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November 5, 2008 DOL Home > Newsroom > Speeches & Remarks |
Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao President George W. Bush Secretary Chao: Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. Not long ago, our President spoke of the nations need for citizens who hear the call of duty who care for their families and who treat their neighbors with respect and compassion. While he was calling every American to service, he was also describing the values that define the Asian Pacific American community. Duty family respect and compassion. These are the values that have sustained usand our ancestors before usin coming to America. How grateful we are to have a President who personally lives out the values that have led usand calls each of us to pursue them with renewed vigor. Let me add one more ideal to the list that has inspired our community: the American Dream the desire to be free to work hard and succeed so that we may pass on a better life to the generations that follow. Most of us carried the American Dream in our hearts long before we ever reached these shores. Though we left behind family, friends and all that was familiar, we knew that the dream that burned in our hearts was well worth the sacrifice. We also have a President who came to Washington from a distant and exotic land: Texas. Like all of us, he came here for a purpose: to preserve and expand the American Dream. Our President believes that politics is not about who you knowits about what you accomplish. Power doesnt come from a position, it comes from what you believe inand whether you have the courage to stand up for it in the face of opposition. Our President believes inand stands up forgiving all Americans access to a good education, the dignity of work, including those currently on welfare. He believes in cutting taxes, so families have more to save and invest. And he believes deeply in reaching out and opening doors. Thats why, in just the first year of his Administration, he appointed more Asian Pacific Americans to senior positions than ever in American historyincluding two Asian Pacific Americans to his cabinet. A politician will tell you what you want to hear; but a leader does what he says. We have such a leaderone who shares our values and stands up for our dreamsour President, George W. Bush. * * * President Bush: Elaine, thank you very much. Welcome to your housethe White House. I want you to know, [Secretary of Transportation] Norm [Mineta], I welcome Republicans, Democratspeople who dont careall Americans. Youre welcome here. I am honored to welcome you. I didnt realize you sponsored the legislation that my Dadwe call him Number 41signed, which permanently made the celebration of Asian and Pacific American culture a month-long event. And thats what were honoring today. Im so proud to be the President of a diverse nation, a nation with 13 million Americans of Asian or Pacific Island heritage. What a great country, to welcome such diversity. Whether youre here by birth, or whether youre in America by choice, you contribute to the vitality of our life. And for that, we are grateful. I also appreciate service to our government, and our country. I picked two fabulous members of my Cabinet from Asian-Pacific backgrounds. Youve seen them both. One lady who wasnt born in America, yet because of the dreams of her mother and father, and because our country can be a welcoming country, was able to get a good education, and here she sits in the Cabinet of the President of the United States. Another man, a man not of the same political party as I am, but a man who loves his country just as much as I do; a person who, as a young boy, was interned in a camp for Japanese Americans on our own soila moment that is not a good chapter in our historyand yet had the courage to fight for change and for the dignity of every American, and now sits in the Cabinet of the President of the United States. I am fortunate to have them in my Cabinet. I appreciate their advice, and I appreciate the great job theyre doing on behalf of all Americans. All Americans. I want to thank Senator Inouye for being here. Hes one of the fine distinguished members of the United States Senate. Hes an ally when it comes to defending our nation. He understands what it means to serve your country and be prepared for the defense of America. Senator, youre doing a great job. Thank you for coming. I also want to thank Congressman David Wu from Oregon for being here, as well. I want to thank Delegate Faleomavaega. Did I even come close? Well, at least I gave it my best shot, Eni. How about just Eni? Thank you for coming from the American Samoa. Weve got friends of ours from Guam, the Guam SenateSenate Leader Edward Calvo and the House Speaker, Tony Unpingco. Thank you all for coming. Im honored you both are here. You are welcome. I want to thank Susan Allen, the President of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Susan, its great to see you again. Richard, I want to thank you for filling this room and the whole house with incredible music. Man, what a talent. And I appreciate you sharing it with us. You help make a special day more special. And Lisa, thank you for bringing your beauty here. Im looking around for Dat Nguyen. Is he here? Hes supposed to be here. Yes, hes a Texan. Hes a mighty Texas A&M Aggie, middle linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys, came from a Vietnamese family. Hes a great story. And I just wish theyd win a couple more games. I want to thank John Tsu, the Chairman of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. John, thank you very much. And Russell Wong, a great actor, for being here as well. And welcome to you all. The history of Asian Pacific Americans is really a history of great patriotism, people who were willing to sacrifice. Incredibly enough, Asian Pacific Americans fought in the Civil War, and, of course, World War II and the war on terror. Its a story of hard work. Many of you have had relatives who came here early, early on in our country, that worked the railroad, helped build the infrastructure necessary for America to grow. Its a story of great achievement and great successI mean, look at our Olympic teams; Asian Americans on our Olympic teams, helping a unified country achieve in sports. Its a story of great business success, great cultural success. Its a story of influence on our societyscientific influence, architectural influence, music, art, significant contribution to our country. And for that, all of us are grateful. Sadly, one of the greatest contributions, Asian contributions to our nation was destroyed on September 11th. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were designed by Seattle architect, Noro Yamasaki. He and his partners designed the Towers. For thirty years, they stood as a testament to American ingenuity and prosperity. They served as a symbolnow, perhaps, as a symbol of a more innocent time. But for me, I can assure you, its a reminder, a symbol, that we must never forget there are people in the world who hate what we stand for. People who cant stand the thought that a diverse nation can be a free nation. People who hate freedomfreedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of press. They cant stand it. And I cant stand the thought that they hate us. And were going to run them down, one by one, to protect our homeland. They dont understand us. Mr. Senator, they just didnt understand us. They thought we were so weak and materialistic, we must not have believed in much; that all wed do is kind of roll over and say, well, thats just what happens, you know, and go about our business. But thats not America. See, we defend our values and our freedom. We fight for peaceand I want you to know I long for peacethats my dream, for peace. But we also fight for values that we hold dear. We believe strongly in America that each person needs to be judged on his or her individual values, abilities, and talents; that each life has dignity, has dignity; each individual matters, no matter where youre from, no matter how you were raised. Thats what we fight for. And as we fight for a safer world, and a peaceful world, weve got to work for a better world here in America. One of the great traditions in our Asian communities is the understanding and love for education. Its amazing how well and how hard Asian youth work in school to get ahead. It is an unbelievably good example for all of us. Educational excellence must be the standard for every child in America. Access to good education must be the goal for every single child. In order to have a better tomorrow, weve got to continually work to make sure that every child gets educated. I mean every child. In order to make sure there is a better tomorrow, weve got to make sure the entrepreneurial flame continues to shine brightly in America, that were known as entrepreneurial heaven. I was pleased to see that there are nearly a million small businesses in America owned by Asian Pacific Americans. Thats a lot. Thats good news for our country. It means that people are willing to take risk and own their own business, which is a powerful part of the American experience. The role of governments never to create wealth; its to create an environment in which anybody, from any background, whos got a good idea can work and achieve the dream of owning your own businessand therefore, by the way, employing more people. Talked about the tax cuts, Elaine talked about the tax relief. I viewed the tax relief that we passed as an incredibly important part of small business formation. Most small businesses are not incorporated; they pay income tax at the personal tax level. And therefore, when you reduce the personal income taxes, you help small businesses all across America. As you know, were working hard to make sure our homeland is more secure. The best way to makethe best defense is a good offense, no question about that. But you need to also understand that Im mindful of American traditions, and as we work to make our borders more secure, for example, people will be treated fairly. Our INS must do a much better job of identifying whos coming into our country and why, but theyve also got to do a better job of processing paperwork. Its inexcusable, the endless delays of paperwork that really do make it hard for families to function and to stay together. Im a strong believer that our nation must pass what they call 245(i), immigration reform, which will allow families to stay together. People who are here and applying for different paper shouldnt have to go back to their country and then come back if one of the members is here legally with cards. It just doesnt make any sense. We need to be mindful of the dignity of each person in our country. And I know we can achieve that goalgood homeland security, better border control, and at the same time treating people with respect who are here in our land. I also very much appreciate the bridge that our Asian Pacific community provides America to an incredibly important part of the world. And those are the nations of the Pacific. I spent some time there, and I gave a speech in China and Japan and South Korea, where I said, this is going to be Pacific century. And I believe that. We are a Pacific nation, America. Weve got a lot of incredibly important ties with China and Japan, Korea, the Philippinesall the nations represented in this room are an incredibly important part of our future. Weve got to work on trade issues, issues that open up trade between our respective nations, so that were able to better exchange goods and services. Thats to the benefit of not only workers here in America, of course, its also to the benefit of workers in countries with whom we trade. Weve got to continue dialogue, weve got to make sure that we work closely together to promote peace, to fight off this scourge called terror. And the Asian Pacific Americans of our country make those ties incredibly important. Not only do you help Americans understand the cultures in the countries, you, yourself, by your presence, export American values so that those countries understand us better. And so its my honor to welcome you all to this magnificent house, to welcome your contributions to the greatest land on the face of the Earth. To tell you how proud I am to be the President of a diverse nation in which people make contributions, all kinds of fantastic contributions. To let you know that as we fight, we do so with peace in our mind, and that we do so to make the world a better place here at home. I often say that if you want to join in the war against terror, do some good. If you want to fight evil, love your neighbor like youd like to be loved yourself. Thats a universal call. Thats a call that is exhibited in neighborhoods all throughout America. See, the great strength of our country really isnt in the halls of government, senator and congressmen, its in the hearts and souls of our citizens. Thats what makes the country unique and strong and vibrantis the great citizens of America. And its my honor to welcome such citizens to the White House. May God bless you all. And may God bless our country. # # # Listen to the Presidents Remarks _________________________________________________________________ U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc)from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755. |
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