[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
[September 22, 2004]
[Pages 2152-2164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in a Discussion on Education in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
September 22, 2004
The President. Thank you all for coming. I appreciate so many people
coming out to say hello. Thanks.
So when I asked Laura to marry me, she said,
``Fine. Just so long as I don't have to give any speeches.'' [Laughter]
Fortunately she didn't hold me to the promise. She's a woman of great
compassion and decency. She understands education well. I'm proud to
call her wife. I know you're proud to call her First Lady.
I want to talk about my plans to make America and the world safer
and to make this country a more hopeful place. Today we're going to
emphasize education. We've got some experts up here on education. And in
a little bit we're going to hear from them to help make the points that
Laura and I are making around the country, that
we can close an achievement gap, that every child can learn, we expect
every school to teach. And we're making progress when it comes to our
public schools.
I also want to thank you for what you're going to do. See, what
you're going to do is put up the signs and register the voters, bring
people out to vote. Today you're going to leave here, hopefully,
realizing that I have a reason to run again, that I've got a vision,
that Laura and I are honored to serve our
country. But I'm traveling the country giving people a reason why: Four
more years will make the world a safer place, America a safer place, and
the country a more hopeful place.
I am not only out there campaigning with Laura, but I'm really pleased with the good work Vice
President Cheney has done and is doing as well.
I also want to thank you for training our Director of Homeland
Security so well. [Laughter] Tom Ridge is doing a
great job. He's a close friend. I'm really proud of the work he's doing
on behalf of our country to better protect America from these evildoers
that would like to continue to strike us. Tom is doing a wonderful job.
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I'm proud to be working with your U.S. Senators: Senator Specter--put him back in for 6 more years, by the way.
He's a good man. Senator Santorum, he's a good
fellow too.
I appreciate Melissa Brown, who's running
for the United States House. Thank you for coming.
Tom Corbett, the candidate for
attorney general, is with us. Jean Craige Pepper is with us. Thanks for coming, Jean. I'm proud you're
here. Listen, I understand--understand Karen Stout, the president of the community college system--thank you
for coming.
Let me say something about community colleges.
Audience member. [Inaudible] [Laughter]
The President. Thank you. Community colleges are vital for the
future of this country. You're going to hear me talk a little bit about
the changing times in which we live and that institutions must change
with the changing times. Our worker training programs must change with
the changing times, and community colleges are a fantastic place, a
wonderful opportunity for workers to gain the skills necessary to fill
the jobs of the 21st century. And I appreciate you being here.
Part of our vision for a more hopeful America expands community
college--access to community colleges all across our country. Think
about the community colleges: They're accessible; they're affordable;
and they're able to adjust to the times. And we need to use community
colleges more effectively to make sure, as the economy changes, as new
jobs are created, the workers can gain the skills necessary to fill the
jobs of the 21st century.
I'm proud you're here. Thanks for coming. You've got a great system,
I understand.
Also met Shannon Hickey. Where are you,
Shannon? Somewhere. Anyway, she's here, believe me. She came to the
airport. Oh, there's Shannon. Thanks for being here. Hiding behind the
pillar--or hiding in front of the pillar. Shannon meets me at the
airport today. Shannon is a soldier in the army of compassion. She is a
soul who started what's called Mychal's Message in 2002. She is a social
entrepreneur. She heard a call and acted upon it. This program serves an
outreach to the homeless in Philadelphia and other cities in the State
of Pennsylvania. This young soul, inspired by the example of Father
Mychal Judge, who is the chaplain of the New York City Fire Department
who died on September the 11th, 2001, heard a call, a universal call to
love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, and started this
program to help people who need help. Listen, the strength of this
country is the hearts and souls of our citizens. That's the true
strength of America. The strength of America is found in people like
Shannon. I'm honored you're here.
I particularly want the young who are here to look at
Shannon as an example of what you can do to
help change America, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
Proud you're here, Shannon. Thank you for the example you set.
Later on today I'm going to travel your State and inspect the damage
of the floods. I just want the people of this important State to
understand that our Government is ready to help, that we'll provide
whatever aid is necessary, whatever aid we're capable of providing, to
the victims of these floods. Our prayers go to those families who've had
their lives turned upside down, and God bless you all.
A hopeful society is one in which the economy grows. See, you can't
have a hopeful society if people can't find work. And our economy is
growing, and it is amazing it is growing because we've overcome a lot of
obstacles. When you're out gathering up the vote, remind people what
we've been through in a brief period of time. We've been through a
recession. When Vice President Cheney and I got
sworn in, this country was heading into a recession. As a matter of
fact, the stock
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market had been correcting about 5 months before the inauguration. In
other words, the economy was beginning to change.
And then as we began to get on our feet again, some corporate
scandals affected the conscience of our country. One of the things that
our society rests upon is confidence, and people--and the numbers on
balance sheets, and some of our citizens weren't responsible citizens.
They betrayed the trust. We got together and passed tough laws that make
it clear we're not going to tolerate that kind of dishonesty in the
boardrooms of America. But the corporate scandals affected us. Those
scandals did affect us.
Then, of course, the enemy attacked us on September the 11th, 2001.
Some estimate it costs us a million jobs in the 3 months after the
attack. These are major obstacles for any economy to overcome, yet we're
overcoming them.
The economy is growing. The unemployment rate in this State is 5.6
percent. That's down. People are working. I understand there are some
pockets that still are lagging behind the national numbers, and we're
going to keep working to make sure people can find work. The national
unemployment rate is 5.4 percent. That's lower than the average of the
1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
We've overcome these obstacles because we've got great workers.
We've overcome these obstacles because the entrepreneurial spirit is
strong in America. The small-business sector of our economy is thriving.
We've overcome these obstacles because the farmers are--know what
they're doing, and they're good at growing crops. We've overcome these
obstacles because of tax cuts.
And so the question is, how do we take this recovery and convert it
into lasting prosperity? Here's how.
First, America must be the best place in the world to do business.
If you want to find jobs here in America, if you want people being able
to realize their dreams by working, America must be the best place in
the entire world for people to do business. That means less regulations
on our businesses. That means we've got to do something about these
lawsuits that are making it awfully hard for employers to expand.
That means Congress needs to pass my energy plan. You want jobs here
at home? If you want there to be jobs in Pennsylvania and in America, if
you want our manufacturing companies to be able to thrive, we need
reliable sources of energy. We need to modernize our electricity grid.
We need to encourage conservation. We need to use renewables like
ethanol and biodiesel. We need to use technology to make sure we can
burn our coal as cleanly as possible. We need to use technology to
explore for natural gas in our hemisphere. What I'm telling you is, in
order to make sure these kids can find work and to make sure this job
base continues to expand, we must be less reliant on foreign sources of
energy.
In order to make sure jobs are here in America, we must reject
economic isolationism and open up markets to U.S. products. See, we are
good at a lot of things here in America, and we ought to have a level
playing field so that we can sell that which we're good at producing
around the world. We open up our markets from goods from other
countries, and it's good for U.S. consumers. I mean, if you've got more
product to choose from, you're likely to find that which you want at a
better quality and better price. So what I say to countries like China
is, ``You treat us the way we treat you.'' We're going to open up the
markets around the world. We'll create a level playing field. Americans
can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, if the rules are fair.
You want this economy to continue to grow, we've got to keep taxes
low. And we have a difference of opinion in this campaign about taxes.
My opponent thus far has proposed $2.2 trillion
in new spending, and we've still got a month to go--
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[laughter]--$2.2 trillion. That's a lot even for a Senator from
Massachusetts. [Laughter] So they say, ``How are you going to pay for
it?'' They said, ``How are you going to pay for it?'' He said, ``That's
easy. Tax the rich.'' Now, you've heard that before, haven't you?
First of all, do you realize most small businesses pay tax at the
individual income-tax level? Think about that: 90 percent of small
businesses are organized as Subchapter S corporations or limited
partnerships. Therefore, if you talk about raising the top two brackets
of the individual income tax, you're talking about taxing them. That
makes no sense. Seventy percent of new jobs in America are created by
small businesses. And when my opponent says he's going to tax the rich
by raising the top two brackets, it means he's going to tax about a
million small businesses that are creating new jobs. It makes no sense
to tax the job creators when this economy is beginning to recover.
Secondly, he says he's going to tax the rich.
Rich hire lawyers and accountants for a reason--[laughter]--to stick you
with the bill. We're not going to let him tax you because we're going to
win in November.
The work place has changed dramatically over the past 40 years. You
know, it used to be, a person had one job, one career, one pension plan,
one health care plan, and that person was generally a male. Today,
workers--Americans change jobs and careers, and a lot of women are
working both in the home and outside the home. And yet----
Audience member. ``W'' stands for ``Women.''
The President. And so it--and yet, when you think about it, the
fundamental systems of Government were designed for yesterday. The labor
laws were designed for yesterday. The health care plans were designed
for yesterday. The pension plans were designed for yesterday. The Tax
Code was designed for yesterday. I'm running again because I want to
change these fundamental systems to help people realize their dreams.
See, the role of Government is to provide opportunity for people to
realize their dreams, not to dictate to people, not to tell people, not
to run the lives of the American citizens. And that's the fundamental
difference of this campaign.
A couple of points I want to make and explain to you what I'm
talking about. Take Social Security: If you're a senior citizen on
Social Security, you have nothing to worry about, about the Trust Fund
providing the money the Government said it's going to pay you. That's
just the way it is. Now, I understand how politics works, and I
understand there's attempts in the political campaigns to scare seniors
by saying if so-and-so gets elected, they're going to take away your
check. But the reality is the Social Security Trust is solvent for those
who are on Social Security today. You're going to get your check, in
other words. Baby boomers, like me--I think we're in pretty good shape
when it comes to the Social Security Trust.
But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We
need to worry about these kids right back here, in terms of whether or
not there's going to be a Social Security trust available to meet what
the Government said it's going to do. I believe in order to strengthen
Social Security, younger workers ought to be able to take some of their
own money and set up personal savings accounts to get a better rate of
return than the current Social Security Trust does, a personal savings
account they call their own, a personal savings account they can pass on
to another generation, a personal savings account that the Government
cannot take away. We've got to think differently about our pension
plans. They were designed for the past. Times have changed.
Labor laws, for example--it is impossible for some business because
of labor laws to give a mom flex-time or comp-time at her place of work,
because the laws were designed for yesterday. I believe the labor
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laws ought to be designed for tomorrow and allow companies to let
workers take time off so that they can juggle the needs of work and
family. Listen, our labor laws ought to be family-friendly. Our labor
laws ought to recognize that the work force has changed dramatically.
A couple of things about health care right quick. I'm a big backer,
believer in what's called health savings accounts. These are accounts
where people can save tax-free, employer and employee can contribute
tax-free--that helps cover catastrophic costs for the worker. But these
health savings accounts are accounts that somebody calls their own. They
own them, and they can take them from job to job, no matter what career
they may be in.
These accounts make sense. It helps hold down the cost of medicine,
at the same time as it ensures that the health care decisions are made
by doctors and patients, not by Government planners and bureaucrats. I
believe that good health policy empowers people to make decisions, as
opposed to empowering the Federal Government to make decisions on behalf
of people. And that's the fundamental difference in this campaign on
health care.
Now, look, I believe Government should help those who cannot help
themselves. That's why I believe in community health centers, places
where the poor and the indigent can get good primary care and good
preventative care. And I'm going to make sure in the second term that
every poor county in America has one.
I also believe we ought to continue to expand the children's health
care program, to make sure that all who are eligible are covered by this
health care initiative.
But I am unalterably opposed to plans which move people from private
insurance to Government insurance. I'm unalterably opposed to plans
which mean the Federal Government will intrude into your decisionmaking
process.
The cost of health care is affected by frivolous lawsuits. I
strongly support medical liability reform. We must make sure good
doctors stay in practice. This is an issue in this campaign. See, you
can't have it both ways. You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-
trial-lawyer at the same time. You have to make a choice. Listen, I
understand what's happening to ob-gyns here in the State of
Pennsylvania, because I've met them. I've met with those whose premiums
are getting so high they cannot practice, and therefore, it hurts
pregnant women. I understand what's taking place in your State. But you
understand it better than I do. And therefore, I'm going to continue to
talk about medical liability reform until the Senate and the House
overcomes the obstacles of the trial lawyers and gets the job done.
All right, we're here to talk about education. A hopeful world is
one in which every child learns to read, write, and add and subtract. I
went to Washington to fix problems and to challenge the status quo, if
the status quo was--meant mediocrity. And I was worried about a public
school system that sometimes gave up on kids. I went to Washington to
challenge what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. See, if you
lower the bar, you're going to get lousy results. If you believe certain
children cannot read and write and add and subtract, those children
won't learn to read and write and add and subtract. We had a policy, if
we're frank about it, where schools just shuffled kids through. Not
every school, of course, but many children were being just shuffled
through the system, and we hoped that we got it right in the end. And
that's not fair. It's not fair to the child. It's not fair to the
parents, and it's, frankly, not fair to the teachers and principals,
either.
And so, in return for increasing Federal spending, I said to
Congress, ``Why don't we insist that States measure early? Why don't we
insist that there be strong accountability measures so we can determine
whether curriculum are working, so we can
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correct a child's learning problems early before that child just moves
through grade after grade? Why don't we say we're going to challenge the
soft bigotry of low expectations by raising the bar, allowing local
folks to make the right decisions for their schools, and using an
accountability system to help achieve excellence?'' And the Congress
joined me in passing that piece of legislation, and it's working.
It's working because there's an achievement gap in America that's
closing. And I can say it's working because we measure. We used to say,
``I think it's working.'' Now we say, ``It's working.'' More and more
African American fourth graders are achieving what--that which we
wanted, is being able to read at grade level. Those are facts. More and
more Latino kids are learning to read and write, and that's a fact. And
that's an important part of making sure this country has got a hopeful
future.
My opponent and I--he supported No Child Left
Behind Act. Then, of course, he gets in a tough campaign--[laughter]--
and starts talking about weakening the accountability standards. That
makes no sense to weaken something that's working. We want to know--we
want to know.
And today we're going to talk about some educators--talk with some
educators that understand the power of using accountability as a way to
achieve excellence for every child, excellence for every child.
Let me talk about one other thing before we talk to our guests, and
that is, I'm going to ask Congress to set up a teacher incentive fund.
It's a $500 million fund to allow States and school districts to access
the money to pay teachers for a job well done. And if the accountability
system shows progress, I think there ought to be a reward for that
progress. The Federal Government is not going to decide who gets the
money. I believe in local control of schools. Districts and States ought
to making those decisions about how to use performance grant money.
We're also expanding the, what we call the Adjunct Teacher Corps.
It's to pay professionals, particularly in math and science, to come in
the classrooms, because I know we need to be emphasizing math and
science if we want our high school kids to have the skills necessary to
fill the jobs of the 21st century.
I believe very strongly that we ought to provide incentives for
teachers to teach in a math, science, or special ed in low-income
schools. It's a need that we have around the country. And therefore, I
believe we ought to increase student loan forgiveness from $5,000 to
$17,500 to help teachers.
Finally, I'm a big believer in teacher training programs. The
Reading First program that we put in place provides a lot of money to
teach teachers how to teach and use curriculum that works. See, if you
measure, you can determine whether or not the curriculum you're using is
working. And when you find a curriculum that does work, then we ought to
make sure we provide enough teacher training money so these good souls
have got the skills necessary to achieve excellence in the classroom.
And so I'm joined today by Gene Hickok. He's
a fellow Pennsylvania citizen. He is a former Pennsylvania secretary of
education, a person I know well. I've worked with him a long time on
achieving excellence in public schools.
Gene, it's good to see you. Why don't you
tell us what it's like to be involved with proposing, passing, and
implementing an historic piece of legislation.
[At this point, Gene Hickok made brief remarks.]
The President. Yes, I agree. Listen, here's the thing, that when
Gene talks about a school full of children who
some may think can't possibly learn, and they are learning, it basically
says: One, there's a dedicated principal and great teachers; it also
says that they're using the system to be able to solve problems today,
as opposed to kind
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of ignoring the problems. And by that, it--for example, if a child falls
behind in reading, there's extra Federal money, particularly for Title I
students, to help that child with tutoring and after-school help. It
provides money to make sure that child has an opportunity to get up to
speed.
So the accountability system doesn't punish. Frankly, it exposes
problems. It's a diagnostic tool. I've always said to people, ``You
can't solve a problem until you diagnose it.'' And we're diagnosing
problems, and we're providing extra money to solve the problem.
And what Gene is saying is, people are using
this system to be able to achieve excellence in the classrooms, and it's
happening. How do you know? Because we're measuring, is how we know.
We're able to measure progress. We're able to watch. It's called annual
yearly progress. That's kind of the key word. Progress toward what?
Progress toward excellence. Thank you, Gene, for being here.
Lou Ramos is with us. So why are you here,
Lou? [Laughter] You're a member of the----
Luis A. Ramos. I'm a member of the State
board of education, Mr. President.
The President. That's why you're here.
Mr. Ramos. That's why I'm here. [Laughter]
The President. Plus, you're a good man. That's why you're here.
Mr. Ramos. I do want to thank you for the
opportunity to let you know that Pennsylvanians do not fear the ``A''
word, accountability. We're here for that, and we recognize that. We're
up to the challenge.
But what's happening in Pennsylvania is that, in fact, we're making
decisions based on data. We are, in a difficult times as far as funding
education, and I do know that--I've studied the data, and you've
increased funding for education by 37 percent. It could be a little
more. We look for that. That has helped.
The President. You mean to Pennsylvania.
Mr. Ramos. In Pennsylvania.
The President. It's 49 percent nationwide.
Mr. Ramos. Forty-nine percent nationwide.
The President. This looks like a funding gap--we've got to do
something about it. [Laughter]
[Mr. Ramos made further remarks, concluding as follows.]
Mr. Ramos. So there's a lot I can share,
and I want to do that, because I had my own story to share with you.
The President. Let's hear it.
Mr. Ramos. Well, actually, I'm always
asked, ``Why are you so passionate about education, considering that you
worked for a large energy company, and you take time to do that?'' And
the answer is, as a young child, I came to the mainland from Puerto
Rico, didn't speak a stitch of English. English was not my first
language. It is today.
The President. Some people say it's not my first language, either.
[Laughter]
[Mr. Ramos made further remarks.]
The President. What a great story. Let me tell you something about
our country. Think about that, there's old Lou
sitting next to the President of the United States, you know, talking
about his dreams and aspirations.
Mr. Ramos. Only in America.
The President. It is only in America. And listen, and you know
what--we want this story to be repeated neighborhood after neighborhood,
school after school, by making sure no child is left behind. See, if you
give the people the tools necessary, they can realize great dreams here
in America. And the most important tool of all is to make sure every
child has an education.
One of the things I learned as Governor of Texas and know as
President of the United States, that every school--successful schools
have got strong leaders, and that strong leader is the principal. And
today
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we've got Sharen Finzimer with us today. She
is the principal of F.S. Edmonds School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Thanks for coming. What kind of school have you got there?
[Sharen Finzimer made brief remarks.]
The President. AYP means annual yearly progress. In other words, it
is Government-speak for we're measuring to determine whether or not the
children are heading toward excellence. Why--besides your brilliance,
why?
[Ms. Finzimer made further remarks.]
The President. Let me stop you right there. Notice she said ``research-based.'' In other words, what that
means is, people have actually looked at what works and have
incorporated what works into the textbooks. That's what we want. We want
curriculum that actually achieves our objectives. Remember the old
reading debates--there was--sometimes people had this notion about what
might work, and we never knew whether it was or not until we started to
measure. That's how you can say ``research-based'' textbooks.
Keep going.
[Ms. Finzimer made further remarks.]
The President. Interventions means, when they find the child
beginning to slip behind what is expected, there's extra money to help.
That's what this program is all about. When we say no child left behind,
that's exactly what we mean, no child left behind. In other words, she's
able to use technologies and to follow the progress of a child on a
regular basis, which is a change from the past. The past used to be,
they'd kind of just move them through. Now they're analyzing each
child's progress and working to correct, if the child has a problem,
working to correct his or her problem. I think that's what you're
saying. And that's what you're doing, and it's working. It's making a
difference.
Tell me about your Saturday school.
[Ms. Finzimer made further remarks.]
The President. You can understand why her school is doing well, right? She has a passion. And
when she talks about Title I students, that's where our Federal
Government has increased funding quite substantially, since I've been
the President of the United States, nearly 50-percent increase in the
funds for Title I, all aimed at making sure no child is left behind. You
can't be a great principal unless you've got great teachers. We don't
have one of your teachers here, but I know they're great teachers.
But we do have Megan Schmidt with us, a
teacher. What subject?
Megan Schmidt. Mr. President, I teach
English and creative writing at North Penn High School.
The President. Thanks for teaching. Tell us what you've learned.
[Ms. Schmidt made further remarks.]
The President. Let me pick up on one thing that Megan said. It makes the parents aware. It's a amazing--when
Laura and I were honored to serve our State, we
were traveling around, and people would say, ``Gosh, my school is doing
great. At least I think my school is doing great.'' And all of a sudden,
when we started to put out the accountability measures, people would
say, ``Well, maybe it's not doing quite as great,'' when the test scores
didn't measure up to the school in the community next door or another
school in the same community. Accountability, allowing people to see
results, really does encourage parental involvement. Sometimes educators
don't particularly care the way the parent has been involved, like,
``How come you didn't tell us earlier? What are you doing about it?''
But nevertheless, it does encourage parents to get involved, doesn't it?
Ms. Schmidt. Absolutely.
The President. Keep going.
Ms. Schmidt. Thank you.
[Ms. Schmidt made further remarks.]
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The President. Let me say something. I hope people, particularly
young, consider becoming teachers. It is such a noble profession, and
it's such an important profession. I want to thank you for being here,
Megan.
The temptation is to weaken No Child Left Behind. There's great
temptation in Washington to say, ``Gosh, well, let's kind of ease up.
Maybe we shouldn't measure. Maybe we ought to use different criterion to
determine whether or not people are meeting AYP--annual yearly
progress.'' The guy I'm running against for
President actual suggested maybe school attendance ought to be
considered as to whether or not we're making annual yearly progress.
That doesn't make any sense. What we want to do is to continue to focus
on each child's ability to learn and correct problems now so we don't
just shuffle them through the system. We're making great progress. We're
closing the achievement gap. We're going to continue to fund education.
We'll continue to help teachers train. We'll continue to insist upon
strong accountability, and we're not turning back.
I want to talk a little bit about how to make America and the world
safer. We have a solemn duty to protect the American people. I'd like to
share with you a couple of the lessons I've learned from September the
11th, 2001. First of all, we face an enemy that is coldblooded. They
have no conscience whatsoever. And therefore--and they're smart, and
they're capable, and they're patient, and they're tough. And therefore,
our Government must never yield, must never try to negotiate with them,
must never hope that--for the best, that they change their ways. We must
stay on the offensive and bring them to justice before they hurt us
again here at home.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. Thank you all. Please. Thank you all. Thank you all.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. Oh no, no, no, not yet. Not yet. Got a little more
work to do here. [Laughter] Thank you, though.
Secondly, when the President speaks, he must mean what he says. He's
got to be clear and understandable. And when you say something, you've
got to follow through. I said I recognize this is a different kind of
struggle than we've ever been used to. And it's a struggle that we will
win, so long as we're resolute and determined.
I said that, if you provide safe haven for a terrorist, you're just
as guilty as the terrorists. I meant that, because I understood that in
order to find the kind of shadowy group of people, we had to rout them
out of their safe havens. Remember, Al Qaida was training in
Afghanistan. They had training bases. They literally trained thousands
of people. They--the Al Qaida strategy in Afghanistan is clear. They
were the parasite on a lenient host, and maybe at some point in time,
had they been there long enough, they would have become the host. But
their supporters were the Taliban, and these people were some kind of
backwards. Here we are talking about--here we are--listen to this.
Listen to this for a second. Here we are talking about education, and
yet, they believed young girls shouldn't be educated. Think about
growing up in a society like that, a society without hope, a society
that said, ``You're condemned for failure because you're a female.''
That's the way the Taliban was. It's hard for any American to envision
somebody whose vision is that dim and dark.
I made it clear to the Taliban that they had to stop harboring Al
Qaida. They didn't believe us. And so a great United States military
went in and removed the Taliban from power. [Applause] Hold on a second.
We're safer as a result of the actions that the U.S. military took, and
the people of Afghanistan are better off.
Yesterday I met with President Karzai. He's
running for election. Could you ever imagine somebody from the Taliban
saying, ``I'm running for election''? [Laughter] This
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guy is out running for election. Think about what's happened in
Afghanistan in a brief period of time. Young girls are now going to
school, and we're helping to rebuild schools. Their moms are no longer
subjected to being whipped in the public square because they don't
happen to agree with the ideology of hatred that was being professed by
the Taliban. Ten million Afghan citizens have registered to vote, 41
percent of whom are women. An election is going to take place in
October. It's an unbelievable statistic.
People say, ``Well, there are certain people who really don't want
to be free in the world.'' I strongly disagree with that concept. I
believe everybody wants to be free, and the Afghan people are showing
that they want to be free. There's a lot of intimidation there. A lot of
people--remember, they pulled the poor women off the bus--``they'' being
the Taliban--and killed them because they had, I think, voter
registration cards. The Afghan people are not going to be stopped when
it comes to freedom. They will defy these terrorists because freedom
exists in their heart and soul. It's something they're willing to work
for, and we have an obligation to help them. A free Afghanistan is in
our Nation's interest. We're more secure because of the decision that we
took in Afghanistan.
Let me talk about Iraq. One of the lessons that changed--one of the
lessons we learned or must have learned or must never forget about
September the 11th, is that we've got to take threats seriously, before
they come to hurt us. When I was your age, if we saw a threat overseas,
we could deal with it if we felt like it or not, because we never really
dreamt that an attack would occur on America again. And that's the
fundamental shift of our life here in America. September the 11th makes
us realize that an enemy can strike us. And if we see threats overseas,
we must take them seriously, before they hurt us.
Our hope, of course, is diplomacy works. That's why we're working
with other nations to send a message to Iran and North Korea. There's
more than one voice in saying to the North Koreans, ``Disarm, and join
the world as a peaceful nation.'' China is involved. Japan is involved.
South Korea is involved. Russia is involved, and the United States of
America. We're all saying the same thing. We want there to be a nuclear-
weapons-free Korean Peninsula.
We always must try to deal with threats diplomatically. Now, in
Iraq, we saw a threat. The threat was, was that Saddam Hussein was a sworn enemy of America. He had used weapons of
mass destruction. He had terrorist connections, Abu Abbas, Abu Nidal,
Zarqawi. He paid the families of
suicide bombers. And the greatest threat facing us was whether or not he
would be able to share his capability of producing weapons, or weapons
that we thought were there, with an enemy that would like to inflict
more harm. It's why I went to the United Nations, to try to solve this
problem diplomatically.
I said, ``Listen, we've got a problem. We see a threat.'' The
Congress spoke, by the way. They looked at the same intelligence I
looked at and remembered the same history I did and voted overwhelmingly
to authorize the use of force. My opponent made
that same decision. He voted to authorize the use of force. He
remembered--he said Saddam Hussein was a
threat then. [Laughter]
The United Nations passed a resolution 15 to nothing that said,
``Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.'' As I said yesterday
at the United Nations, when you say something, you better mean it. In
order to keep the world more peaceful, when an international body says
``face serious consequences,'' they better mean what they say. Saddam
Hussein had no intention of disclosing or
disarming, because he didn't believe there would be serious
consequences. He had ignored the demands of the world in 2003 just like
he had done for the last decade. They wanted to send
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inspectors into his country. He systematically deceived them.
So I've got a choice. The choice is: Do I forget the lessons of
September the 11th; do I hope for the best when it comes to Saddam
Hussein; or do I take action to defend the
country? If given that choice, I'll defend America every time. The world
is safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell, and so is
America.
A couple other points I want to make right quick. Anytime we put our
troops in harm's way, they must have the full support of the Federal
Government. This is an obligation of our Government to say to the troops
and their loved ones, ``We'll give you the tools you need to complete
your mission.''
That's why a year ago I went to the Congress and asked for a
supplemental funding of $87 billion. It was money to support our troops
in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We're talking about spare parts, ammunition,
fuel, body armor, hazard pay, health benefits. It was really important
legislation. It received overwhelming support in the Senate and in the
House. Only 12 Senators voted against it, 2 of whom are my
opponent and his runningmate. [Laughter] As a matter of fact, those two, my opponent
and his runningmate voted--were two of four people who voted for the
authorization of force and against funding the troops in harm's way.
Of course, you've heard the famous statement he made. They said, ``Why did you do it?'' He said, ``Well,
I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.''
The President of the United States must speak clearly and mean what he
says.
We're doing hard work in Iraq right now. It's hard to help a country
go from tyranny to elections to peace when there are a handful of people
who are willing to kill in order to stop the process. And that's what
you're seeing on the TV screens. These people cannot beat us militarily,
and so they use the only tool at their disposal, which is beheadings and
death, to try to shake our will. They understand the nature of America.
American people value every human life. We believe in the dignity and
worth of every human being. We have a conscience. We weep when we think
about the families affected by those who have been brutalized by these
terrorists. And they are hoping, these terrorists are hoping, to shake
the will of the Iraqi people and of the American people. They know
what's on our TV screens.
I met yesterday with Prime Minister Allawi.
He's the Prime Minister of Iraq. He said as clearly as he could to me
that not only are we making progress, but the Iraqi people want to be
free. They are not going to allow these thugs to intimidate them as they
head toward elections and a free society. Everybody wants to be free,
and we must not allow these thugs and killers to stop the advance of
freedom in Iraq.
These are critical times, and I'm glad the Prime Minister is here to reinforce the strategy we have in place.
Listen, our military is working with the Iraqi Interim Government.
They're flexible. They're changing their tactics on the ground to meet
the tactics of the enemy. We're building--rebuilding Iraq. And it's
tough, at times, because once you build something, they blow it up. But
there is steady progress, in terms of reconstruction. For example,
electricity is higher today than it was during--before our arrival to
remove Saddam Hussein from power. More and
more children are going to school. More and more children are being
immunized. Hospitals are opening up. There is progress being made, and
they're going to have elections in January.
The way to prevail, the way toward the successful conclusion we all
want, the way to secure Iraq and bring our troops home as quickly as
possible is not to wilt or waver or send mixed signals to the enemy.
My opponent is sending mixed signals. He has
had many different positions on Iraq. Incredibly, this week he said he
would
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prefer the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to
the situation in Iraq today.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. You cannot lead the war against terror if you wilt or
waver when times get tough. You cannot expect the Iraqi people to stand
up and do the hard work of democracy if you're pessimistic about their
ability to govern themselves. You cannot expect our troops to continue
doing the hard work if they hear mixed messages from Washington, DC.
Mixed signals are wrong signals. I'll continue to speak clearly. I'll
continue to lead. And I'm confident we'll achieve our objectives, and
the world will be better off and more secure.
One more point I want to make. Please sit down for a second.
[Laughter] It's not going to be a long point. [Laughter] So I was with
my friend Prime Minister Koizumi yesterday
in New York City. I said, ``You know I've been talking about you on the
campaign trail.'' He said, ``Keep talking about me.'' I said, ``Good. I
will.'' [Laughter]
And here's why I'm talking about him. He and I are friends, and
Laura and the Prime Minister are friends as well. He's been to our ranch. We sat
down at the--talking about different issues facing the world. Think
about that for a minute, in the context of World War II. Really, 60
years ago, Japan was a sworn enemy of the United States of America. A
lot of people lost their life in fighting against the Japanese in World
War II. They had attacked our country, of course, the last major attack
on our country since September--prior to September the 11th.
And after the end of World War II, Harry Truman, my predecessor, and
other Americans believed that Japan could self-govern; it could be a
democracy. That's what they believed. And they believed that because
they believe every person desires to be free. And they believed that
because--and they hoped that because they knew free societies would be
peaceful societies. And there were skeptics, of course, just like there
are in any society. People said, ``Well, gosh, you can't do that. How
can you possibly believe that our enemy could become a friend? How could
you possibly believe Japan could become a democracy?'' But they
believed, and they worked hard, and Japan did become a democracy.
And today, as a result of Japan becoming a democracy--today, as a
result of liberty being spread to parts of the world where there was
hatred--I sit down with the Prime Minister of Japan talking about keeping the peace we all want. And
that's going to happen, so long as we're resolute and steadfast in our
belief in liberty. It's going to happen in our day. It's going to make
the lives of these folks a lot more peaceful, because someday an
American President is going to be sitting down with a duly elected
leader of Iraq talking about peace in the greater Middle East, talking
about how to make this world a peaceful place.
These are historic times. I'm driven by my desire to protect the
American people. I'll be steadfast in my resolve to do everything I can
to make you secure. But I'm also driven by my deep belief that every
soul yearns for liberty. Listen, freedom is not America's gift to the
world; freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this
world.
I want to thank you all for coming out. Thank you for your vote.
Thank you for your support. May God bless you all.
Note: The President spoke at approximately 11:50 a.m. at the Valley
Forge Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Melissa Brown,
candidate for Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District; Jean Craige
Pepper, candidate for Pennsylvania State Treasurer; Karen A. Stout,
president, Montgomery County Community College; President Hamid Karzai
of Afghanistan; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi of the Iraqi Interim Government; and Prime Minister
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Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. The transcript released by the Office of the
Press Secretary also included the remarks of the First Lady, who
introduced the President.