Remarks on Arrival in Akron, Ohio

The President. Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. What a terrific Akron welcome. Thank you. Thank you for that great Ohio welcome. Feel good; I feel good. Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much for that welcome. All right. Thank you, Governor.

Let me thank Governor Voinovich. May I start by thanking your great Governor, my great friend, George Voinovich, for being at my side, leading us to victory in Ohio, and salute Congressman Ralph Regula, one of the all-time greats in the Congress, who's with me here today, a great man. You know, I want to thank Alex Arshinkoff, a great political leader who you heard from earlier, and pay my special thanks to four friends who came with us here, traveling with me, the Oak Ridge Boys, great Americans, wonderful musicians.

You know, as you drive down to -- there they are. As you drive down to the wire I see these signs saying, "Clean House! Clean House!" Change that one institution, the United States Congress, that hasn't changed in 38 years. So let me tell you what to do. Obviously, we need Ralph Regula there, but send Bob Morgan and Margaret Mueller to Washington as Congresspeople. That's what we need. While we're at it, let's clean Senate and send Mike DeWine to the United States Senate.

Your Governor is a man of total truth, like George Washington. He never told a lie. He just told me we are going to win Ohio, and I believe him. I'm sure it's true.

You know, I got a big kick out of this the other day. I read in the paper that Governor Clinton was already planning his inaugural parade.

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. No problem. Put the parade on hold, Bill. Put it on hold, because it's not the pundits that matter; it's not the media back in Washington, DC, that matters. On Tuesday it is the voter, the American people that matter.

Here's why we're going to win it: Because the choice before the American people is a choice of real differences, difference in experience, difference in philosophy, and yes, difference in character. Character is important. The American people are going to have to decide, and they will. The issue tomorrow is also trust, and they're going to have to decide: Who do you trust with your children? Who do you trust with the United States of America?

We have literally, through our leadership, helped dramatically change the world, bring peace to the world. The young people here today go to bed at night without the same fear of nuclear war that their parents had. That is dramatic change. Now America's economy is recovering. We are going to bring that same leadership, with a brandnew Congress, to help every single family here in the United States of America.

You know, one reason that I believe I'm going to win is that things are getting in focus on what's happened in Arkansas. The press hasn't wanted to talk about it, but I do, because I think it is only fair that the American people know what Governor Clinton's record is. They are near the bottom on education, 45th for teachers' salaries; 50th for environment; terrible on the economy. He's had one good year, and that's the year he was out of town most of the time. And the good people of Arkansas deserve better. But here's what worries me. Governor Clinton in the debate said, "I want to do for America what I've done for Arkansas." No way!

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. No, Arkansas changed its slogan from "Land of Opportunity" to "Natural State." I want America to be the land of opportunity, and it is. It is.

The worst news for Governor Clinton and the worst news for the liberals that control the United States Congress is they've been telling us all along that we've been in a recession. We have grown for six straight quarters, and this quarter grew at 2.7 percent. They're telling us that we're worse than Japan, Germany, and Europe. We are better than they are, and we're going to make it better still and move this country ahead. Yes, people are hurting. Yes, people are hurting, but now with things beginning to move, let's not go back and take us back to the tax-and-spend days that brought us real ruin.

Governor Clinton -- you know, you've been reading he talks about investment, we need more money so we have Government invest. Let me tell you something. Government never made a sound investment in human beings in their life, or in jobs. It's the small business that makes investment. Let's help small business: less taxes, less regulation.

Just so we tell it straight before people go to the polls, talking about investment, here's what Governor Clinton said in 1988 in Newsweek. He said, "There's a lot of evidence you can sell people on tax increases if they think it's an investment." That was what he said 4 years ago. Now we hear that cry, "investment." What he means is, America, watch your wallets. He's coming after you in taxes.

We are not going to let the middle class pay for that scam. It is a scam. Change, change, change, change, says Clinton and the Ozone Man. Change, change, change, change, change. That's all you're going to have left if he gets in there with more taxes and more Government spending.

You know why I call him Ozone Man? Let me tell you something, our administration has taken the lead on CFC's internationally, the thing that causes concern for the ozone. We brought you the Clean Air Act. We've done better on forests. We've cleaned up the oceans and the beaches. But we are not going to go to the extremes like Gore and Clinton when they say, "We want Federal fuel efficiency standards at 40 to 45 miles per gallon." You've got some great auto workers in this State. I am going to keep them at work, not throw them out of work.

Change, change, Governor Clinton got in a huddle with the handlers, and they said keep talking about change. Let me remind you of what it was like when we had a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress. We had change. We had interest rates at 21 percent. We had inflation at 15. We had a "misery index" at 20 percent. We don't need that kind of change for America.

What we need instead is a positive agenda. We've got one for rebuilding our schools, for reforming health care, for creating jobs through less spending, less taxation, and more tax breaks for these businesses.

Governor Clinton -- I can just feel it, these liberals, they want to expand Government, and I want to expand the American dream.

Now let's talk trust, and let's talk character, because they do matter. I love it when that national talking-head media take me on. I love it, because I like a good fight. There's no reason my holding back anymore.

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Hey, wait a minute, before I go any further, we grant amnesty. I want this clearly understood. Grant amnesty to these guys over here. Aim your feelings -- and I know you have them because every time somebody holds up one of those bumper stickers, it says, "Annoy the Media. Re-elect Bush," and everybody in this country knows what it means. You know what it means. Everybody knows what it means.

So don't let them tell you that family values don't matter. They do. We want to strengthen the American family by backing up our law enforcement people. Do what Barbara Bush does, reading to those children, get the parents to do that. We have a great First Lady, incidentally.

Give them school choice so the parent can choose private, public, or religious schools. We've already brought choice in child care. Strengthen the American family. Strengthen the American family.

[At this point, there was an interruption in the audience.]

I think we need a doctor over here. We'll get it. Somebody will be coming. And now let's finish. And let's be sure we get attention. They've got somebody -- all right? Okay. We'll get -- is she okay? Now, here we go. We've had a little accident over here.

But let me just say this: It is character and it is trust that is going to determine this election. There's no question about it. Listen to the words of Horace Greeley. You young people particularly, remember this. Here's what he said. He said, "Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing; only character endures." And this is true. This is very true.

Governor Clinton said in the debate, he said it's not the character of the President, it is "the character of the Presidency." Wrong, they're interlocked. The President is forming the character of the Presidency. And that is important.

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. We cannot have a pattern of deception. It's like any family. A President makes a mistake, he says, "Look, I made a mistake. Now let me help continue to lead this country." You cannot be on all sides of all issues if you're President of the United States.

I'll give you one example. Let me give you one example. When I had to make the toughest decision of my life, whether to send somebody else's son, somebody else's daughter into combat on Desert Storm, I made a decision not because it was popular. We had plenty of people in the media, plenty of people demonstrating, plenty of Congressmen telling me it was wrong. But I made the right decision. And what did Governor Clinton say? He said, "I agree with the arguments of the minority, but I guess I would have voted with the majority." What kind of Commander in Chief will waffle like that?

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. As a result, we crushed aggression. We lifted the spirits of America. We honored the Vietnam veterans as well as the veterans of Desert Storm.

There was a very interesting announcement out of Baghdad, of all places, the other day, that Saddam Hussein's government is planning a party -- they said 500,000 people -- if Governor Clinton wins. Well, Saddam, put it on hold, old fellow, because we are going to make you live up to every resolution passed by the United Nations. We're going to make you lighten up on the people of Iraq.

I ask this at the end. We've helped the world become more peaceful by busting up international communism. But let me tell you this: The world is still a dangerous place. I don't want to cut into the muscle of our defense. I feel a responsibility to young people to keep this country strong. We've reduced defense, but we can't do what Clinton and Gore want, cut right into the muscle of the defense. I'm not going to do that. The reason we're not is because it still is a dangerous place, this world of ours. It's still a dangerous place. I believe that we need a Commander in Chief that the people trust, who has had the experience and hopefully has demonstrated the character to lead this country in peace and to lead it in war.

And so tomorrow -- --

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. So tomorrow when you go into that polling booth -- --

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. So tomorrow when you go into that polling booth, pollsters be darned, everything else aside, I ask for your support. I ask for your trust to lead this great country for 4 more years.

Thank you, and may God bless the greatest country on the face of the Earth. May God bless the United States of America.

Don't listen to these guys that say we're in decline. We are the United States. God bless you all. Thank you very much. Great rally. Now go to the polls, Ohio.