Remarks in Pontiac, Michigan

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 1, 2004

October 27, 2004

The President. Thank you all for coming. Laura and I appreciate you all being here. You're lifting our spirits, and we're grateful. I'm so honored you're here. I'm here in Michigan today and tomorrow. I'll be back on Saturday. I'm here to ask for the vote and to ask for your help. It is important for all of us to vote. In a free society we have a duty to go to the polls. And so I'm asking you to get your friends and neighbors to go to the polls and exercise their duty. And as you get them headed to the polls, make sure you don't overlook discerning Democrats like my friend Zell Miller from the great State of Georgia. Make sure you talk to independents and, of course, our fellow Republicans. And when you get them to the polls, remind them that if they want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney back in office.

You know, Laura and I love to campaign, and I like to tell people why I think people ought to put me back in. And perhaps the most important reason of all is so that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more years.

Audience members. Laura! Laura! Laura!

The President. I am proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I see some folks out here who are follically challenged, kind of like the Vice President. I admit it, he doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. You'll be pleased to hear, I did not pick him because of hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment. I picked him because of his experience. I picked him because he's the got the ability to get the job done for the American people.

I want to thank my friend Michael Williams for joining us today. And I want to thank the other African American leaders I'm proud to call friend, who have joined me on this stage, including the Lieutenant Governor from the State of Maryland, Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. I appreciate you coming, Michael.

I want to thank Joe Knollenberg and Thad McCotter, Members of the United States Congress from Michigan. I particularly want to thank Congresswoman Candice Miller for leading my campaign in Michigan. I want to thank Terri Lynn Land. I want to thank Betsy DeVos. I want to thank the entertainers who were here today.

And I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are here, the people who put up the signs and made the phone calls and helped turn out this huge crowd. I want to thank you for what you have done and what you are going to do as we come down the stretch. With your help, with your hard work, there is no doubt in my mind we will carry Michigan and win a great victory on November the 2d.

This election comes down to some clear choices for our families, issues of great consequence. The first clear choice is the most important because it concerns the security of your family. All progress on every other issue depends on the safety of our citizens. This will be the first Presidential election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls in a time of war and ongoing threats. The outcome of this election will set the direction of the war against terror. The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

Our strategy is clear. We're strengthening protections for the homeland. We're reforming our intelligence capabilities. We're transforming the United States military. There will be no draft. We will keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army. We are determined. We are relentless. We will fight the terrorists overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. And we understand that our long-term security comes from spreading freedom.

I want some of the younger folks here to understand how far the world has come in about 3 3/4 years. It wasn't all that long ago that young girls were not able to go to school in Afghanistan because the Taliban was so barbaric, and if their mothers didn't toe the line of the ideologues of hate, they'd be taken in the public square and sometimes killed in a sports stadium. Because we acted to defend ourselves, because we upheld a doctrine that said, "If you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist," millions of people went to the polls to vote for a President. The first voter in the Afghan Presidential election was a 19-year-old woman.

There will be Presidential elections in Iraq in January. Think how far that country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves. Freedom is on the march, and we're more secure for it. Free societies are peaceful societies, and we believe everyone desires to live in freedom. Freedom is not America's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.

A President must lead with consistency and strength. In a war, sometimes our tactics have to change but never your principles. Americans have seen how I do my job. Even when you might not agree with me, you know what I believe, where I stand, and where I intend to lead this Nation. On good days and on bad days, when the polls are up or when the polls are down, I will do everything I can to defend the American people, and I will support our troops in combat.