[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 44 (Monday, November 4, 2002)]
[Pages 1898-1903]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in South Bend, Indiana

October 31, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Thanks for coming. I'm glad I came. 
I'm glad I came back. The last time I was here, the Fighting Irish were 
1-0. This time, they're 8-0. Seems like you ought to keep inviting me 
back. [Laughter] I know this for sure: The next time I come back, with 
your help, Chris Chocola is going to be the next United States 
Congressman.
    I'm traveling this country, and I can tell you, the American spirit 
is alive and well, the spirit of people understanding that to be an 
American means you've got to serve something greater than yourself. The 
spirit of America says that we're willing to sacrifice for our freedoms. 
And the spirit of America says that you take nothing in democracy for 
granted. You see, if you're eligible to vote, you have an obligation to 
vote. That's what the spirit of America calls for.
    You have an obligation to our country; you have an obligation to 
democracy itself. So I'm here to--in South Bend to urge Republicans and 
Democrats and independents, people who don't care about political 
parties, to do your duty and to go to the polls, to assume your 
responsibility as an American and go to the polls. And by the way, I've 
got a suggestion when you get in there: Chris Chocola is the right man 
for the job.
    I want to thank Congressman Steve Buyer for being here--thanks for 
coming, Steve--I want to thank Mark Souder for coming--two of the fine 
Congressmen in the United States Congress for joining us. I want to 
thank those who are running statewide, the candidates who are up here 
with us who are out asking for your vote. I want to thank Todd Rokita, 
running for secretary of state. I want to thank Connie Nass, running for 
auditor. And I want to thank Tim Berry, who's running for State 
treasurer. I want to thank them for their dedication to the great State 
of Indiana, and I want to thank you for your service to your community.
    I want to say something about Sarah--that would be the next 
Congressman's wife. I appreciate her taking on this task. I know 
something about what it takes to put a family

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through a political process. It requires a strong partner, somebody who 
believes in the country as much as the candidate does. And I'm here to 
tell you Sarah Chocola is going to be a great Congressman's wife.
    And speaking about great wives, Laura sends her love, and she sends 
her best. She's doing great. A lot of people in the country now 
understand why I asked her to marry me. A lot of them are still 
wondering why she said yes. [Laughter] But she's learned she can make a 
huge difference in the lives of our citizens. She cares deeply about the 
capacity of every child in America to read. She is a fabulous First 
Lady, and she is--[applause].
    I want to thank all the good folks here who are active in the 
political process. You call them grassroots activists. Those are the 
people who are willing to put up the signs, the people willing to make 
the phone calls, the people who can really determine the outcome of an 
election. I want to thank you for what you have done, and I want to 
thank you for what you're going to do Friday and Saturday and Sunday and 
Monday, and that is find the good folks in this community who want good 
government and get them to vote for Chris Chocola next Tuesday.
    You can make a difference in the campaign. You can actually 
determine the outcome. So when you go to your houses of worship or your 
coffee shops or your community centers, put out the word. And remember 
there are some discerning Democrats who live up here, people who know 
the difference between a shrill voice and a solid voice. There are good 
independents up here, people who want somebody to represent them who 
will bring honor and dignity to the office. There are people who 
understand it makes sense to have somebody who has been an entrepreneur 
serving in the United States Congress, somebody who has actually met a 
payroll, somebody who knows what it means to put people to work and to 
take risks. So when you're putting out the word, don't just keep it 
narrowed to just a few. Put out the good word that you've got a good man 
running for the United States Congress.
    And if it helps, you tell them the President wants him standing by 
his side in Washington, DC, too. I need somebody from this district 
whose vote I can count on. I don't need to be worrying about somebody 
who's running a focus group or a poll. I need a solid United States 
Congressman up there, who will support me in making America a stronger 
and safer and better place for every citizen.
    In order to make sure America is a better place, we need to do 
something about our economy. We had some good news today--we had some 
good news today. The third quarter was--showed positive growth. And 
that's positive. That's good news. We're making progress. But so long as 
somebody's looking for work and can't find a job, says to me we've got a 
problem. And I need people in the Congress who understand how to create 
jobs. The role of Government is not to create wealth. The role of 
Government is to create an environment in which the small business can 
grow to be the big business, in which the entrepreneur can flourish.
    And part of creating that environment means to understand how the 
Tax Code works. If you want your small-business person to flourish, you 
let them keep more of their own money. If 70 percent of new jobs are 
created by small-business owners, seems like it makes sense to me, if 
you're worried about job creation, to let the small-business person have 
more money in their pocket so they can reinvest, so people can find 
work.
    Here's what we believe: If you let a person have more of their own 
money, they're likely to demand a good or a service. And when they 
demand a good or a service in the marketplace, somebody is going to 
produce the good or service. And when somebody produces the good or 
service, somebody is more likely to find work. The tax relief plan we 
passed happened at the right time. I need a Congressman who will join me 
in making the tax cuts permanent.
    A good, strong America is an America that's got a good education 
system. I appreciate Chris' vision on education. We share the same 
vision. We want to have high standards for every child. We believe in 
local control of schools. We're going to challenge the soft bigotry of 
low expectations, and we're going to hold people to account. See, if you 
believe every child can learn, like we do, then

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it makes sense to start asking the fundamental question, can every child 
read and write and add and subtract? And if so, I promise you we'll 
praise the teachers. And for the teachers out there, thanks for what you 
do. But you'd better have you a Congressman who understands that when 
you find children trapped in schools that won't teach and won't change, 
you've got to challenge the status quo. No child should be left behind 
in the State of Indiana.
    Chris understands that we must keep our commitments, must keep our 
commitments on Social Security and must keep our commitments on 
Medicare. See, medicine has changed; it's modern. Medicare isn't. 
Medicare--medicine is, with new technologies and new discoveries, is 
advancing. Medicare is stuck in the past. In order to modernize 
Medicare--I look forward to working with Chris to do so, and a modern 
Medicare system includes prescription drugs for every senior.
    No, there's a lot we can do together. But the most important job 
we're going to have to do together is to make sure that our homeland is 
protected, is to secure the homeland from further enemy attacks. No, 
we'll work on the economy together, and we'll work to make sure every 
child is educated. We'll make sure the health care system is relevant. 
There's a lot we can do, but our number one priority will be to protect 
you, because there's an enemy out there which hates America. They hate 
what we stand for, and we're not changing what we stand for. We love 
freedom.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. And we've got to be realistic about it. We've got to 
be clear-eyed. We need somebody from this district who will be realistic 
about the threats we face. See, we can't just hope for the best in the 
new world we live in. We can't see the world the way we would wish it 
would be. We've got to see the world the way it really is, and it's a 
dangerous world. There's still an enemy that lurks out there that--
they're killers. That's the only way I can describe them. They're 
nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers, and so we've got to do 
everything we can here at home to protect you.
    And we are. There's a lot of good folks at the Federal level and the 
State level and the local level working hard--listen, anytime--we 
understand the stakes now, and anytime somebody is thinking about doing 
something to America and somehow we're reading their thoughts or reading 
their mail, we're moving on them. We're disrupting them. We're denying 
them. We absolutely refuse to let these terrorists have their way. We're 
going to do everything we can to shut down--to shut down their capacity 
to hurt us.
    And that's why I went to Congress and asked them to help--join me in 
creating a Department of Homeland Security. It seemed like to me that 
when you've got over 100 agencies in Washington, DC, involved with the 
homeland security, that you ought to focus their attention with one 
agency so that we can set a clear priority and, if need be, change 
cultures within these agencies so that the direction is clear and the 
priorities are clear.
    And the United States House of Representatives joined in my quest to 
have a Department that would function well, but it's stuck in the 
Senate. See, it got stuck in the Senate before they went home to 
campaign. They couldn't get it out because they were trying to extract 
too high a price from me. They wanted me to give up a right that every 
President has had since John F. Kennedy, the right and the capacity to 
suspend certain work rules in the name of national security.
    In other words, if the Senate had their way, I would have the 
capacity to be able to--I would have more flexibility with the 
Department of Agriculture to deal with national security concerns than I 
would with the new Department of Homeland Security. Here we are at war, 
and they want to take away the capacity for the President to be able to 
better protect the American people. I need to be able to move the right 
people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not 
going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate.
    I'm here to tell you the best way to protect America is to hunt the 
killers down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. And that's what 
we're going to do. That's what we're going to do. I need somebody in 
Congress

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who is a cold-eyed realist, who understands the stakes, somebody who 
understands that history has called our country into action. We've got 
to protect the future for our children. And therefore, the best way to 
do that is to get on the hunt and not tire, stay steady and strong.
    I went to the Congress and asked them to give me a good defense 
bill, and fortunately, they did. It's the largest increase in defense 
spending since Ronald Reagan was the President. There's two messages in 
that bill. There's two messages I want to send to the world: One, 
anytime we put our troops into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, 
the best training, and the best possible equipment. We owe that to our 
troops, and we owe that to the loved ones of our troops.
    And by the way, for those of you who have got relatives in the 
military, you can tell them this: I'm confident in their abilities; I'm 
proud of their service; and we're going to use them to win the war on 
terror.
    And the second message that we delivered with the defense bill is 
that we're in this deal for the long haul. See, there's not a calendar 
on my desk in the Oval Office that says, by such and such a date we're 
quitting. That's not America. When it comes to the defense of our 
freedom, when it comes from doing our duty to future generations of 
America, there is no quit in America. It doesn't matter how long it 
takes, my fellow Americans. It doesn't matter what the cost. We will 
defend the freedom of the United States of America.
    And we're making progress. Sometimes it's hard to tell we're making 
progress. Some of the old vets will tell you, in the old days, you could 
measure progress by the number of tanks you destroyed or the number of 
enemy aircraft that were shot down out of the sky. This bunch we're 
fighting, they don't have tanks. They're the kind who hide in caves, 
kind of move around the dark corners of some of the cities in the world, 
and then send youngsters to their suicidal deaths. That's the kind of 
people they are.
    See, there's a huge difference between us and them. They don't value 
life. We value life. We say, ``Every life is precious. Everybody counts. 
Everybody in the whole world has got worth.'' But we're after them. It 
doesn't matter how dark the cave is or what corner of the world they're 
trying to hide in; we're after them, one at a time. That's the way this 
war is going to be fought, and that's the way it's going to be won.
    We've got a lot of good folks working with us, because the doctrine 
still stands: Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy. Slowly 
but surely, we're dismantling them. And it's going to take a while--it 
just is going to take a while. We've probably hauled in a couple of 
thousand of them; like number weren't as lucky. In either case, these 
groups are not threats to us. The other day a guy popped up, and he was 
going to be the 20th hijacker. He popped his head up. He's not a problem 
to the United States of America. Slowly but surely, we're hauling them 
in.
    It's important to be realistic about the threats we face. It's 
important to understand it's a dangerous world. It's also important to 
understand the stakes have changed since September the 11th. When I was 
a youngster--kind of when I was an older guy too--we thought oceans 
could protect us. That's what we thought. If there was a conflict or a 
threat overseas, we had the luxury, because of two great oceans, to pick 
and choose our fights. If we wanted to help, we would. If it was a 
direct threat, we could decide. If there was an indirect threat, we 
could decide to get involved, not--but oceans protected us.
    That's changed. And America must understand that has changed. And 
therefore, threats that in the past may not have seemed overly 
significant all of a sudden become significant, like the threat to 
America in Iraq. Saddam Hussein is a threat to our country. He can't 
stand what we believe in. He doesn't like America. He doesn't like our 
friends. He's a man who told the world he would have no weapons of mass 
destruction, and yet, he does. And not only that, he's used weapons of 
mass destruction. He's used them against his neighbors, and he's used 
them against his own people.
    For 11 years, he's deceived and denied the world, and he's a threat. 
He's a threat. If he were to team up, like we think he's trying to do, 
with one of these terrorist networks, he would be able to use a weapon 
of mass destruction on America and leave no fingerprints behind. We've 
got to be clear-eyed

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about our responsibilities and the threats we face.
    So I went to the United Nations. See, I hope that body can be 
effective to deal with the new threats that we face, that freedom-loving 
people face. I told them that ``For 16 resolutions this guy has ignored 
you, and we want you to be successful. We want you to be able to keep 
the peace, so do something about it.'' We also sent the message to 
Saddam Hussein--I'm saying it again right now--``You said you wouldn't 
have weapons of mass destruction. Disarm. Do what you said you would 
do.''
    But if the United Nations won't act, won't fulfill their 
responsibilities to keep the peace, and if Saddam Hussein will not 
disarm--their choices, by the way--the United States of America, in the 
name of peace and in the name of freedom, will lead a coalition and 
disarm Saddam Hussein.
    And I believe, by remaining strong and tough and firm, that we can 
achieve peace. You've just got to know, amongst all the talk about 
getting them and war and all that, that my vision is for a peaceful 
world. And I believe we can achieve it. I do. It requires this country 
to be steady and resolved. It requires us to remember that freedom isn't 
an American gift; it's God-given. It's got to remember the values that 
we hold dear of being steady and resolved.
    The evil done to America, the evil done to this country, is going to 
yield some incredible good, I believe. Not only abroad can we achieve 
peace--and I mean in parts of the world where they've quit on peace. 
Remember, we believe everybody has worth; everybody counts; everybody 
matters. We want children to grow up in a peaceful world. That's why, 
when we went into Afghanistan, we went in not as conquerors but as 
liberators. And thanks to the United States of America, many young girls 
now go to school for the first time. Those values we hold dear are 
important values. Everybody counts.
    And here at home we can have a better America as well. See, while we 
worked for our security and safety, we can also work to make sure this 
country is a better place for everybody. There are pockets of despair in 
America. Amongst our plenty, people hurt; people are lonely; people need 
help. And the role of Government is a limited role. We can hand out 
money--which we do; sometimes we're pretty good at it. We can repair 
systems when they're broken. But what Government cannot do is put hope 
in people's hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. That happens 
when a fellow American puts their arm around somebody in need and says, 
``I love you. I love you.''
    You know, I don't know what was going through the enemy's mind when 
they hit us. They probably thought that the national religion was 
materialism, that we were so self-absorbed and selfish that after 9/11 
we'd take a step back and maybe file a lawsuit or two. They just didn't 
understand. They didn't understand our strength, our resolve, that when 
it comes to freedom, we're plenty strong. But when it comes to 
compassion, we're really decent people.
    No, I believe out of the evil done to America can come a country in 
which the American Dream is known to everybody who lives here, in which 
people who hurt can find salvation and hope. Today I had the honor of 
meeting Dick McCloskey. He's a man who lost a daughter on 9/11 in New 
York. He's a man, and along with his family, has dedicated himself to 
work at the Center for the Homeless. He's a guy who knows what I know, 
that we can change America, one heart, one soul at a time and that each 
of us has a responsibility--each of us has a responsibility as an 
American to help people in need.
    The American spirit is more than just keeping the peace and 
defending the homeland. The American spirit was embodied on Flight 93, 
that day when people were flying across the country. They heard the 
plane was going to be a weapon. They told their loved ones goodbye. They 
said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They drove the plane in the 
ground, to serve something greater than themselves in life.
    That's the American spirit, serving something greater than yourself. 
No, the enemy had no idea, when they attacked us, they attacked the 
greatest nation, full of the finest people, on the face of this Earth.
    Thank you for your concern about our country. Thank you for 
supporting Chris.

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May God bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. at the South Bend Regional 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Chris Chocola, candidate for 
Indiana's Second Congressional District, and his wife, Sarah; 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; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.