Remarks in Traverse City, Michigan

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, August 23, 2004

August 16, 0004

The President, Thank you all. Thanks for coming. Boy, I'm glad to be here. This is a beautiful part of our country. It turns out I'm the first sitting President to come up here since Gerald Ford was the President. Good to be here in cherry country. Today it looks like Bush-Cheney country too.

I'm looking forward to this race, I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come out and ask for the vote. I'm traveling your important State asking for the vote. You got some big differences in this campaign. One of them is that my opponent thinks you can find the heart and soul in Hollywood. I think you find it right here in Traverse City, Michigan.

We're going to be spending a lot of time in your important State, and there's no doubt, with your help, we'll carry Michigan, and we'll win in November of '04.

Audience members, Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. I'm sorry Laura is not here.

Audience member. We love you, Laura!

The President. Yes. She is a fantastic mom, a great wife. Listen, I'm going to give you a lot of reasons to be for me, but perhaps the most important one is to keep Laura as the First Lady for 4 more years.

And I'm running with a good man in Vice President Dick Cheney. I admit--I admit it, he is not the prettiest face in the race. [Laughter] I didn't pick him for his looks. I picked him because he can get the job done.

I want to thank my friend Dave Camp, the Congressman from up here in northern Michigan. What a good man. I'm proud to work with him--good, honorable man. I want to thank Congressman Nick Smith for being here as well. Nick, I appreciate you coming. I appreciate Trick Pony, the band that was playing here. I'm glad they're here. It's good of them to come.

Listen, I want to thank Betsy DeVos and all the grassroots activists. Let me tell you, grassroots activists are the people that put up the signs, make the phone calls, register the voters. We have a duty in this country to vote. We have an obligation to do our duty to show up at the polls. Do you realize, over 9 million people have registered to vote in Afghanistan? These people have got a taste of freedom, and they're showing up to vote. And so--our fellow citizens--so I urge you to register people. Head people to the polls, and when you get them headed there, just tell them this country is going to be safer, stronger, and better with George Bush and Dick Cheney.

You know, we've been through a lot together. In these past few years, Americans have been through a lot and we've accomplished a great deal. But there's only one reason to look backward at the record, and that is to determine who best to lead this Nation forward. I'm asking for your vote because so much is at stake. We have so much more to do to move this country forward. From creating jobs to improving schools, from fighting terror to spreading the peace, we have made much progress, and we have much more work to do.

We have more to make our public schools the centers of excellence we all know they can be so that no child is left behind in America. You might remember the mindset 3 1/2 years ago, when we just shuffled children from grade to grade, year after year, and they didn't learn the basics. I went to Washington for a reason. We challenged the soft bigotry of low expectations. We've raised the bar. We're now measuring in return for extra Federal help, because we want to know whether or not our children are learning to read and write and add and subtract.

We believe in local control of schools, and we're willing to challenge the status quo when we find schools that will not teach and will not change. We're doing the hard work. When it comes to reforming our schools, there's more work to do. We're going to reform our high schools to make sure the high school diploma means something. We're going to expand math and science education so our young people can compete in the high-tech world. With expand the use of the Internet to bring high-level training into the classrooms. With 4 more years, we'll help a rising generation of Americans gain the skill and the confidence necessary to realize the great American Dream.

We have more to do to make quality health care available and affordable. You might remember all the old Medicare debates. Year after year, they'd come up here and tell you, "'Don't worry. I'll get something done." We got the job done. More than 4 million seniors have signed up for drug discount cards, which provide real savings for our seniors. And beginning in 2006, all seniors on Medicare will be able to choose the plan that suits their needs and gives them coverage for prescription drugs.

There's more to do. We've expanded community health centers, and we'll continue to do so for low-income Americans. We want people getting their primary care in these centers and not in our emergency rooms in our hospitals. We've created health savings accounts so families can save tax-free for their own health care needs. When it comes to giving Americans more choice, more opportunity in health care, we're getting the job done, but there's more work to be done. Most Americans get their health care through their businesses. Most new jobs are created by small businesses, and a lot of small businesses have trouble providing health care for their employees. To help more American families get health insurance, we must 'allow small employers to gather together to purchase insurance at discounts just like big companies get to do.