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Article Excerpt
March 10, 2005
The President. Thanks for coming. I'm honored to be here on the campus of Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. What a great place. And I want to thank Guin Nance and all the good folks for helping to set up this trip. It's not easy to welcome our entourage. It seems to be a little bigger than the last time I came here. [Laughter]
I've got great, fond memories of Montgomery. We were just talking backstage about the Elite Care. [Laughter] Hank Williams' grave. [Laughter] Somebody said maybe my old friend, the old former mayor, Emory Folmar will be here. Is he here? Emory, how're you doing? I see some of the Blounts here. I remember working for Guin's daddy.
Anyway, thank you all for coming. We're going to talk about Social Security, and there's no better place to do it than on a college campus because college kids need to pay attention to this issue, and I think you'll know what I mean after I finish talking.
Before I get into the subject, I want to first say that I'm sorry Laura is not with me.
Audience members. Aw-w-w!
The President. That is generally the reaction--[laughter]--which sometimes I interpret to mean, "We wish she was here and not you," but nevertheless--[laughter]. She's doing great. She is a fantastic wife, a wonderful mother, and a great First Lady for the country.
Speaking about first ladies, it's good to have the first lady of the great State of Alabama here, and she brought her husband, the Governor. Good to see you, Riley. I knew Riley as a Congressman, and I told him, I said, "If you get elected down there, you're going to love being the Governor." It's a great job, isn't it? And you're doing a great job. Good to see you. Thank you all for coming. Making tough decisions.
I'm proud of your Congressman, Mike Rogers. Mike, thank you for being here. And thanks for bringing Beth. I want to thank the attorney general, Troy King, for coming. I'm glad you're here, Troy. You don't look old enough to be the attorney general. I want to thank the State auditor, Beth Chapman, for coming. I want to thank the State treasurer, Kay Ivey. I thank all the State and local officials who are here, really appreciate you coming.
I've got some things on my mind. Before I get to the subject at hand, I do want to thank Woody Woodcock, who came out to see me today. Some of you may not know Woody. Where are you, Woody? Somewhere--oh, there you go, Woody. Good to see you. Thanks for coming.
Let me tell you why I asked Woody to come. You're not going to believe this, but he has spent 7,000 hours on adult literacy in Montgomery, Alabama. This is a guy who's taken time out of his life to help somebody learn to read. I can't think of a greater gift and a better way to serve your community. And the reason I bring this up is because the strength of this country is the hearts and souls of our people. We've got a great military. We'll keep it that way. We've got a strong economy. We'll keep it that way. But those aren't the strengths of America. The strengths of America are the fact that there are millions of people across our country, like Woody, who are willing to take time out of their day to feed the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless, mentor a child, mentor an adult, put their arms around somebody and says, "'I love you. What can I do to help you?" And if you want to serve our country, be one of those soldiers in the army of compassion, to make America a better place.
It's an exciting time around the world. It must be amazing for college students to pick up the newspaper and see there was an election in Afghanistan after years of tyranny. There was an election in the Palestinian Territory where the candidate said, "Let's live side by side with Israel in peace." There was an election in Ukraine. There was an election in Iraq, where the terrorists had declared that democracy could not prevail. Yet, millions went to the polls.
It must be amazing to see how powerful freedom is for you. I've always believed it. I'm a little older, so I've had a little chance to absorb the sense that--the concept that freedom is universal and freedom is powerful. But you're getting to watch it. And that's important, because free societies will be peaceful societies. We're still in a different kind of war, and the way to win this war, long term, is to help people realize the great call of freedom that's very deep in their soul. Freedom is on the march, and the United States of America will use our influence to continue to make this world more free and more peaceful.
More people are working now in America than ever before in our Nation's history, and that's good. We've overcome a recession. We've overcome terrorist attack. We've overcome corporate scandals. We'll overcome war. We've overcome a lot because the entrepreneurial spirit in this country is strong.
The unemployment rate is Alabama is 5.3 percent. Congratulations, Governor. Actually, you only get partial credit. The credit goes to...
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