[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Pages 825-829]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Republican National Committee Dinner

May 14, 2002

    Thank you for that great welcome. I'm honored. I'm glad I heard the 
second introduction. [Laughter] You know, when I asked Marc to become 
the party chairman, I knew he was going to do a great job, and he hasn't 
let me down. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership. I appreciate 
that.
    I want to thank Marc, and I want to thank Ann Wagner. I want to 
thank Marie-Josee; thank you very much for doing this. I appreciate your 
leadership. I'm honored that Lew Eisenberg agreed to serve as the 
finance chairman of our grand party. Lew, thank you for your leadership 
as well. I want to thank all who made this dinner possible. I 
particularly want to thank you all for being here tonight.
    I've been blessed by a lot of things. I've been blessed by a great 
group of friends, many of whom are here, and I want to thank you for 
coming. And the country realizes now I've been blessed with a great 
wife. I am sure glad she said yes when I said, ``Will you marry me?'' 
[Laughter] As you know, a lot of her friends are still confused as to 
why she said yes. [Laughter] But I wish she was here tonight. She's in 
Paris, and I don't mean Paris, Texas. [Laughter] She is in Paris, 
France. The French are getting to see what America knows, that our First 
Lady is calm and steady and dignified and is a great First Lady for the 
United States.
    I see out there many of the members of my team, and I've been 
blessed with a great team. I want to thank my Cabinet officials who are 
here tonight. I particularly want to say one word about a member of my 
team who isn't here; I understand he spoke at lunch. Somebody said to me 
one time, he said, ``Well, Dick Cheney is going to be a good Vice 
President.'' No, Dick Cheney is a great Vice President for the United 
States.
    I want to thank the Speaker. Mr. Speaker--where is Mr. Speaker? 
Somewhere down there. Hi, Speaker. The Speaker of the House is a 
fabulous Speaker of the House. And one of the things I'm going to 
dedicate myself to is to make sure he remains the Speaker of the House.
    And I've got another job, too, as the leader of this party, and it's 
to make sure that Trent Lott becomes the majority leader of the United 
States Senate. I look out there and see many of the fine Members of the 
United States Congress, Tom DeLay and others. I want to thank you all 
for being here. Thank you for supporting our great party. Thank you for 
your leadership, and thanks for working with your President.
    I also want to thank all the folks who do the grassroots work for 
the Republican Party. Those of us who have ever run for office know full 
well how important it is to have people who are willing to man the 
phones and to stuff the envelopes, to carry the signs, to stand on the 
street corners, to do all the work necessary. And so, on behalf of a 
grateful group of elected officials, thank you for your hard work on 
behalf of our candidacies and our philosophy.
    You know, it doesn't seem like a year ago that I was here. Time is 
flying. Either that's because I've got a lot to do, or I'm enjoying 
myself. [Laughter] The truth is, both are the reasons why time is 
flying. I do have a lot to do. But I can't tell you how much I love 
being your President, and thank you for the opportunity to serve this 
great Nation.
    A year ago I said that I would do my part to try to change the tone 
in Washington, DC, to get rid of the needless name-calling that tends to 
go on here, to try to focus on what's best for America, to bring a 
philosophy which is conservative and yet compassionate, to not listen to 
the voices that try to tear people down but to lift this Nation up, and 
to focus on getting things done. And I believe--and I strongly believe--
that we've made great progress. I feel just as strongly today as I did a 
year ago about the need for the American people to learn that when our 
philosophy is put into action, people are better off, and that when they 
give us a chance to lead, we lead by focusing on results. And I want to 
talk about some of those results here tonight.
    First, I had the honor of signing the largest tax reduction in 
years. That tax reduction reflected two things: One, we Republicans 
understand that we're not spending the Government's money. It's the 
people's money, and we've got to let the people keep more

[[Page 826]]

of their own money in order to keep our economy growing. And secondly, 
that tax relief came at the right time.
    Some of them up here read a different economic textbook than we do. 
They thought that it made sense to take more money out of the pockets of 
the hard-working taxpayers if the economy were to slow down. We think 
just the opposite. We think, when the economy slows down, you give 
people more of their own money so they can spend. And when they spend on 
goods and services, somebody provides the goods and services. And when 
somebody provides goods and services, it means work for American people. 
This tax relief was the right thing for the taxpayers, and it's the 
right thing for the economy of the United States.
    And I look forward to working with the United States Congress to 
make sure that the tax relief we passed is permanent, is long-lasting, 
is real for the American taxpayer.
    At the same time, I worked with Members on both sides of our aisle 
to provide an economic stimulus package, just when the country needed 
it. And I want to thank the leaders here who worked with the White 
House, who understands that when we encourage investment in the private 
sector, it is more likely to lead to work for the American people.
    I want to thank the people here who helped me work on education 
reform. There's nothing more important than making sure that every child 
in America gets educated. I don't mean a few; I don't mean some who live 
in certain neighborhoods; I mean every single child in this country.
    We passed a bill that sets high standards. You see, we understand 
that if you set low standards, if you don't believe people can learn, 
people won't learn. See, ours is the party that looks at each individual 
and says, he or she matters, and he or she can learn. And we set high 
standards.
    Ours is also the party that believes in results. Listen, if we spend 
Federal money--which we do--on disadvantaged children, we want to know. 
We expect results. We expect the children to learn to read and write and 
add and subtract. See, we believe every child can learn.
    So part of the reform package said that if you get help, you must 
show us--you, the States and local jurisdictions, must show us. And if 
children will learn, listen, we'll praise all day long the teachers who 
are working hard to make that happen. But when we find children trapped 
in schools that will not teach and will not change, we demand something 
else. No child should be stuck in a school that won't teach.
    And finally, the core component of the education bill recognizes 
that we don't know all--everything here in Washington. And so we passed 
power out of Washington to empower local people, to empower people 
closest to the children, to chart the path to excellence for each child. 
No, this education reform is an important piece of legislation. It's 
conservative to trust local people; it is compassionate--it is 
compassionate to insist that every single child in America get a quality 
education.
    And when Dick Cheney and I came to Washington, we said we'd make 
sure our defense and defenses of the United States were strong. And we 
have done that. The morale in the United States military is high. Our 
folks are being trained, and they're being well equipped. And our Nation 
is better off for a strong defense policy that we support.
    We've made progress on key issues--key issues--like trade. I want to 
thank the House of Representatives for getting a good trade bill out of 
the House. And it's now up to the United States Senate to get a trade 
bill to my desk. It is important to open up markets for U.S. products.
    We passed an energy bill. For the first time, our Nation had an 
administration that was willing to stand up and say we need an energy 
policy, a policy which encourages conservation and new technologies for 
renewal but also a policy that understands it's not in our Nation's 
interest to be dependent on foreign sources of crude oil, particularly 
when some of those foreign sources of crude oil don't like us.
    One of my passions, one of my legislative passions, is to encourage 
programs based upon faith and programs based upon love to flourish all 
across America. The House of Representatives passed a important piece of 
legislation called the Faith-Based Initiative. It is stuck in the 
Senate. It is time to get this important legislation out of the United

[[Page 827]]

States Senate and on my desk, so we can capture and rally the great 
compassion all across America, to make sure nobody in America feels left 
out of this great country.
    And there are issues we're working on. There is no more important an 
issue for the President than to be able to name and nominate judges. I 
want you to know that this country has got a vacancy crisis on the 
Federal bench, and that's not good for America. That's not good for 
America. I've worked hard to name well-qualified jurists, people from 
all walks of life, people who have done different things in their life, 
different occupations, but all of them great judges. And I can't get the 
politics of the United States Senate to be set aside for the good of the 
judiciary. One reason we need to change the Senate is to make sure the 
well-qualified judges I have named and nominated get approved to the 
benches all across America.
    We're working on an early childhood development program. We want our 
Head Start programs to be able to teach our children the basics of 
reading and writing and math. If we're going to measure, we want little 
kids from all walks of life at the same starting point as other kids. 
This is essential, that we get good legislation out of the Congress that 
focuses on making sure every child learns to read. There's nothing more 
basic and nothing more important for the future of this country.
    We're working on a welfare reform package. One of the great success 
stories was the welfare reform of 1996. The welfare rolls in America are 
down by over one-half. And that's good for taxpayers, but more 
importantly, it's good for the people who've found work. A job for a 
family means dignity, and we must continue the reform of making sure we 
help people find work in America.
    And one of the interesting debates going on in Washington, which 
amazes some people--I know it amazes the people in Crawford, Texas--is, 
I think a crucial component of a good welfare reauthorization bill is to 
encourage people to marry and stay married, to encourage families--two-
parent families. The statistics show that when there's a mom and dad 
together, a child is more likely to succeed in America. And I'm proud to 
strongly support family initiatives all across this country. No, there's 
a lot to work on here for the good of the people.
    Another thing we're going to be working on is the budget. I was in 
Chicago in 2002; some guy said--a reporter said, excuse me, said--
[laughter]--a male reporter said--[laughter]--``Would you ever allow a 
deficit?'' I said, ``Only if we're at war or only if the Nation were in 
recession or only if we had a national emergency would I allow a 
deficit.'' Well, this administration got all three. And we're going to 
have a deficit because our economy isn't generating the tax revenues 
that we thought. That will be okay after a while. We'll have a small 
deficit if Congress adheres to the budget I submitted. But I wanted you 
to know how I feel about it.
    My most important job is to protect the American people. And one of 
the reasons we have a short-term deficit is because I've insisted that 
we fund our national defense to the fullest.
    My most important job is to protect innocent lives, is to secure our 
homeland, is to do everything we can to make sure the enemy doesn't hit 
us again. I want you to know that the defense of our country, protecting 
the homeland, I don't view as a partisan issue. I view it as my duty. 
And I view it as the duty of the United States Congress to work with the 
President, which is what's happening.
    I wish I could report to you that the enemy is defeated, that they 
no longer are interested in hurting us, but that's not the case. They're 
still moving around. A lot of kids say and write letters in and say, you 
know, ``Why? Why would they want to come after America?'' It's hard for 
people to understand, but these coldblooded killers hate what we stand 
for. They hate our love for freedom. They hate the fact that America 
believes strongly in the freedom for people to worship the way they see 
fit, the people for--the freedom for people to speak their mind, the 
freedom of the press. The freedoms we hold dear are hated by these 
people.
    I like to remind my fellow Americans that we're a unique land, that 
we're plenty tough. And I guess they just didn't understand us. They 
must have thought that we were so materialistic and shallow and feeble 
that, oh,

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yeah, we might file a couple of lawsuits--[laughter]--but that we 
wouldn't do anything else. Thanks to the mighty United States military 
and a vast coalition of freedom-loving countries, we've proved them 
wrong.
    And we're going to continue to prove them wrong, because this Nation 
is a united Nation; we're together. We're also patient. I've been so 
pleased and thankful that the American people have been so patient in 
the understanding of the task ahead. They don't have--like me, they 
don't have a calendar on the wall that says, by such-and-such a date 
we're going to quit. They understand that we're facing an enemy that we 
have never really seen before--a faceless, nameless bunch of people 
who--they've got leaders who say to the youngsters, ``Go blow yourself 
up, and in the meantime, I'm going to find a cave to hide in.'' A 
different kind of enemy.
    But we're learning more about them. You need to know that our 
intelligence-gathering is getting better; we're sharing a lot of 
intelligence with our friends. And we're going to run them down, one by 
one, and bring them to justice.
    History has called us into action. History has laid a significant 
responsibility on this Nation's shoulders, our collective shoulders. And 
I'm proud to report to my friends and proud to report to the world that 
we accept that responsibility.
    That's why the defense budget I submitted is significant. It has two 
principles involved in it: One, anytime we commit our young men and 
women in harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best equipment, and 
the best training.
    And the second message is to not only our friends but our enemies: 
We're in this for the long haul. We're in it until we secure our own 
homeland. See, we fight for freedom, and when somebody comes after our 
freedom, this mighty Nation is plenty tough. This mighty Nation will not 
relent in the face of people who think that we will back down.
    We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We've got work ahead of us in 
Afghanistan, and we're after them. We're going to continue to work to 
make sure that the Al Qaida killers aren't able to bunch up or train in 
other spots of the world. We're making good progress there. We're 
cutting off their money.
    But there's some larger tasks ahead as well. We just cannot, as a 
nation that loves freedom, allow the world's most dangerous regimes to 
threaten us or to team up with Al Qaida to threaten us with the world's 
most dangerous weapons.
    History is going to look back at this time, and people are going to 
say, ``Did the United States have the courage to lead, or did the United 
States blink?'' And I'm here to report to you that history will say that 
the United States of America led the world to freedom.
    I'm an incredibly optimistic person. I believe that there's some 
incredible good that's going to come out of this evil. I want you to 
know that I talk about our military, and I talk about ``getting them'' 
in caves, but I long for peace. You see, I know that by being tough and 
strong and resolute, we can achieve peace. And that's what I--that's my 
hope and my goal. And I believe it's going to happen. I believe when the 
United States leads the world, we're more likely to achieve peace in 
troubled regions and peace around the world.
    And out of the evil is going to come some good at home, too; you 
mark my words. This country is so compassionate, so decent that we will 
be able to address the pockets of despair and hopelessness which exist 
in cities and communities around our country, not by vast new Government 
programs but by the love of the American people.
    People say, what can they do to help to fight in the war against 
terror? And my answer is, love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved 
yourself. If you're interested in fighting evil, do some good. The acts 
don't have to be hugely significant. Mentor one child as a part of doing 
some good. If you've got a shut-in in your neighborhood, walk across the 
street on a daily basis and say, ``What can I do to help you?'' That's 
part of doing good. If you go to church or a synagogue or a mosque, 
rally your fellow citizens to feed somebody who is hungry. Find a child 
whose parent might be in a prison and surround him with love.
    And that's happening in America. See, the strength of America is not 
in our halls of Government; the strength of America is in the hearts and 
souls of incredibly decent and generous and kind people. There's a 
spirit

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in this country that I can feel, that's alive and well, a spirit that on 
the one hand says, we'll defend our freedoms, and a spirit on the other 
hand that says, not only will we make the world safer, we will make 
America better.
    It has been an honor to serve as the President of this great 
country. I'm an early morning guy. I love getting up in the morning and 
bringing the First Lady her coffee. I love taking Spot and Barney down 
the elevator and heading out into the South Lawn. Barney heads off with 
the gardener, because the rug in the Oval Office is new and he's quite 
young. [Laughter] Spot goes in with me. After all, she was born in the 
White House during the ``41'' era and is quite used to the 
accommodations. [Laughter]
    I sit behind a fantastic desk that has been used by Theodore 
Roosevelt--I'm a President; I call him Ted--[laughter]--Franklin 
Roosevelt, John Kennedy, the great Ronald Reagan. I look at Abraham 
Lincoln on the wall, and I put him on the wall there because he had the 
toughest job of all, which was to keep our Nation united in the face of 
a civil war. I know my job: My job is to keep our Nation united so that 
we can capture the great spirit of America, to make sure that everybody 
who lives in this country understands our promise, our values, and our 
hope. That's my dream for the world--peace--and our country being as 
hopeful for everyone as it can possibly be.
    Thank you for giving me the chance to be the President. May God 
bless you. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 7:50 p.m. at the Washington Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Marc Racicot, chairman, Ann 
Wagner, cochairman, and Lewis Eisenberg, finance chairman, Republican 
National Committee; and Marie-Josee Kravis, dinner chairman.