,'' is just as important today 
as it was a year ago, and it still stands.
    Slowly but surely, we're hunting them down. It's going to take 
awhile. You just have got to know it's going to take awhile. But the 
stakes are high. And they're really high, particularly on what happened 
on September the 11th. You see, a cold reality came--my job, by the way, 
is to see the world the way it is, not the way we hope--hope it is. And 
there's a cold reality. Oceans no longer protect us from threats. Oceans 
no longer protect us from gathering dangers across the--in other parts 
of the world.
    It used to be, we could pick or choose. We learned a lesson that the 
battlefield is here at home, and we've got to be realistic about that. 
And that's why I started the debate on Iraq. You see, I view the 
man as a serious threat to America and our 
friends and allies. He's a man who has told the world he wouldn't have 
weapons of mass destruction, yet he does. We know a while ago that he 
was close to having a nuclear weapon. We have no idea today how close he 
is. If he has a nuclear weapon, it's a serious problem for America and 
our friends and allies.
    We know he's got chemical weapons. He 
said he wouldn't have them, but we know he's got them. Not only does he 
have them, he used them. He used them in his neighborhood. He used them 
on his own people.
    We know that he's had connections with Al 
Qaida. There would be nothing more pleasing to him to be able to use one 
of these shadowy terrorist networks. He could serve as the armory and 
the training grounds. They could be the deliverer of weapons, and we 
would never see his fingerprints.
    We know he's a danger. And that's why I 
went to the United Nations, to take my explanation there. See, I want 
the United Nations to succeed. I think it's important in the new threats 
facing America that we have an international body that has got the 
backbone necessary to hold people to account. For 11 years, however, 
this guy has defied the United Nations. Not once, not twice, but 16 
times he has said, ``Forget it.''
    And therefore, I have said to the United Nations, ``Show us whether 
you can be an effective body at keeping the peace or whether or not 
you'll be the League of Nations. Show us whether or not you'll be an 
effective--ability to hold people to account, or whether you're going to 
be an empty debating society''--their choice to make.
    And Mr. Saddam Hussein has got a choice 
to make as well. He has said he wouldn't have weapons of mass 
destruction. We expect him not to have weapons of mass destruction. But 
the Congress spoke with a voice that I hear, and I believe that, if they 
do not disarm Saddam Hussein, if the United Nations can't act and he 
himself will not disarm, for the sake of peace and for the sake of 
freedom, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm him.
    I don't know what was going through the mind of the enemy. I can't 
imagine what the enemy was thinking when they hit us. They probably 
thought the national religion of America was materialism, that we were 
so materialistic and caught up in money that we were selfish and self-
absorbed and shallow. Oh, they probably thought that after September the 
11th, 2001, we'd file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter]
    You see, they know something--they don't know something I know, that 
the spirit of America is strong, the American spirit is alive and well, 
that this great Nation, if we stay the course, if we remain strong,

[[Page 1993]]

if we speak clearly, if we remember that freedom is not an American gift 
to the world, it is a God-given gift to the world, if we remain true to 
our principles and values, we can achieve peace. And that's the dream, 
to achieve peace. And that's one of the good that's going to come out of 
the incredible evil done to America.
    And you know what else is going to happen in America? America is 
going to be a better country as a result of what happened to us. We 
still weep for the victims. We still mourn for those who lost life. But 
out of the evil done to America is going to come some great good.
    It's because you've got people like Jeb Bush, 
who understand the true strength of the country lies not in the halls of 
Government but in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens. He and I 
know that Government can hand out money, and we will do everything we 
can to try to help people help themselves and reform programs and make 
sure education works. But Government cannot put hope in people's hearts 
or a sense of purpose in people's lives. That does when--that happens 
when people put their arm around somebody who hurts and says, ``I love 
you. What can I do to help you? Can I mentor you? Can I be the head of a 
Boy Scout troop or a Girl Scout troop or run a Boys or Girls Club?''
    No, you see, the important thing to remember is that if you want to 
make a difference in America, you can help change this country one 
heart, one hurting soul, one conscience at a time. And although one of 
us can't do everything, each of us can do something to make an enormous 
difference.
    No, the enemy hit us. They had no idea who they were hitting. Out of 
the evil done to America is going to come a peaceful world. And out of 
the evil done to America is going to come a more hopeful and 
compassionate tomorrow, because the American spirit is alive and well. 
It is strong; it is vibrant.
    I want to thank you all for coming tonight. I want to thank you for 
supporting my brother, Jeb. May God bless you. And 
may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 7:20 p.m. in the Sun Dome at the University 
of South Florida. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of 
Florida, his wife, Columba, and their son George P. Bush; Lt. Gov. Frank 
Brogan of Florida; Ginny Brown-Waite, candidate for Florida's Fifth 
Congressional District; Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA (Ret.), former 
commander of Operation Desert Storm; and President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq.