Remarks by the President to the U.S. Conference of Mayors
Capital Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.
[10:25 A.M. EST]
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for your kind words, Big Jim. (Laughter.)
I've known him for quite a while, and he's an honorable man who's doing
a fine job for the mayors. And I appreciate you all giving me a chance
to come by and visit. I've got some thoughts I'd like to share with
you about how we can work together to make this country hopeful and
safe and secure.
I want to, first, thank you for serving your communities. It's not
easy to be a mayor. Probably a lot harder than being a President.
After all, I don't have to fill potholes. (Laughter.) Or empty the
trash. (Laughter.) But I do really want to thank you. This country
is a fabulous country because we've got good, honorable people who are
willing to serve at all levels of government. And one of the key
levels of government, of course, is running the city hall. And you're
doing a fine job. And I look forward to working with you, and so does
my administration.
I do want to thank you all for the invitation. I want to thank
Mayor Plusquellic, who's going to be chairman next year. Is that
done? Yes -- okay, good. I didn't want to jump the gun. (Laughter.)
I look forward to working with you. Mayor O'Neill, thank you very much
for having me.
Mayor Riley, it's good to see you, sir. You reminded me my mother
went to high school in the town he runs in South Carolina, and I
reminded him that she graduated. (Laughter.) Like her son, barely.
(Laughter and applause.)
Speaking about sons, there's nothing wrong with a guy following in
his father's footsteps. (Applause.) In this case, this guy is doing
it really well. Mayor Daley, I appreciate you. Great Mayor.
(Applause.)
I appreciate my temporary Mayor, Mayor Williams. He's a really
good guy. He's the Mayor of Washington, D.C. I notice you were over
lobbying Laura the other day to handle a project. (Laughter.) He
knows where the power is in the White House. (Laughter.) I appreciate
you, Tony. He's a good fellow. We worked hard on an interesting
education initiative. He took a bold leadership position on education,
and we worked with the Congress to get some scholarship money to poor
students in Washington, D.C. who are going to schools that are
failing, that will help liberate them and their parents to be able to
choose new schools. And this is a landmark piece of legislation that's
going to change people's life for the better. And the Mayor showed
strong leadership. He got out on front on a tough issue, and as a
result, the children of this city are going to benefit. And I
appreciate you, Mayor, a lot for taking that on. (Applause.)
I want to thank the Mayors who are here from Texas. (Applause.)
Yes. Behave yourselves. (Laughter.) Go to bed early. (Laughter.)
Don't whoop and holler. (Laughter.) But I'm glad you're here. I miss
my home state. I love Texas; I love the people who represent our
state. And thanks for coming today.
I also want to thank Pat McCrory for meeting me. You might
remember he is the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. We worked
together on brownfield legislation, which, Tommy, I want to thank you
and the organization for working on that important piece of
legislation. It will change America for the better. It's a
collaborative effort between the administration and the mayors to do
some good environmental policy that will make communities a better
place.
And McCrory -- I wanted to talk about brownfields; of course, he
wanted to talk about football. (Laughter.) And I bet Mayor Menino
does, too. (Laughter.) So perhaps I can arrange a little bit of a
friendly wager between you two, if it hasn't happened yet. It has
happened? Well, that's good. Be careful what you bet. (Laughter.)
I wish I could report to you that the war on terror is over with
and America safe and secure, but I cannot. I can't tell you that in
good conscience because I don't believe in it. The truth is that
there's an enemy that still lurks out there. And we must continue to
work together to protect our country. It is -- the most solemn duty of
government is to protect American people.
It's important for all of us in positions of responsibility never
to forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001. It is natural that
we would, as distance passes, that we would kind of try to think for
the best and hope for the best, and think that time has maybe solved
the problem of the first war of the 21st century. It's just not the
case. It's not the case. And so we will continue to work with you on
homeland security.
My '05 budget has got $30 billion in there for homeland security.
That's three times the amount spent prior to September the 11th.
(Applause.) It's important that the money be spent wisely and focused
on the protection of the American people.
Mayor Jim just told me, on the way in he said, "You know, one of
the problems we face, we mayors face, is that the money is allocated
and gets stuck." And I appreciate that recognition of the problem, and
so we'll work with the mayors to make sure it gets unstuck.
(Applause.) I understand sometimes it gets stuck not in Washington, it
gets stuck at the state level, as I understand. Look I don't -- hold
on, I'm an ex-governor, so I'm -- (laughter.) And we're hosting the
governors pretty soon. (Laughter.) But it will provide an opportunity
to work this out so that it works better.
Listen, I'm not interested in pointing fingers, I'm interested in
making the system work better. (Applause.) Our most solemn duty is to
work together to protect our people. That is the most important
responsibility we have. (Applause.) And I want to thank you for the
coordination that is taking place between the federal government, the
state government and the local governments.
I've asked Tom Ridge often, how well are we doing communicating
with each other; how good is the city response mechanism? And the
report is, very good. And the mayors get the credit. The mayors get
the credit for energizing joint terrorism task forces; the mayors get
the credit for good communication; the mayors get credit for good
response.
Recently, over the Christmas holidays, Los Angeles and Las Vegas
and Washington, D.C., and New York were put on especially high alert,
and I'm telling you, the mayors and their offices did a fabulous job of
coordinating information and activity. (Applause.) And I don't know
if they're out there, but, Mayor, you deserve a lot of credit for doing
the right thing and for responding.
I know there's some talk in your communities about the Patriot
Act. Let me tell you about the Patriot Act right quick. We're in a
new war, a different kind of war. We need to be able to share
information across jurisdictional boundaries at the federal level. Do
you realize, prior to September the 11th, 2001, the CIA could not pass
information to the FBI, or vice versa? By law, they were prohibited
from sharing information. How can you fight a war against terrorists
who hide in dark corners of the world and maybe slide into our country
if you can't share information? We need the CIA and the FBI to be able
to talk to each other. (Applause.)
As I said in the State of the Union, many of the provisions in the
law have been used to catch embezzlers or criminals. We need to make
sure those provisions stay in the law. We're at war. We're trying to
hunt terrorists. It's a different kind of war.
In the old days, you know, you could measure progress based upon
tanks destroyed or airplanes brought down to earth, you know, by
missiles or air-to-air combat. It's no longer the way it is in the
21st century. We're on an international manhunt. We have to find
these people before they come and get us. And in order to do so, we
need the best intelligence and the capacity to share that intelligence
across jurisdictional boundaries. The Patriot Act is vital for our
security, and Congress needs to renew it. (Applause.)
We want to work with you on defending America. The best way to
defend America, however, is to stay on the offensive and to find these
killers, one by one, and bring them to justice. That's precisely what
our government is doing and will continue to do. There are thousands
of military personnel, with aid from intelligence personnel, on an
international manhunt. Slowly but surely, we are dismantling the al
Qaeda network that caused such great harm to America, and still
continues to plot, by the way.
I said in the speech the other night that two-thirds of known
leaders have been captured or killed. That's a significant number when
you think about where we were prior to September the 11th. We're,
slowly but surely, demolishing them. If you -- if al Qaeda was a
corporation in America, you'd have the board of directors somewhat
intact, but the operators, the middle management, retired, no longer
useful, no longer a part of the problem.
And we're going to stay on the hunt, which requires good
intelligence, good cooperation, good participation with friends and
allies around the world. As the world saw, there is no hole deep
enough from the long arm of American justice. (Applause.)
We're making progress. It's important for America to speak
clearly, and when America says something, to mean it. And so when I
said right after September the 11th, if you harbor a terrorist, you're
just as guilty as the terrorist, I meant it. I meant it as clearly as
I could say it. And the Taliban found out what we meant. Thanks to a
coalition, a large coalition of freedom-loving nations, we removed the
Taliban from power. And America is more secure for it. Because
remember, Afghanistan was a haven for training bases. This is where
many of the al Qaeda fighters learned how to fight and kill.
And as importantly, the people of Afghanistan are free. They're
free from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in history.
It is hard for the Western mind to fathom such a regime, a regime that
refuses to allow young girls to go to school. But that's the way it
was. And today, thanks to our coalition, and our deep love for
freedom, and our intense desire to protect ourselves, young girls go to
school in Afghanistan, and the world is better off for it. (Applause.)
And, as you know, I made a tough decision to take out Saddam
Hussein, and I did so for this reason: September the 11th made it
clear that America can no longer ignore gathering threats. Oceans no
longer protected us from harm. We just couldn't say, okay, well,
there's a gathering threat, let's just hope it goes away. I'm never
going to forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001. (Applause.)
And so, when we saw a threat -- we saw a threat we dealt with it.
We dealt in this way: I went to the United Nations, and I said, you've
given this man warning, after warning, after warning, and he's totally
ignored you. You've got to have credibility. We want international
institutions to work. But he ignored them. And the more he ignored
them, the weaker the United Nations became. So I said, let's pass a
resolution, which was passed unanimously. Now let's enact, enact the
resolution. Let's be a credible body. Let's be people, when you say
something, people believe it for the sake of peace and freedom.
And we moved. We moved against a man who had used weapons of mass
destruction against his own people, attacked his neighbors; a man who
we found out subsequently had murdered thousands of men, women, and
children, and buried them in mass graves; a person who when he found
dissenters, tortured them; a person who ruled with utmost fear.
No, we acted in our own -- for our own security. No one can say
the world is not more safe with Saddam Hussein sitting in a jailhouse.
It is more safe, and so is America. (Applause.)
Our most important duty is to protect America. But I also want you
to know that something else drives me. And it's that my belief that
freedom is not America's gift to the world, but freedom is the Almighty
God's gift to each man and woman in this world. (Applause.) And it's
the spread of freedom that will bring peace. Free societies are
peaceful societies.
And yet, we're running against a pretty strong current, because
some in the world say that certain people, evidently, can't be
self-governing and can't be free. That's not what Americans believe.
We believe that people -- all people from all walks of life -- have got
freedom indelibly etched in their heart. And I believe this nation has
an obligation to lead the world to be more free and more peaceful.
I know many of you -- you hear from families whose sons and
daughters are in our military. I try the best I can to thank them for
their service; I hope you do as well. I know you do. I know you're
just as proud of them as I am. But I want to assure you as leaders in
your community, these troops will have the resources they need to be
successful in the war against terror. (Applause.)
We're making good progress, we really are, in parts of the world.
Afghanistan has now got a constitution which talks about freedom of
religion and talks about women's rights. I don't think anybody would
have dreamed that would have been possible prior to September the 11th,
and now it's a reality. Democracy is flourishing. The world is better
off because of that.
I met with some of the city council leaders in Baghdad when I snuck
in over Thanksgiving. I hope someday that you're able to welcome them
to your own cities. And these are people that are -you can imagine
what their vision might be like. First of all, they're overwhelmed
with the thought of being free. That makes sense, because they had
been locked in this cell of a country by a brutal tyrant. And they're
learning what it means to be a free country, and they're learning what
it means to get along with their neighbor that may have a different
view of how to worship the Almighty. But it's happening.
Adnan Pachachi was with us the other day; he sat next to Laura at
the State of the Union, he came to the Oval Office. He's a
distinguished gentleman who believes in the possibilities of the Iraqi
people. He sees a clear vision of a country. And we're moving that
way, moving toward a basic law that honors minority rights; a basic law
that -- based upon the principles of human dignity.
I hope to have the sovereignty passed over, and I think we will, by
June the 30th. But there's still work to do -- you read about it in
your newspapers -- because people are trying to shake our will. That's
what you've got to understand is happening. They're willing to kill
innocent life to shake our will. But thugs and assassins will not
intimidate America. (Applause.) We will stay the course until the job
is done, because a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will make
the world more peaceful.
These are historic times. This is an historic opportunity to
change the world. And America will continue to lead. (Applause.)
At home, I'm optimistic, as well. I'm optimistic because I see the
economy is growing. That's important for the health of our cities.
And it's getting better; and statistics say it's getting better. One
aspect about the growing economy that I believe speaks to why it's
growing is the tax cuts we passed. We'll have a philosophical argument
about that here in Washington, D.C., of course. I look forward to it.
But I will tell you that one of the things in the tax relief plan that
I hope you find inspirational for your cities is it is aimed at the
entrepreneur. Much of the tax relief is aimed at the small business
owner. And the truth of the matter is the vibrancy of the inner cities
of our country depend upon ownership.
When more people own a small business, when people are starting
their own business, when people are creating small businesses, they're
creating jobs. They're not only creating a more vibrant and hopeful
community, more jobs are being created. And the tax relief we passed
was, in part, aimed at small businesses -- for this reason: Most small
businesses are sole proprietorships or sub-chapter S corporations. And
they, therefore, pay tax at the individual income tax rate. And so,
therefore, when you reduce individual income taxes, you're injecting
capital into the small business sectors of America's cities.
The entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America. You know it as
well as I do. The desire for some to own their business is strong.
And the tax relief we passed helped invigorate that spirit.
(Applause.)
So this economy is growing, and we've got to make sure people are
prepared to meet the jobs of the 21st century. It starts with making
sure there's a literate America, which -- make sure that the schools
work well. No Child Left Behind Act -- let me tell you my view of that
important piece of legislation, since I was the person that asked
Congress to pass it. I said, first of all, we'll increase the budgets,
which we have done by 49 percent since 2001. But I've also said, in
return for additional money, primarily aimed at Title I students, we
should expect results. You see, some people aren't interested -- well,
I'm sure they're interested in results. They just don't want to
measure results. And I think that's a shame. If you believe that
every child can learn, then you want to know whether or not that's
happening. It seems like to me that if the expectation is for
excellence, we ought to measure.
We ought to measure in a way that is open; measure in a way that
puts the results out for everybody to see, including the mayors. So
you know for a fact whether or not the obligations of our society are
being met to the youngest of our children. In the bill, in the No
Child Left Behind Act, not only do we insist upon local control of
schools, an accountability system designed at the state or local level,
we also say that when you see failure early, there's additional money
to make sure children aren't left behind. (Applause.) This is an
important piece of legislation, and I will resist any attempt to
undermine it. (Applause.)
I laid out the other night a jobs for the 21st century program. A
part of that is to make sure there's additional money to help junior
high and high school students who have been just simply shuffled
through the system. And that's what's happened, as you know. If you
want to be blunt about what has taken place, sometimes when you don't
measure, you just shuffle kids through. Then you wake up at the high
school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are
appalling. I expect you, as mayors, to challenge the soft bigotry of
low expectations. I challenge you to keep raising that bar and
standards. (Applause.)
And we want to help here. We've got money for that. We've got
money for additional grants for Pell grants for low-income kids who are
taking a good, strong curriculum. I told you what the Mayor did --
he's challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. It might not
have been the most politically popular thing in certain editorial pages
or around the city, but he's taken the lead. He's not afraid to lead.
And that's what we expect from people at the local level when it comes
to assisting, that every child learn and no child be left behind in
America. (Applause.)
I also hope you work with your community colleges. The community
college system provides a great opportunity to make sure you match
willing workers with the skills necessary to occupy the jobs of the
21st century. Some of you who have been around long enough may
remember the old days when they had work force training requirements
that said, just go train people. So they'd go out and train a thousand
hairdressers for 50 jobs. You'd have 950 well-trained hairdressers,
but they weren't working.
We've got to make sure the work force training programs focus on
the needs of the employers. And I know many of you are doing that in
your communities and many of you are working with your local chambers.
I went to Phoenix, and if the Mayor is here, thank you, Mr. Mayor, for
your hospitality. But there is a really interesting collaboration
between the high-tech community and the community college system, all
aimed at providing people with the skills so that when the job base
expands, and as it is in many communities, they've got the skills
necessary to fill the work.
There is a health care shortage of workers in America. You need to
work with your community colleges to make sure that those colleges are
able to provide the skills in the health care industry so that people
who want to work can do so. And that's what we're talking about when
you hear about this community college initiative of $250 million. I
certainly hope the Congress listens, as well, because it makes sense to
use the community college system wisely. (Applause.)
Speaking about workers, I want to talk about illegal immigrants who
are working in your cities. I believe strongly that this nation is a
nation of rule of law and, therefore, we must be open about what's
taking place. And as you know, there's a lot of people here on false
papers who have been smuggled in by coyotes, who have risked their
lives to come and do what many of us -- many of our citizens do, which
is to work hard to put food on the table for their families. And
they're here, and they're working, and they're making a contribution to
the economy. And yet we don't have a system to deal with them, do we?
We have a system that's underground, that's in the shadows of society.
And in my judgment, that's not right.
So what I think we need to do is have what I call a temporary
worker program, to issue a card, a temporary worker card that's
legitimate and real, that says, if you're a willing American employer,
you can hire a willing foreign employee that has a temporary worker
card, so long as there's not an American worker available. In other
words, people are doing jobs Americans aren't doing. And they're
coming to our country, and they're taking great risk. And we've got a
lot of border patrol agents trying to chase the good, hardworking
people down. If we make the system work right, if we make it
legitimate, then our border patrol will be able to chase down true
threats to our national security. They'll be able to focus on the
threats. We won't be putting our employers in a position where they're
hoping the documentation that's presented to them is real.
Now, this isn't an amnesty program. Let me be clear about this.
This is a temporary worker program to be registered and above-board. I
oppose amnesty because amnesty -- amnesty would encourage further
illegal immigration. And I oppose amnesty because amnesty would reward
those who have broken the laws of the United States. We've had people
in line trying to become a citizen of our country, they've been waiting
in line for a long period of time, and this program will not allow
people to jump ahead in the line of those who have been here legally.
(Applause.)
I think this is a realistic approach to make sure the
employer-employee relationship is honest in this country. And I also
think it's necessary. I think it's necessary because I don't like the
thought of hardworking citizens, no matter where they may be from, not
willing to report abuse, for example, because they'd then get shipped
home and wouldn't be able to do their job as a mom or a dad. This is a
humane country, and we need to treat people humanely, with good,
reasonable, common-sense law. I look forward to Congress to getting it
passed. I thank you for giving me a chance to explain that piece of
policy. (Applause.)
I'm winding down. I'm sure Daley is wondering when he's going to
quit. (Laughter.) Being from the Windy City he's -- (laughter) -- he
sees the President is a little windy, himself. (Laughter.)
Let me talk about housing right quick. I know housing is important
for the mayors. We want people owning their own home in America. This
administration has been consistent about promoting what I call an
ownership society. You heard me talk about creating environments for
the entrepreneur to flourish. I want people owning their own home.
Home ownership is high in America. I think it's the highest ever,
which is really positive. It's positive for our country. We
understand when somebody owns something, he or she has a vital stake in
the future of this country.
But we've got more work to do. There's still a minority home
ownership gap in America. I think here at the mayors, I laid out some
initiatives that, in the past, one of which just recently passed the
Congress, which is the down payment assistance program. I'm asking
Congress for $200 million to help people with their down payment. As
you know better than me, many citizens have the desire to own a home,
but they don't have the dough to make the down payment. And therefore,
they balk at making the decision. So we want to help families with
down payments, and we've now got a plan to do so. Congress needs to
fund it. It's authorized. It now needs to be funded.
The print on these contracts is a little too fine for first-time
home buyers. And, frankly, it's a little too fine for multiple-time
home buyers. It's hard to understand the contracts. And I know HUD is
working to simplify the contracts, and to make it easier and less
expensive for people to enter the process of buying a home, by
simplifying the forms.
I don't know if you felt it yet. We're expanding counseling
services around the country -- many times run by faith-based groups, by
the way -- to help people understand what it means to buy a home.
First-time home buyers are sometimes confused by not only the
regulations, but the obligations. And we've got counseling services
being expanded out of HUD. And if you haven't had one in your
neighborhood, call HUD. Get them to show up. It's a useful service.
It's a helpful service to close the home ownership gap.
I'm going to talk to the Congress about allowing the federal home
administration to permit zero percent down payment loans to low-income
Americans. That needs to happen in order to encourage more home
ownership. (Applause.) And Congress, by the way -- and they need to
pass the single family housing credit to help people who are building
these homes, these affordable homes inside America's cities.
And we're making progress, by the way. The gap is narrowing.
There's more work to do. I look forward to working with the mayors to
close the minority home ownership gap in America, for the good of the
country. For the good of your cities, but for the good of the country,
as well. (Applause.)
Let me conclude by talking about a really important domestic
initiative, at least as far as I'm concerned, and that's the
faith-based initiative -- see if I can explain it properly to you.
First of all, we strongly believe in the separation of church and state
here in Washington, D.C., and that's the way it's going to be.
Secondly, I love the fact that people are able to worship freely in our
country, and if you chose not to worship, you're just as patriotic as
your neighbor. Freedom of religion means freedom to practice any
religion you choose, or the freedom not to practice.
Thirdly, there has been discrimination against faith-based programs
in Washington, D.C. Sure, you can receive a federal grant, but you
have to take the cross off the wall in order to do so, or the Star of
David down, or the crescent. Well, how can you be a faith-based
program if you can't practice your faith? All of a sudden, you become
just another program.
Fourthly, I want you to know that out of frustration with Congress,
I've asked them to pass a faith-based initiative. I just decided
through executive order to open up as much federal money as we possibly
could, the grant-making process, to faith-based programs, to let them
apply. We want people of faith involved in solving people's lives.
(Applause.)
I know that you have opened an office to expedite federal monies,
or the process, or the grant-making progress -- process -- for your
faith-based programs in your communities. I urge you to take advantage
of it. I urge you to take advantage of it. You know as well as I do
that many of the problems your citizens face are problems of the heart
-- addiction. And programs sometimes work. Government programs
sometimes work. But sometimes they don't work. And sometimes it
requires a higher power than a government program to help change a
person's life. You've got armies of compassion in your communities
that I'm confident, by working together, we can unleash, for the
betterment of the people we serve.
You know, I was down in New Orleans. Ray Nagin is the fine Mayor
of that city. And we had a faith-based initiative there. And he has
got a faith-based coordinating group to not only work in the city, but
with the state of Louisiana. I also urge you -- kind of like the grant
problem we got in other areas, sometimes the money goes to the states,
and if the state is not anxious to be involved with the faith programs,
it gets stuck and doesn't make it to you. And so I urge you to work
with your governors to make sure that their faith-based offices are up
and running, and that they help cut through the inherent prejudice
toward faith programs, the inherent prejudice in government.
And I'm talking about all faiths, by the way. There's fantastic
Jewish charities in America that are helping change this country, one
soul at a time. You ought to look at those and welcome them and
encourage them. Same with the Muslim charities, and, of course, the
Christian charities that are strong. This government is -- will
continue to work hard to make sure this vision becomes reality.
Jim Towey -- raise your hand, Towey -- right over there -- he runs
the faith-based office in the White House. We've got faith-based
offices throughout bureaucracies. I see that the Deputy Secretary of
HUD designee is with us. We've got a faith office at HUD that can be
used by mayors and community groups to access federal money. Billions
of dollars are now available. I encourage you -- I encourage you to
use this source of fund and empower one of the greatest strengths we
have in our country, the faith community. (Applause.)
There are other initiatives. I laid out the prison initiative,
$300 million to help on the prison reentry program. This will make a
big difference in your communities. It will make a big difference in
people's lives. Call upon your faith-based programs to help with these
souls that are looking for help. You know, the clinical probation
program sometimes works. But oftentimes, it's helpful to have somebody
with their arms out there saying, I love you, brother, or I love you,
sister; what can I do to help you reenter our society. (Applause.)
That's not exactly the traditional approach, I readily concede, to
prison -- to rehabilitation programs. I know that. But sometimes
traditional rehabilitation programs have fallen short of the mark.
Sometimes, it's that extra ingredient called love that will make a
fundamental difference in somebody's future. And our houses of worship
are houses of love. That's what they exist for. The universal call,
love your
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself is a important
part of the soul of your community. Use it. And the federal
government want to help you.
Towey's job is to make sure that we cut through the strings, to
make sure your faith groups are able to access the money without losing
their faith. You're going to hear people say, why do I want to
interface with the government? They're going to call me to have to do
something I don't want to do. Towey's job -- and by the way, just to
show you what kind of society we have, before he came, he was Mother
Teresa's lawyer. (Laughter.) I'm not going to get into lawsuit abuse
-- (laughter) -- but he's doing a good job. And his job is to make
sure that the armies of compassion are unleashed. (Applause.)
So those are the things that are on my mind. I thank you for
giving me a chance to come by and share them with you. I'll tell you
what else is on my mind. I understand '04 is going to be a difficult
year for some. But I want you to know this -- (laughter) -- I want you
to know this. I don't want -- I don't want politics to get in the way
of me doing my job and you doing your job for the people. I want you
to know, I assure you -- (applause). I understand it, and so do you.
But let us not let the elections get in the way of our solemn
responsibility. I don't care what your party is, I don't care who
you're for, for President. I have a job to do, and so do you. And by
working together, by working together on key initiatives in a way that
respects our differences, honors our values, we can do our job for
America.
And that's what I expect of you, and I know that's what you expect
of me. And together, we're going to make this country continue to be
great. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)
END, 11:04 A.M. EST