Remarks in Hedgesville, West Virginia

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, August 23, 2004

August 17, 2004

The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming. And thanks for inviting me here to Hedgesville. It's such an honor to be back in what they call the Mountain State. What a beautiful place. I really--some of them think you can find the heart and soul in Hollywood. I think you rind it right here. This is the heart and soul of America, as far as I'm concerned.

I want to thank you .all for coming. Thanks for bringing your Families. I'm here to ask for the vote. I'm traveling your important State not only asking for the vote but asking for your help. See, we have a duty in this country to vote. We have an obligation in a free society to go to the polls. So I'm asking you to register your friends and neighbors, and then, come voting time, head them to the polls. And remind them if they want this country to be safer, stronger, and better, put George Bush and Dick Cheney back in there. With your help, we carried this State in 2000. With your help, we'll carry it again and win a great victory in November of 2004.

I am sorry Laura is not with me today. She's out working. [Laughter] She's asking for the vote. What a great mother and a great wife, and she's doing a great job as our First Lady. I'm going to give you some reasons to put me back in, but perhaps the most important one of all is so that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more years.

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

I want to thank Gale for his kind introduction. I appreciate his service to the West Virginia men's basketball team. What a great man he is and a great class act. I'm honored--I appreciate, Coach, that you'd introduce me. I appreciate standing by your side.

I want to thank my friend, Shelley Moore Capito, the Congressman for the great State of West Virginia. I want to thank Don Dellinger, Manny Arvon, and Dr. Bill Queen of the school system around here. I appreciate you letting me come to this facility, and thanks for working to make sure our kids get a good education here in West Virginia. I want to thank all the people running for office, all the local officials. Thanks for showing up. Most importantly, I want to thank you all. I'm honored you're here. This is a huge turnout, and I'm grateful for it.

I want to thank the Hedgesville High School Marching Band for playing here today. And, of course, I've got to thank my friends the Bellamy Brothers for being here as well. I'm honored they're here.

Listen, I'm here asking for the vote, and I understand one thing about politics, though--there's only one reason to look backwards at the record, and that's who best to lead us forward. We've done a lot together. You think about what we've been through. We've been through a lot, and we've accomplished a lot. But I'm here to tell you there is more to do. We've got more work to do to make this country a hopeful place. We've got more work to do to make sure that our schools work. We've got more to do to keep us safe. We've got more to do to spread freedom, and we've got more to do to make the world a peaceful place.

Audience member. You're the man for the job!

The President. [Laughter] Listen, we've got more work to do to make our schools the centers of excellence we all know they can be, so that no child is left behind in America. You might remember when we came to office 3 1/2 years ago, too many of the children were being shuffled from grade to grade, year after year, without learning the basics. We increased Federal funding, but we've also started to ask important questions: Can our children read and write and add and subtract? We're challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. We've raised the bar. We believe in accountability. We believe in local control of schools. And when we rind schools that will not teach and will not change, we're bold enough to challenge the status quo.

And we're making progress all across America. We're closing an achievement gap in this country. But there's more work to be done. We want to make sure high school diplomas mean something. We want to make sure we have strong math and science in our classrooms so our children can compete in the 21st century. We want to make sure we've got Internet in our classrooms so we can bring the latest education to help every child in America. What I'm telling you is, after 4 more years a rising generation will have more confidence and more skills to be able to realize the great promise of our country.

We got more to do to make sure quality health care is available and affordable. You might remember all the stale debates on Medicare. Campaign after campaign, they'd come to West Virginia and say, "Put me in office. We'll make sure Medicare is strengthened and modernized." We got the job done. Already more than 4 million seniors have signed up for drug discount cards which will provide real savings for our seniors. And starting in 2006, all seniors on Medicare will be able to choose a plan that meets their needs and gives them coverage for prescription drugs.