[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[October 23, 2003]
[Pages 1386-1391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Bush-Cheney Reception in Honolulu, Hawaii
October 23, 2003

    Thank you all very much. Aloha! Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks 
for the warm welcome. If I seem a little jet-lagged--[laughter]--it's 
because I've spent a long week away from home. After 8 days on the road 
and more than 18,000 miles in the air, it's great to be back in America. 
And it's really great to be in the beautiful State of Hawaii.
    We had a great trip. I visited with some of our strongest allies in 
the war on terror and some of the Nation's most important trading 
partners. We made progress on a broad agenda, an agenda that will help 
make America more secure and more prosperous.
    I want to thank each of you for giving me a warm welcome home. I 
particularly

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want to thank you for your strong support. See, what we're doing today 
is we're laying the foundation for a victory in Hawaii and a nationwide 
victory in 2004. As your Governor said, and my chairman of the campaign 
here said, we need more than just financial contributions. We need you 
talking up the campaign. We need you going to your coffee shops and your 
houses of worship and your community centers and reminding everybody 
that this administration has got an optimistic, positive, hopeful agenda 
for everybody who lives in America.
    I'm getting ready, and I'm loosening up. [Laughter] But the 
political season will come in its own time. I've got a job to do. And 
there's a lot on the agenda in Washington. I'm going to continue, 
though, to work hard to earn the confidence of every American by keeping 
this Nation secure and strong and prosperous and free.
    As we go about our work in Washington, Vice President Cheney and I are grateful for the continuing support in Hawaii. 
We appreciate our friends here. I also appreciate the unique 
contributions native Hawaiians have made to this State and to our 
Nation. I'm impressed by the rich culture of the native Hawaiian people. 
I respect our shared traditions, and I appreciate Governor 
Lingle's dedication to all of Hawaii's 
citizens. You've got a great Governor for this State.
    And I've got a great wife. I'm really proud of Laura. She's a fabulous mom, a wonderful wife, and a great 
First Lady for our country.
    And I appreciate the Lieutenant Governor, Duke Aiona. I appreciate Felix Camacho, who is the Governor of Guam, who is with us today. I 
want to thank the members of the statehouse who are here. We've got a 
lot of State representatives. The Governor was telling me she wants to 
increase the number in '04. Mayor Arakawa is 
here from Maui. Bryan Baptiste is here. I 
appreciate you, Mr. Mayor.
    I want to thank Travis Thompson, who was 
our event cochairman. I want to thank all the other cochairs for their 
hard work. I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here, the 
party chairmen, the national committeewoman. But most of all, I want to 
thank you all for coming. It warms our heart. This is a big crowd, and 
we're honored.
    In the last 2\1/2\ years, our Nation has acted decisively to 
confront great challenges. I came to this office to solve problems, not 
to pass them on to future Presidents and to future generations. I came 
to seize opportunities and let--instead of letting them slip away. This 
administration is meeting the tests of our time.
    Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is 
what they got. We've captured or killed many of the key leaders of the 
Al Qaida network, and the rest of them know we're on their trail. In 
Afghanistan and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those 
regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more. Fifty million 
people in those two countries once lived under tyranny, and now they 
live in freedom.
    Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the 
resources it needed, and morale was beginning to suffer. So we increased 
the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new era. And today, 
no one in the world can question the skill and the strength and the 
spirit of the United States military.
    Two-and-a-half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession. And 
then our country was attacked. And we marched to war for our security 
and for peace. And we had scandals in corporate America, all of which 
affected the people's confidence. But we acted. We passed two tough new 
laws to hold corporate criminals to account. And to get the economy 
going again, I have twice led the United States Congress to pass 
historic tax relief for the American people.
    When Americans have more take-home pay to spend, to save, or invest, 
the whole economy grows, and people are more likely

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to find a job. We're returning more money to the people to help them 
raise their family. We're reducing the taxes on dividends and capital 
gains to encourage investment. We're giving small businesses incentives 
to expand and to hire new people. With all these actions, this 
administration is laying the foundation for greater prosperity and more 
jobs across America, so every single person in this country has a chance 
to realize the American Dream.
    Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a lot of talk about education 
reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called for and the Congress 
passed the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid bipartisan majority, 
we delivered the most dramatic education reforms in a generation. We've 
increased spending for Title I students. We've increased spending at the 
Federal level. But in return for increased Federal dollars, we expect 
results, because we believe every child can read and write and add and 
subtract. This administration is challenging the soft bigotry of low 
expectations. The days of excuse-making are over. We expect results in 
every classroom so that not one single child is left behind.
    We reorganized our Government and created the Department of Homeland 
Security to safeguard our borders and ports and to better protect the 
American people. We passed trade promotion authority to open up new 
markets for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers and 
entrepreneurs. We passed budget agreements to help maintain much needed 
spending discipline in Washington, DC. On issue after issue, this 
administration has acted on principle, has kept its word, and has made 
progress for the American people.
    The Congress gets credit. I enjoy working with our Speaker, Denny 
Hastert, and the majority leader, Bill 
Frist. They're fine people. We work together to 
try to change the tone in Washington, to elevate the debate, to focus on 
results. After all, we're there to represent the people. And those are 
the kind of people I have asked to join my administration--results-
oriented, decent, hard-working people from all walks of life. I have put 
together a fantastic administration for the American people. Our country 
has had no finer Vice President than Dick Cheney. Mother may have a second 
opinion. [Laughter]
    In 2\1/2\ years, we have done a lot. We have come far, but our work 
is only beginning. I've set great goals worthy of this great Nation. 
First, America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom and peace 
for our own security and for the benefit of the world. And second, in 
our own country, we must work for a society of prosperity and 
compassion, so that every citizen has a chance to work and to succeed 
and to realize the great promise of our country.
    It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend on the 
actions of America. This Nation is freedom's home and freedom's 
defender. We welcome this charge of history, and we are keeping it.
    Our war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not idle, 
and neither are we. This country will not rest. We will not tire. We 
will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed. We are 
confronting that danger in Iraq, where Saddam 
holdouts and foreign terrorists are desperately trying to throw Iraq 
into chaos by attacking coalition forces and aid workers and innocent 
citizens. They know that the advance of freedom in Iraq would be a major 
defeat for the cause of terror. This collection of killers is trying to 
shake the will of the United States of America. America will not be 
intimidated.
    We're aggressively striking the terrorists in Iraq, defeating them 
there so we will not have to face them in our own country. We're calling 
other nations to help build a free country in Iraq, which will make us 
all more secure. We're standing with the Iraqi people as they assume 
their defense and move toward self-government. These are not easy tasks, 
but they are essential tasks. We will finish what we have

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begun, and we will win this essential victory in the war on terror.
    Our greatest security comes from the advance of human liberty, 
because free nations do not support terror, free nations do not attack 
their neighbors, free nations do not threaten the world with weapons of 
mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the deepest need and hope 
of every human heart. And I believe that freedom is the right of every 
person, and I believe that freedom is the future of every nation.
    America also understands that unprecedented influence brings 
tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. And when we 
see disease and starvation and hopeless poverty, we will not turn away. 
On the continent of Africa, America is now committed to bringing the 
healing power of medicine to millions of men and women and children now 
suffering with AIDS. This great, strong, and compassionate land is 
leading the world in this incredibly important work of human rescue.
    We face challenges here at home as well. And our actions will prove 
that we're equal to those challenges. Any time somebody who wants to 
work can't find a job, says we've got a problem. This administration 
will continue to create the conditions for economic growth and economic 
vitality, so every single citizen can find work.
    We have a duty to keep our commitment to America's seniors by 
strengthening and modernizing Medicare. The Congress took historic 
action to improve the lives of older Americans. For the first time since 
the creation of Medicare, the House and Senate have passed reforms to 
increase the choices for seniors and to provide coverage for 
prescription drugs. They must get their differences ironed out and get a 
bill to my desk. The sooner they get the job done, the sooner America's 
seniors will get the health care they need.
    For the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on the 
frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. People who have 
been harmed by a bad doctor deserve their day in court. Yet the system 
should not simply reward lawyers who are fishing for rich settlements. 
Frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care, and they therefore 
affect the Federal budget. Medical liability reform is a national issue 
that requires a national solution. The House of Representatives has 
passed a good bill to reform the system. The bill is now stuck in the 
United States Senate. The Senate must act on behalf of the American 
people. Senators must understand, no one has ever been healed by a 
frivolous lawsuit.
    I have a responsibility as your President to make sure the judicial 
system runs well, and I have met that duty. I have nominated superb men 
and women for the Federal courts, people who will interpret the law, not 
legislate from the bench. Some Members of the United States Senate are 
trying to keep my nominees off the bench by blocking up-or-down votes. 
Every judicial nominee deserves a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote on 
the Senate floor. It is time for some Members of the United States 
Senate to stop playing politics with American justice.
    This country needs a comprehensive energy plan. You may have noticed 
last summer that we had a problem with the delivery of electricity in 
parts of our country. [Laughter] We need to modernize our systems. If 
we're interested in economic growth, we need a modern system, one that--
we need laws that encourage investment in order to modernize the system. 
We need to use our technologies to encourage conservation. We need to 
use our technologies to enable us to explore for energy in 
environmentally friendly ways. But for the sake of our national security 
and for the sake of our economic security, we need to be less reliant on 
foreign sources of energy.
    Our strong and prosperous Nation must also be a compassionate 
nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate 
conservatism by applying the best

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and most innovative ideas to the task of helping our fellow citizens who 
are in need. There are millions of men and women who want to end their 
dependence on Government and become independent through hard work. We 
must build on the success of welfare reform to bring work and dignity 
into the lives of more of our fellow citizens.
    Congress should complete the ``Citizen Service Act'' so that more 
Americans can serve their communities and their country. Both Houses 
should reach agreement on my Faith-Based Initiative to support the 
armies of compassion that are mentoring our children and caring for the 
homeless and offering hope to the addicted. This Nation should not fear 
faith; we ought to welcome faith into the compassion and help of 
citizens in need.
    A compassionate society must promote opportunity for all, including 
the independence and dignity that come from ownership. This 
administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in 
America. We want more people owning their own home. We have a minority 
homeownership gap in America. I presented a plan to the United States 
Congress to close that gap, and I urge them to act.
    We want people to own and manage their own health care plan. We want 
people to own and manage their own retirement account. We want more 
people to own their own small businesses, because in America we 
understand, if a person owns something, he or she has a vital stake in 
the future of this country.
    In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take 
responsibility for the decisions they make. We're working to change the 
culture in this country from one that said, ``If it feels good, do it,'' 
and ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else,'' to a new culture 
in which each of understands we're responsible for the decisions we make 
in life.
    If you are fortunate enough to be a mother or a father, you're 
responsible for loving your child with all your heart. If you're 
concerned about the quality of the education in your community, you're 
responsible for doing something about it. If you are a CEO in corporate 
America, you're responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders 
and your employees.
    And in the new responsibility society, each of us is responsible for 
loving our neighbor just like we'd like to be loved ourself. We can see 
the culture of service and responsibility growing around us. I started 
the USA Freedom Corps to encourage Americans to extend a compassionate 
hand to a neighbor in need. Your response has been strong. I get reports 
about our faith-based and charities that are strong all across America. 
People want to serve our country.
    Policemen and firefighters and people who wear this Nation's uniform 
are reminding us what it means to sacrifice for something greater than 
yourself. Once again, the children of America believe in heroes because 
they see them every day. In these challenging times, the world has seen 
the resolve and the courage of America. I've been privileged to see the 
compassion and the character of the American people.
    All the tests of the last 2\1/2\ years have come to the right 
nation. We're a strong country, and we use that strength to defend the 
peace. We're an optimistic country, confident in ourselves and in ideals 
bigger than ourselves. Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by 
spreading freedom. At home, we seek to lift up lives by spreading 
opportunity to every corner of America. This is the work that history 
has set before us. We welcome it, and we know that for our country, the 
best days lie ahead.
    May God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 7:08 p.m. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 
Prior to these remarks, the President crossed the international dateline 
on his return flight from Australia. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. 
Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James R. ``Duke'' Aiona, Jr., of Hawaii; Mayor 
Alan M.

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Arakawa of Maui County, HI; Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste of Kauai County, HI; 
Brennon Morioka, Hawaii State chairman, Travis Thompson, Hawaii national 
committeeman, and Miriam Hellreich, Hawaii national committeewoman, 
Republican National Committee; and former President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.