[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 43 (Monday, October 28, 2002)]
[Pages 1852-1858]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Auburn, Alabama

October 24, 2002

    The President. Thank you all very much. You all go ahead and be 
seated. Thanks for coming.
    I have the honor of being the second United States President to ever 
visit Auburn University. The first was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I 
don't know how he started his speech, but here's how I'm going to start 
mine: War Eagle!
    Audience member. War Eagle, hey!

[[Page 1853]]

    The President. I want to thank all you War Eagles for being here. I 
particularly want to thank your president, President Walker. You did a 
fine thing when you picked a native Texan to run Auburn. [Laughter] And 
he's doing a fine job.
    And I also want to thank so very much Steven Renfroe, who's running 
the baseball program here. We'll leave behind some of my entourage to 
make sure the infield is smooth after we leave. [Laughter]
    I particularly thank you all for coming. It's a huge honor to be 
here. It's a great pleasure to be able to come and talk about some of 
the challenges which face our Nation, talk about why I'm so optimistic 
that we can face any challenge before us, to talk about your duty as 
citizens. You see, we're almost upon an election, and you have a 
responsibility as American citizens to exercise your right, to exercise 
your freedom to go to the polls.
    I think you have a duty to go to your coffee shops and your 
community centers and your houses of worship and ask others to go to the 
polls. It doesn't matter whether they're Republican or Democrat or don't 
give a hoot about politics. You ought to remind them of their duty.
    And I suggest when you go, if you're interested in your State and 
you're interested in your country, that you remind them to vote for Bob 
Riley as your next Governor. And as you're rounding up those votes, as 
you show your interest and concern for our country and our country's 
future, make sure you send to the United States Congress a man I can 
work with, and that man is Mr. Mike Rogers.
    There's a lot of reasons you ought to be for these two, but a real 
good reason is, they both married well. [Laughter] Like me, they married 
above themselves. I'm honored to be with Beth Rogers and the next first 
lady of Alabama, Patsy Riley.
    Speaking about First Ladies, Laura sends her very best. She 
campaigned for Riley the other day in Mobile. I told him he drew the 
short straw here.
    I just spoke to her. We're--it's raining in Crawford, Texas, and 
that's where she is. She's on our place in Crawford. And tomorrow we are 
hosting the President of China, so she's sweeping the porch. [Laughter] 
But she sends her best. You know, when I asked Laura to marry me, she 
was a public school librarian. [Applause] There's always one in every 
crowd. [Laughter] And that one in every crowd, like Laura, has got to 
have a good heart, cares deeply about the school children. And by the 
way, for those of you who are going to Auburn and thinking about 
becoming school children--a school teacher--[laughter]--or a public 
school librarian, I want to thank you for that. It's a really important 
profession, it's a noble cause.
    You know, when I asked her to marry me, she wasn't interested in 
politics and didn't like politicians. [Laughter] Now she's the First 
Lady of the United States, and she is doing a fabulous job on behalf of 
America. I'm really proud of her. People now know why I asked her to 
marry me. A lot of them are wondering why she said yes. [Laughter] But 
she sends her best.
    I'm also honored to be here with a fabulous United States Senator 
named Jeff Sessions. I like working with Jeff. We work well together. We 
need more Senators like him. One of my most important responsibilities 
is to name good judges, is to find good people to serve the Federal 
bench. I can count on his support. The problem is, I can't count on a 
lot of Senators' support. They've been playing politics with my judges. 
I put good, honorable, honest people on there whose job isn't to try to 
rewrite law, but to strictly interpret the United States Constitution. 
They've got a lousy record in the United States Senate. No, they don't 
like those kind of judges up there, so they play politics with them, 
petty politics. For the sake of a sound judiciary, we need to change the 
leadership in the United States Senate.
    I appreciate Congressman Terry Everett; I appreciate Spence Bachus 
and Sonny Callahan, three fine Members of the United States Congress. 
And I'm glad they are here today. And I'm also glad to be up here with 
Jo Bonner, who's going to take Sonny Callahan's place, and he'll do just 
as good a job in the United States Congress as Sonny did. But you've got 
some good ones. You've got some good ones from Alabama up in Washington, 
and I'm proud to work with them, and I'm proud to call them friends.

[[Page 1854]]

    You've also got a fine slate of people running for office here, 
good, honest, honorable Americans. I hope you get out and support them. 
It's important.
    You know, when it comes to talking about the Governor, I know 
something about being a Governor. I was one. And it seems like to me 
that, particularly when you look around the statehouses, you want you a 
Governor who's going to elevate the discourse, who won't play the same 
old, tired politics of name calling and slashing and burning. You've got 
to have a Governor who's willing to commit himself to change the tone in 
the statehouse, to bring people together to get something done on behalf 
of the citizens. You've got to have you a Governor who will be honorable 
and honest and full of integrity, and that next Governor is Mr. Bob 
Riley.
    He's got his priorities straight. Education is to a State what 
national defense is to the Federal Government. Therefore, you better 
elect yourself a Governor who makes education the number one priority. 
And that Governor has got to have the right attitude about public 
education.
    See, you've got to have a Governor like Bob Riley, who is willing to 
challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, somebody who believes 
every child can learn, somebody who's willing to set high standards, 
somebody who refuses to leave any child behind. No, you've got to have 
you a Governor who sets high standards but also understands that local 
control of schools is how you achieve excellence for every child in the 
State of Alabama.
    The Federal Government is going to send $700 million of your tax 
money out of Washington, DC, to help the schools here. And in return for 
that money, we're beginning to ask the fundamental question as to 
whether or not our children are learning, whether or not they're 
learning to read and write, add and subtract. See, that's a fundamental 
question that Riley is going to ask as Governor. You've got to ask that 
question.
    If you believe every child can learn, then it makes sense to want to 
know whether every child is learning. And when they are, we'll praise 
the teachers. But when we find children trapped in schools that will not 
teach and will not change, you better have you a Governor who's willing 
to challenge the status quo. No child should be left behind in the State 
of Alabama.
    I appreciate the fact that Bob Riley is an entrepreneur. He started 
his own business. If you're worried about jobs in the State of Alabama, 
it seems like you better have somebody who knows what it's like to 
create a job, somebody who's actually met a payroll, somebody who can 
empathize with the small-business owners of the State of Alabama. And 
that person is Mr. Bob Riley, your next Governor.
    And finally, I look forward to working with Bob when he's your 
Governor on one of the most important initiatives I'm trying to push in 
Washington, DC, and it's a Faith-Based Initiative. It's an initiative 
that understands that Government can hand out money. Government can't 
solve a lot of the harms and hurts in our society. If you're really 
interested in saving people's lives, if you're interested in a society 
which is compassionate, decent, we must empower the houses of worship, 
the places of faith, to step in where Government has failed and to 
provide love and compassion.
    I'm not talking about one religion; I'm talking about all religions. 
All religions have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like 
you'd like to be loved yourself. Bob Riley and I look forward to 
unleashing the great strength of the country, and that's the 
compassionate hearts of our fellow citizens to solve some of the needs 
and hurts in our society.
    I'm also here to make it clear to you, as clear as I can for the 
people of this district: You need to send Mike Rogers to the United 
States Congress. And there are a lot of reasons why. We've got some big 
hurdles in the country, and I need a man up there with whom I can work 
representing this great district.
    One of the hurdles I face is that our economy isn't as good as it 
should be. It's bumping along. Anytime somebody is trying to find work 
and can't find a job in America, I think we've got a problem. Anytime 
somebody wants to put food on the table and they can't find a job, we 
need to do something about it.
    Except our philosophy is different from some of them in Washington. 
The role of

[[Page 1855]]

Government is not to create wealth. The role of Government is to create 
an environment in which the small-business owner can grow to be a big 
business, in which people with the entrepreneurial spirit flourishes, in 
which job creation is strong and evident. And the best way to do that is 
to let people keep more of their own money. Here's the textbook we read 
from. It says that if you let a person have more of their own money, 
then they're more likely to demand a good or a service. And when 
somebody demands a good or a service in the marketplace, somebody is 
likely to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces the 
good or a service, somebody is more likely to be able to find a job.
    The tax cuts came at exactly the right time in U.S. economic 
history. And these tax cuts--and that tax relief plan is good for small-
business owners. It's good for your ranchers. It's good for your 
farmers. It's good for working people. It's good for everybody. The tax 
relief plan did something on the marriage penalty. See, we believe the 
Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, not discourage marriage. The Tax 
Code is putting the death tax on its way to extinction.
    But there's a problem. See, the way the Senate voted it out, that 
after 10 years from the time of enactment, the tax relief goes away. And 
that's not right. It creates uncertainty in the Tax Code. It creates 
uncertainty for people wanting to plan their business, to create jobs. 
In order to make sure that our economy grows, in order to make sure the 
job base is strong, you need to have a Congressman who will join me in 
making sure the tax relief plan we passed is permanent and doesn't go 
away.
    I look forward to working with Mike to make sure the country is a 
stronger country. By the way, one way we need to make the country a 
stronger country is to make sure our health care system works, 
particularly for our elderly. Medicine has changed. Medicare hasn't. 
Medicine is modern. Medicare is stuck in the past. For the sake of a 
stronger America, for the sake of our seniors, we must reform Medicare 
and provide prescription drugs for the elderly.
    No, there are a lot of issues that we can work on together, and I 
look forward to working with him. I'm not going to have to worry about 
his vote, and that's important. I know he stands solid and square with 
the people of this district, and that's important. But the biggest issue 
we're going to have to work on is protecting America. The biggest issue 
we face, the biggest issue my administration faces and future Congresses 
are going to face, is the protection of you.
    You see, there's an enemy out there which hates us. They hate us 
because of what we love. And we love freedom. We love freedom, and we're 
not going to change. We love freedom with every fiber in our body. We 
love the fact that people can worship an almighty God freely in this 
society. We appreciate people's right to express themselves. We love the 
freedom of a political process where people can vote. We love a free 
press. We love every single thing about freedom, and we're not changing.
    And as a result, the enemy hates us. I want you to know that not 
only does our love for freedom differentiate us from an enemy; our value 
for life differentiates us from the enemy. You see, in our view, 
everybody is precious; every life matters; everybody counts. But the 
enemy we face is nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers who, on the 
one hand, hijack a great religion and, on the other hand, kill with 
impunity.
    And so we've got a big chore ahead of us. See, it used to be that 
oceans could protect America. I remember conflicts across the sea, and 
it didn't seem to bother us because oceans were there to guard us. After 
September the 11th, 2001, we've learned a new lesson, that if there's an 
enemy out there that hates us, the battlefield can come home.
    And it's a lesson we've got to remember--it's a lesson I'll 
certainly remember--which means that we not only have to be alert for 
the known enemy, the obvious enemy, the killers that bombed Bali--Bali--
or continue to try to take innocent life. But we've got to worry about 
people who've been a problem for a while and are going to be a problem 
over time. And I'm talking about Saddam Hussein.
    He's a man who told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass 
destruction. He lied and deceived the world. He's a person who not only 
has weapons of mass destruction;

[[Page 1856]]

he has used weapons of mass destruction. He's used them in the 
neighborhood, and he's used them on his own people. This dictator has 
defied the world over and over and over again. He also can't stand 
America, can't stand our friends, can't stand our allies. He hates 
freedom.
    I decided to go to the United Nations and make the case that it's 
time to deal with this man. It's time to hold him to his word. It's time 
to disarm him. It's also time for the United Nations to show us whether 
or not they're going to be a body which can keep the peace, whether or 
not they're going to be the United Nations or whether or not they're 
going to be the League of Nations, an ineffective body. It's their 
choice to make.
    I hope they act. I hope they show the world that this body is 
capable of keeping the peace. I hope they show the world that after 16 
resolutions which were defied by Mr. Saddam Hussein, that the United 
Nations finally acts in the name of a peaceful world. I hope that Saddam 
Hussein hears the call for freedom-loving nations and does what he said 
he would do, which is disarm. But if he doesn't, for the sake of peace, 
for the sake of our children, for our children's children, if he doesn't 
act, the United Nations will not act, the United States will lead a 
coalition to disarm Mr. Saddam Hussein.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. I say that because I believe in peace. I say that 
because we must be clear-eyed about the real world. I say that because I 
understand, after September the 11th, the world has changed for America. 
I say that because our most important obligation is to protect you, 
which is why I went to the United States Congress and asked them to join 
me in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
    See, there's over 100 agencies scattered about in Washington, 
involved with protecting you. They're all over the place up there, and 
it felt like to me that they ought to be under one organization, so that 
if the number one priority is to protect the homeland, it becomes the 
number one priority of scattered agencies. If protecting the homeland is 
important, it seems like to me that under one umbrella, a new 
Department, that it will be easier to change cultures. And we're making 
progress.
    By the way, you need to know a lot of good people are working on 
your behalf, at the Federal level, at the State level, at the local 
level. If we get any kind of hint, any evidence whatsoever that somebody 
might be thinking about doing something to America, we're moving. We're 
disrupting. We're denying. We're doing everything we can to protect the 
homeland.
    But we can do a better job. And that's why the House of 
Representatives acted, and I appreciate Bob Riley's vote and the other 
Congressmen here's vote to get that out of the House. But it's stuck in 
the United States Senate. The Senate actually wants me to give up some 
power in order to accept their version of the bill. They want me to give 
up a power that every President since John F. Kennedy has had, which is 
the capacity to suspend collective bargaining rules for the sake of 
national security. And I'm not going to accept that.
    I need to be able to move people to the right place at the right 
time to protect you. We've got a border issue. We need to know who's 
coming into America, what they're bringing into America, and are they 
leaving America. We've got three agencies on the border, INS and Customs 
and Border Patrol. They're full of fine people, really good, hard-
working Americans. But in some sectors, they've got different 
strategies; they wear different uniforms. We need a seamless capacity to 
protect America. The Senate needs to give me the flexibility and the 
authority to put the right people at the right place at the right time 
to protect America.
    But the best way to protect America, the best way to secure the 
homeland, the best way to protect our families, is to hunt the killers 
down, one by one, and bring them to justice. And that is exactly what we 
are going to do.
    It's a different kind of war. In the old days, you could count the 
number of tanks destroyed or ships that were sunk or airplanes shot out 
of the air, and you say you're making progress. This is a war where the 
leaders hide in a cave, or they kind of hide in a dark corner of one of 
these cities around the world, and then they send youngsters to their 
suicidal

[[Page 1857]]

deaths. They don't care about innocent life. They're coldblooded 
killers. And therefore, the best thing for us to do is to get them on 
the run, to hunt them down and to bring them to justice, which is 
exactly what is happening.
    I want you to know that therapy isn't going to work. [Laughter] The 
doctrine that says, ``Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy,'' 
it still stands. And there's a lot of good folks hunting these people 
down. Sometimes you'll see us making progress, and sometimes you won't. 
We've probably hauled in a couple thousand of them so far. And like 
number weren't so lucky.
    The other day, a guy named bin al-Shibh, he popped his head up. 
[Laughter] He is no longer a problem to the United States of America.
    No, we've got a lot of work to do. There's still a lot of heavy 
lifting. There's still a lot of killers on the loose. But I've unleashed 
one of the finest militaries in the history of mankind. Yesterday I 
signed the defense appropriations bill. It's the largest increase in 
defense spending since President Ronald Reagan was in office. I did so 
because I wanted to send two messages. One, anytime we put our troops, 
our youngsters, into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the 
best equipment, the best possible pay. We owe it to our soldiers, and we 
owe it to their loved ones.
    And I wanted to send a message to friend and foe alike that when it 
comes to the defense of our freedom, when it comes to answering 
history's call, we're in this deal for the long haul. There's not a 
calendar on my desk in the Oval Office that one day the date is going to 
pop up and say, it's time to pull them in. It's not the way I think. 
It's not the way America thinks. We've been called to action. Our 
generation has been given a charge to keep. We are responsible for this 
country's safety. We're responsible for our freedoms. And the message I 
sent by signing that defense bill, to the enemy: You've got a big 
problem with America, is what you've got.
    I can't imagine what was going through their mind when they hit us. 
[Laughter] You know, they thought we were so materialistic, so selfish, 
so self-absorbed, that after September the 11th, 2001 we might have 
filed a lawsuit or two. [Laughter] That's all we were going to do.
    No, they don't understand this country. They don't understand the 
courage of our people. They don't understand the depth of love we have 
for freedom. They don't understand that we're a nation full of 
responsible citizens who understand we have a duty to future generations 
of Americans. That's what they don't understand. And they're going to 
pay a serious price for misunderstanding America.
    I believe out of the evil done to America is going to come some 
incredible good. I believe that we can achieve peace if we are strong 
and focused and diligent, if we remember that freedom is not an American 
blessing; it's a God-given blessing for people all around the world. If 
we remain true to our beliefs, we can achieve peace. We can achieve 
peace for people here at home. We can achieve peace in parts of the 
world which have quit on peace. We can achieve peace in the Middle East, 
can achieve peace in South Asia.
    No, amidst this talk about going to get them and hauling them in, 
you've just got to know that I believe in peace. And I believe peace is 
going to come. I believe peace is going to come.
    And here at home, I know that out of the evil done to America can 
come a more compassionate country. See, amidst our plenty, there are 
pockets of despair and hopelessness. There are people when they hear the 
word American Dream, they don't know what you're talking about. They 
don't have a dream. They're lost souls. Government can hand out money, 
but it can't put hope in people's hearts. That happens when a fellow 
American puts their arms around somebody in need and says, ``I love you. 
What can I do to help you, brother? How can I help you?'' No, the best 
way to fight evil here in America is to love a neighbor just like you'd 
like to be loved yourself. See, it's the gathering momentum of millions 
of acts of kindness and compassion which change our country.
    I met Shirley Rose Glisson today at Air Force One in Montgomery. She 
came out because she is a--she's one of the soldiers

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in the armies of compassion right here in Auburn. She goes to Auburn 
United Methodist. She decided she was going to start a food pantry with 
members of her church. They now feed 30 hungry families. It's this act 
and thousands of acts like it which define the true character of our 
country.
    You know, it's interesting about what happened on September the 
11th. A lot of our citizens have taken a step back. They wonder what 
life is all about. The most vivid example of the new American spirit 
took place on Flight 93, people flying across the country. They heard 
the plane was being used as a weapon. They were on their cell phones to 
their loved ones. They said goodbye. They said, ``I love you.'' They 
said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' And they drove the plane in 
the ground to serve something greater than themselves.
    You've got to understand that patriotism--patriotism or the American 
spirit can be served all kinds of ways. It is more than just putting 
your hand over your heart. It is serving a great nation. And you can do 
so by helping somebody who hurts, somebody in need.
    No, the enemy hit us. They had no idea who they were hitting. 
There's no doubt in my mind that this great nation can lead the world to 
peace. There's no doubt in my mind that we can have a more compassionate 
tomorrow for everybody who lives in this country because, my fellow 
Americans, we're citizens of the greatest country, full of the finest 
people on the face of the Earth.
    Thank you for coming. May God bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 5:33 p.m. at Hitchcock Field at the 
Plainsman Park Baseball Stadium. In his remarks, he referred to William 
F. Walker, president, and Steven Renfroe, head baseball coach, Auburn 
University; gubernatorial candidate Bob Riley and his wife, Patsy; Mike 
Rogers, candidate for Alabama's Third Congressional District, and his 
wife, Beth; Jo Bonner, candidate for Alabama's First Congressional 
District; President Jiang Zemin of China; President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq; and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an Al Qaida operative suspected of helping 
to plan the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was captured in 
Karachi, Pakistan.