Remarks at CraneWorks in Birmingham, Alabama

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 10, 2003

November 3, 2003

Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be back in the great State of Alabama. I'm honored you all came out. Today I'm going to talk about a couple things on my mind. One is our economy. I want to make sure people are working here in Alabama and all across America. I'm going to talk about how to make America a more secure place.

Before I do, I want to thank the CraneWorks boys for hosting us, the brothers, the Upton boys--[laughter] entrepreneurs, job creators, dreamers, people who have created something out of nothing. I want to thank the employees as well for being such hard-working, good folks here at CraneWorks. I'm honored to be in your place of business. I'm honored here--in a company that is creating jobs, new jobs, to be talking about how best we can continue to create new jobs all across America. This economy of ours is growing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong.

But there's more work to do, and that's what I want to talk to you all today about. Before I do so, I do want to thank David and Steve for hosting us. I want to thank Rom Reddy as well. Rom is a local entrepreneur. He started Nexcel Synthetics. I'm going to talk a little bit about his business, but I know he's got some employees here as well, hardworking people who have helped take this startup company from nothing to something in a quick period of time. The chief executive officer has got a bright and enthused future about this little company. He's talking about creating more jobs, but he also said, "When you get up there, make sure you recognize the people that work with me in my company, because I wouldn't be having, or we wouldn't be having the success we're having with out the good, hard-working people that are working with Rom." So wherever you are, thank you for coming.

I'm traveling in some pretty fancy company today, at least from the airport to here. Your Governor, Bob Riley, is here today, and I want to thank my friend for serving the State of Alabama. I appreciate you being here, Governor.

Two really fine United States Senators are here with us, strong allies, good friends, and that's Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions. I appreciate you all coming. The mighty Alabama congressional delegation is strong and active. Spencer Bachus and Robert Aderholt and Jo Bonner and Mike Rogers and Terry Everett are all with us today. Congresspeople, thanks for coming. Attorney general from the State of Alabama is with us, Bill Pryor. I'm honored that Judge Pryor is here.

Today, when I landed out there, I met a fellow named Jason Nabors. You probably never heard of Jason. He is a soldier in the army of compassion here in Birmingham, Alabama. The reason I like to bring up people who are volunteering in their community is, oftentimes people look at America and say, "Well, that's a mighty country," because we've got a strong military; it's a mighty country because our wallets are heavier than other people around the world. No, we're a mighty country because the people who live here in this country are decent, caring, compassionate people who have heard the call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.

Jason Nabors works at a local law firm, and by the way, his law firm encourages the lawyers in that firm to find a way to contribute to the Birmingham community by helping somebody who hurts. He's involved with First Look. It is a nonprofit organization that is created to increase the number of youngsters and young adults in the service to the people of Alabama by encouraging them to follow their hearts, by mentoring a child, by helping somebody who may be addicted, by feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.

I see we've got Scouts with us today. There's nothing better than being a Boy Scout leader and sending good signals and examples to the youth of America. For 'all of you who take time out of your busy lives to help somebody in need, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the strength of our country.

When we talk about our economy and the future of our country, it's important to remember what we have been through. See, we've been through a lot here in America. The stock market started to decline about 9 months before Dick Cheney and I showed up in Washington, and then the country was in a recession. That means three quarters of negative growth. That means we were headed backwards. That means people were not finding work. That means we had trouble on the homefront of many homes across the country, because people weren't able to do their job of providing food for their families; they were looking for work.

And then we began to recover somewhat, and the enemy hit us on September the 11th, 2001, and that hurt. It hurt us economically. Frankly, it hurt us psychologically, because most of us grew up in a period where we thought oceans would protect us from harm. We saw a problem overseas, we could deal with it if we felt it was necessary for our security, but we at home were secure. We were protected. It was a big blow to us. It hurt a lot. We responded. We dedicated ourselves to the security of this country. We understood the challenge. America is a tough, resolved nation when we're challenged.