[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 36 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Pages 1499-1505]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Community
in South Bend, Indiana

September 5, 2002

    Listen, thank you all for coming. What a warm welcome. I appreciate 
this Indiana hospitality. I'm thrilled to be back here again. I wanted 
to come and talk to you about some of the problems we face and our--this 
Nation's great character and our ability to overcome anything that 
stands in our way. See, we're all going to work together to make America 
a safer place, a stronger place, and as importantly, a better place.
    I appreciate John Barnes for introducing me. I appreciate all the 
good folks who put this event on. I want to thank my fellow citizens for 
coming out. I particularly want to thank those of you who brought your 
family members with you. I love to see our Nation's young. I love to be 
with our children.
    I want to thank the mayor, Mayor Luecke of South Bend, Indiana, for 
greeting me here. I want to thank Mayor Beutter for coming as well. I 
want to thank Mayor David Miller for being here. I want to thank any 
local official who has taken time out of your busy day to come and say 
hello. There's one Member of the Congress who is here today. That's 
Steve Buyer. I appreciate Buyer being with us.
    As you can see, I had some folks meet me out there at this 
unbelievable airplane that you provide for the President. [Laughter] I 
want to thank our long-time friend Digger Phelps for being here. I 
appreciate him coming to say hello. And as importantly, I want you to 
know that if you're a Fighting Irish fan, which I presume some people 
are, that this great university hired a really good man to be its head 
coach, Ty Willingham. I appreciate Ty coming over.

[[Page 1500]]

    And what's interesting about my administration, at least one person 
in my administration, one of the finest women in America, one of the 
smartest women in America is my close adviser on foreign policy. That 
happens to be Condoleezza Rice. She was a former student here at Notre 
Dame, a former trustee at Stanford. She went and saw Notre Dame's first 
victory. She's constantly telling me to watch out for the Irish, because 
she knows Tyrone Willingham.
    But anyway, I want to thank you all for coming. We've got some big 
challenges facing this great Nation. The first challenge is to make sure 
that there is economic security in America. See, a better America and a 
stronger America is an America in which people are able to find work. If 
they're looking for work and can't find work, we've got a problem, and 
we need to do something about it. Our country was in recession--when I 
got sworn in, it turns out the first three quarters of my time in 
Washington was in recession. Secondly, the enemy hit us, which shocked 
our economy. Thirdly, it turns out we had some people that thought they 
could cook the books in America, people that were--thought the best way 
to get ahead was to kind of shade the truth, to mistreat employee and 
shareholder. And we're dealing with all of them. We're dealing with the 
latter by passing law that says to those who want to cheat people, 
there's no easy money in America, just hard time. We're going to find 
you, and we're going to hold you to account.
    We expect high standards. We expect high standards in America. And 
Democrats and Republicans came together. We passed the most 
comprehensive corporate reform bill since Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 
President. It's a good piece of legislation. By the way, it shows what's 
possible in Washington when we set aside our political parties and focus 
on what's doing right for the American people.
    But our economy got hurt--was hurting and got hurt, but we're 
recovering. See, the foundations for growth are strong. Interest rates 
are low. Inflation is low. We've got the best workers in the world. The 
worker of the American--the productivity of the American worker is up. 
The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. The foundation for growth is 
solid. It's solid.
    One way to make sure that if people want to find work is to do more 
on the tax front. Let me tell you something about my view of taxes. 
Here's the textbook I read--and by the way, some in Washington aren't 
reading this textbook. They're reading another chapter. I believe if you 
let a person keep their own money, that person is more likely to demand 
a good or a service. And when they demand a good or a service, in our 
society somebody is more likely to produce it. And when somebody 
produces that good or service, somebody is more likely to find work.
    The tax relief we planned came at the right time in American 
economic history. It was the right thing to do. It was good for small 
business. America must understand that 70 percent of new jobs are 
created by small-business people. And when you cut the tax rates like we 
did, and you understand most small businesses are sole proprietorships 
or limited partnerships--in other words, they pay tax at the personal 
income tax level--what we did was infuse capital into the small-business 
sector of our society. People are more likely to find work because of 
the tax relief.
    We also did two other things important. One, we mitigated the damage 
done by the marriage penalty. Our Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, 
not discourage marriage. And thirdly, we put the death tax on the way to 
extinction. The death tax is bad for Indiana farmers. It's bad for 
Indiana ranchers. It's bad for Indiana small-business owners. It is 
plain--it's just plain a bad tax.
    But here's the problem--here's the problem--because of the Senate 
rules, all the tax relief that we passed, which both Republicans and 
Democrats voted for, goes away after 10 years. Now, that's a hard one to 
explain at the coffee shop there in Crawford. [Laughter] How do you say, 
on the one hand, you've got tax relief, but on the other hand, you 
don't. The one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away. It sounds like 
Washington to me. [Laughter] But those are the Senate rules.
    And so here's one way to make sure we continue to have jobs for 
people, so that people can plan, so that people have certainty

[[Page 1501]]

when it comes to their businesses, so jobs will grow, is for Congress to 
make the tax relief permanent.
    There are some who are beginning to make noises that they want to 
raise the taxes. They want to do away with the tax relief. For the sake 
of people who want to find work in America, for the sake of job 
creation, it is important for those voices in Congress to read the same 
textbook you and I have read, that tax relief is important for job 
creation.
    I'll tell you what else is important for job creation, is to make 
sure that Congress does not overspend. The problem we have in Washington 
is, every program sounds like a beauty, sounds like a winner. Every 
program sounds good. Just the problem is, they all cost billions. What 
we need to do is set our priorities, the priorities on how to make 
America safer, stronger, and better and not overspend. It's essential 
that the United States Congress meet our priorities and hold the line on 
spending. And one way they can better understand how to do that is 
understand whose money we're talking about. The money we spend in 
Washington is not the Government's money. The money we spend in 
Washington is your money, the people's money.
    We need an energy bill in America. An energy bill will be good for 
job security. It will also be good for national security. We need an 
energy bill which will encourage conservation, that will help unleash 
the technology necessary for us to conserve more, the technologies and 
the research necessary for us to do a better job with renewable sources 
of energy. But at the same time, we've got to understand technology has 
changed, and we can explore for energy here at home in safer ways. For 
the sake of job security and for the sake of national security--and I 
say ``national security'' because we must do everything we can to become 
less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil. They've been talking 
about an energy plan for months, and with the short time left before the 
Congress goes home for the elections, and for the sake of American jobs, 
they've got to stop talking and get me an energy bill. For the sake of 
the country, what's best for the country, we need an energy policy.
    And we need, by the way, a terrorism insurance policy, too. When the 
terrorists hit us, they affected the ability of people to be able to get 
insurance necessary to start construction projects. There are over $10 
billion of construction projects which have been delayed because we 
can't get terrorism insurance for developers. Congress ought to help. 
Congress ought to help not for the sake necessarily of the developers 
but the sake of the over 300,000 hardhats who will be able to find work. 
If you want to help economic growth, Congress, get me a terrorism 
insurance bill that is--that recognizes the importance of the hardhat, 
rewards the hardhats of America, and does not reward the plaintiffs 
attorneys in this country.
    I've got--I'm optimistic about our future, because I'm optimistic 
about America. I know the resiliency of our country. I know the 
strengths of our country. And while some hurt now because of the 
economic slowdown, I'm optimistic about our future. I really am. I feel 
strong--I feel strongly that there are better days ahead for people who 
can't find work. The foundation is there, and we'll keep working--we'll 
keep working.
    My biggest job, however, is to protect you, the American people. 
That's my biggest job now, is to secure the homeland, is to make sure 
that we're safe, is to make sure our American families are protected. 
That job still exists, and it's important today because there's still an 
enemy out there that hates us.
    It is really important for all of us to communicate the right 
message to our children when we talk with these harsh words. But you 
need to tell your kids that these killers hate America because of what 
we love. And what we love is we love freedom. We love the fact that 
freedom can worship an--the freedom to worship an almighty God the way 
we see fit. We love our freedoms. We hold them dear, and we're willing 
to defend them. We love freedom to speak. We love freedom to assemble. 
We love freedom of the press. We love those freedoms.
    And the other thing--one of the other things that distinguishes from 
our enemy is

[[Page 1502]]

that we value the worth of each life. Everybody counts. Everybody 
matters. Each person has worth here in America. And that's not the way 
the enemy thinks.
    See, they've hijacked a great religion, and they don't care about 
life. They've got their desires, their dark, dark ambitions. And if 
people get in the way from them, that's just too bad, as far as they're 
concerned. But the problem--what they've got is, they've got a mighty 
nation that stands between them and their ambitions. We know they're out 
there. We know they're out there, and therefore, we're doing everything 
we can to protect you. We're chasing down every lead, every hint. 
There's a lot of really good, hardworking people who are working 
overtime, working long hours to protect the homeland.
    One of the reasons I've asked--or the reason I asked for us to 
create a new Department of Homeland Security is because I want to have 
all the tools at our disposal necessary to protect you--not just me but 
future Presidents. And notice I say ``future Presidents,'' because I 
believe this struggle is going to be going on for quite awhile, because 
we're not quitting freedom and they're probably not going to quit hating 
for a while.
    I've asked the Congress to join me in creating this Homeland 
Department because I want the over 100 agencies involved with your 
protection to be under one agency. In other words, in order to affect 
the culture of an agency, in order to set the right priorities, they 
ought to be under one umbrella. They ought to be working toward the same 
goal. That doesn't mean they can't do other things, but the number one 
priority, the most important job that these agencies have is to protect 
America.
    And we're making some progress. I appreciate the way the House voted 
the bill, but we've got a little problem in the Senate. And here's the 
problem. I need flexibility in order to make decisions necessary to 
protect you. I'll give you an example. One of the ways--one of the most 
important things to secure our homeland is to do a better job on our 
borders. See, we need to know who is coming in the country. We need to 
know what they're bringing into the country. We need to know what 
they're bringing in, and we need to know if they're leaving when they 
say they're going to leave. That's what we need to know.
    And yet when you go down to the border, when you look at our border, 
there's Customs, and there's INS, and there's Border Patrol, three 
different uniforms, three different cultures, three different attitudes 
perhaps. In order to better secure America, the administration, the 
executive branch of Government needs the capacity to move people to the 
right place at the right time. The enemy moves quickly; we should be 
able to move quickly. Yet the bill coming out of the Senate micromanages 
the process. Listen, there are Senators up there who are more concerned 
about special interests in Washington and not enough concerned about the 
security of the American people.
    And I'm not going to accept a lousy bill. I'm not going to accept a 
lousy plan. I insist for the sake of our security that the United States 
Senate get it right. The best way to secure our homeland and the best 
way to make sure that our children can grow up in a free world is to 
hunt these killers down, one person at a time, and bring them to 
justice, which is exactly what we're going to do.
    It's a different kind of war than we're used to. In the old days, 
they could count tanks and figure out how strong the enemy was, or you 
could look at airplanes and formations and flotillas. This is a war 
where we're fighting tough people, smart killers, who hide in dark caves 
or who kind of slither into shadowy recesses in large cities and parts 
of the world and then send youngsters to their suicidal death. See, it's 
a different kind of war, which means we've got to think differently. 
We've got to be better at intelligence. We've got to uphold that 
doctrine that says, either you're with us, or you're with the 
terrorists.
    We will be steady. We will be patient. Sometimes you'll see the 
action in this war, and sometimes you won't see the action in this war. 
Sometimes you'll know whether we bring one of them to justice; sometimes 
you won't know whether we bring one of them to justice. [Laughter] But 
you've got to know that we're after justice, that we're steadily, slowly 
but surely, we are slowly but surely doing everything we can to protect 
the homeland, slowly but surely finding these people.

[[Page 1503]]

    Sometimes they think they can outwit us, but they can't outwit a 
powerful nation that's just on the hunt. Once we get them on the run, 
we're going to make sure that there's no place for them to light, make 
sure that other countries understand the consequences of accepting these 
Al Qaida killers and other terrorists who hate America.
    I also laid out another doctrine--and by the way, I think it's very 
important that when the United States speak, we do what we say, for our 
credibility and for the sake of peace. I told the world loud and clear, 
if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide a 
terrorist, you're just as guilty as the killers who came to America.
    And one group of folks found out what we meant, the Taliban. I want 
you to tell your children this, as well, that this great Nation went 
into Afghanistan--in upholding that doctrine--we went into that country 
not to conquer anybody but to liberate people. See, every life matters 
to us. Every life matters. You need to tell your young ones when they 
think about America and our values, that because of this country and our 
friends, many young girls went to school for the first time. We freed 
people from the clutches of a barbaric regime.
    I submitted the biggest increase in defense spending since Ronald 
Reagan was the President to Congress recently. I did it for two reasons. 
It's important for you to know why. First, anytime we put our troops 
into harm's way, our soldiers deserve the best possible pay, the best 
training, and the best equipment. We owe it to our troops. We owe it to 
those who are sacrificing for our country, and we owe it to their loved 
ones. By the way, if you happen to have a son or a daughter or a nephew 
or niece or a mom or a dad in the military, you tell them, thanks, on 
behalf of a grateful nation.
    I submitted that bill that size because I wanted to send a message 
to friend and foe alike that we're in this deal for the long haul, that 
there's not a calendar on my desk that says, by such-and-such a date 
we've got to quit. See, we love freedom. And it doesn't matter how long 
it takes to defend freedom. We will defend freedom in America. That's 
what we're made out of. That's the fiber of our country.
    That's important for people to understand. If there is a threat to 
America, we will deal with it in a deliberative, smart way. If we face a 
threat, we must confront that threat if we want our children--see, 
there's a new--it's a new attitude around the world. We've got to 
understand that. The battlefield is now here in America. It used to be 
the oceans would protect us. But September the 11th taught us a new 
lesson, and it's a lesson that must--that we must take seriously. We 
must understand the possibilities of what can happen in the new war of 
the 21st century.
    And that's why I started a dialog yesterday on another threat to 
America, a dialog about Saddam Hussein. I want to assure you that I want 
the American people to full understand all the consequences. That's why 
we're going to have a debate here nationally. That's why there's going 
to be a lot of discussion. That's why I've asked the Congress to be a 
part of the deliberations. That's why there will be open hearings. 
That's why members of--appropriate members of my administration will 
testify. That's why we'll share information as much as we possibly can 
with the American people, not only with the American people but with our 
friends and allies around the world.
    I'll be meeting with Prime Minister Blair on Saturday, Prime 
Minister Chretien on Monday. I'll be talking to President Putin and 
Premier Jiang and President Chirac tomorrow. I'll be beginning to talk 
about the need for freedom-loving countries to deal with threats today, 
before they become incredibly serious tomorrow. See, I believe we owe 
that to our children.
    Some things are certain, however. This is a man who used poisons on 
his own people. He's invaded two countries--two countries. He's a person 
who has ignored all admonitions by international organizations. There 
will be a good debate, but I firmly believe that the world cannot allow 
the world's worst leaders to hold America blackmail, to threaten 
America, to threaten our peace and threaten our friends and allies with 
the world's worst weapons.
    I don't know what was going through the mind of the enemy when they 
hit us. They probably thought, you know, America is so self-absorbed and 
so materialistic, so shallow

[[Page 1504]]

and so selfish that after September the 11th, oh, they might file a 
lawsuit or two, but that's all they would do. No, they don't understand 
our country, do they? They don't understand the fact that, when we need 
to be tough, we're plenty tough. And when we need to be compassionate, 
we've got a huge heart.
    Out of the evil done to America is going to come some good. Out of 
the evil done to this country--see, the enemy never could predict that. 
Haters don't--can't see. They can't see beyond their selfishness. But I 
see something different, and I know many Americans do as well. I see 
peace. I believe that by being strong and forceful when we need to be 
strong and forceful, by speaking clearly about good and evil, by leading 
other peaceful and loving--freedom-loving people in a vast coalition, 
that we can achieve peace, that we can achieve peace not only for 
ourselves and for our children, but we can achieve peace in parts of the 
world where people have quit thinking about peace.
    We have a chance. The enemy hit us. They awoke a mighty country that 
not only will defend ourselves but will lead toward a more peaceful 
tomorrow. I want you to tell your children that when they hear all the 
talk and all the speculation and all the thousands of hours of so-called 
experts babbling away about this, that, or the other, that the true 
policy of this Government is to achieve peace for generations to come.
    And at home the enemy hit us, and they have awakened a new spirit in 
the country. I used to tell people, ``If you want to join the war on 
terror, do some good. If you want to fight evil, love your neighbor just 
like you'd like to be loved yourself. If you want to be a patriot, serve 
something greater than yourself.''
    Today we've got Ricardo Rios with us. He is a AmeriCorps member. 
Ricardo, give them a wave. I'll tell you about Ricardo. He's decided 
that he wants to serve something greater than self, so he became a 
teacher, a sixth grade teacher. He knows what I know--and I want you all 
to hear this loud and clear--one person can't do everything in society. 
I know that, but each of us can do something to help change America one 
heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
    See, that's the great hope here for this country. The enemy has 
awakened a new spirit of compassion in America. We've got to recognize 
that in this great country there are pockets of despair; there are 
pockets of hopelessness; there's addiction. There are people who wonder 
about the American Dream. And that can be changed. There can be light 
where there is darkness, particularly when our fellow Americans put 
their arm around people in need and say, ``I love you. What can I do to 
help? How can I help make your life better?'' If you want to join the 
war on terror, if you want to be a part of the change in America, love 
your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    No, the enemy hit us, and as a result, there are more soldiers in 
the armies of compassion all across America. The enemy hit us, and as a 
result, people have taken a step back and have asked, ``What's important 
in our lives?'' We've taken an assessment of our worth, an assessment of 
our future. And as a result of what they have done, I think our culture 
is changing, a culture that used to say, ``If it feels good, just go 
ahead and do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else for 
your problem,'' to a new day in which each of us understand we are 
responsible for the decisions we make in life.
    If you're a mom or a dad--if you're lucky enough to be a mom or a 
dad, you're responsible for loving your child with all your heart and 
all your soul. If you're fortunate enough to be a citizen of South Bend, 
Indiana, you're responsible for the quality of education. You're 
responsible for the public school system. You're responsible for making 
sure that your faith-based groups, if they're looking for help, are 
joined. You're responsible for helping feed the hungry. It's your 
responsibility, in order to be an American, to serve something greater 
than yourself in life.
    Perhaps the most vivid example of that came with Flight 93. I want 
you all to remember. For me, it's one of the most important moments of 
the change that is taking place in America, the most vivid and sad 
symbol of them all but, nevertheless, vivid and clear. People are flying 
across the country on an airplane; at least they thought they were. They 
learned the plane was going to

[[Page 1505]]

be used as a weapon. They got on their telephones. They were told the 
true story. Many of them told their loved ones goodbye. They said they 
loved them. They said a prayer; a prayer was said. One guy said, ``Let's 
roll.'' They took the plane into the ground.
    It is that spirit, it is that willingness to serve something greater 
than yourself in life which is a part of this great country's soul and 
fabric. No, the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they were hitting. 
And out of the evil done to America is going to come some incredible 
good, because this is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, full 
of the greatest people.
    May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:57 p.m. in the ATA Hangar at South Bend 
Regional Airport. In his remarks, he referred to John Barnes, vice 
chairman, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Mayor Stephen J. Luecke of South 
Bend: Mayor Robert C. Beutter of Mishawaka, IN; Mayor David Miller of 
Elkhart, IN; Tyrone Willingham, head football coach, and Richard 
``Digger'' Phelps, former men's basketball coach, University of Notre 
Dame; President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the 
United Kingdom; Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada; President 
Vladimir Putin of Russia; President Jiang Zemin of China; and President 
Jacques Chirac of France.