Remarks to the Community in Woodstock, Georgia

The President. Thank you very much. You know, this reminds me of a great country song, "If you want to see a rainbow, you've got to take a little rain." And we're going to show the American people a rainbow.

May I salute Mayor Rogers and thank my friend of long standing, and I hope your next Senator, Paul Coverdell, for that introduction; salute our leader, Newt Gingrich, who helps us so much in Washington; members of the city council here; the cheerleaders and bands from Cherokee and Etoyah and Sequoia High Schools [see APP note]; and Daron Norwood, the Spirit of Atlanta; and of course, Dr. Johnny Hunt, who I'm told is not only a spiritual leader here, but that First Baptist Church here in Woodstock stands for family, family values, one Nation under God. Jane Hancock and Audra Dinsmore and Johnny Isaacson, thank you all. And of course, I'm glad to be standing here with one of Woodstock's own, my friend Orlando Wilson, who is a good -- if anybody likes bass fishing, they know all about this guy. Now, Fred Cooper, my chairman, and Alec Poitevint, our leaders, thank you all.

It's great to be here in Cherokee County, the land of the free and the home of the Warriors. Okay, and let's not forget the Chiefs and the Eagles. Frankly, it's great to be out of that DC mode and out on the campaign trail, taking our case to the American people. We are going to give them something to talk about down at Dean's Store here in Woodstock.

So I want to talk briefly -- and the skies have cleared now, I'm glad to say -- about the sharp choice, the clear, sharp choice that we're going to offer every American. It's a choice between different agendas, different directions for our great country, and it's a choice about the character of the man that you want to lead this Nation for another 4 years.

They say this election is about change. Well, they're right. But let's not forget the things that must guide change are the things that never change: our belief in a strong defense, in strong families, and in leaving the world a better and more prosperous place for the young kids here today. That's what this election is about.

Think for a minute about the world we've already seen, a world of change: the Berlin Wall down; millions of people around the world took the first breath of freedom; and America, her ideals and her strengths intact, won the cold war. That is good for every American.

I can't come to Georgia without saluting one other thing. Thanks for the contribution that this State made to that wonderful victory of Desert Storm. It is something strong about the American spirit.

All this change didn't come about by accident. The world changed because we, the American people, stayed true to our unchanging principles. My opponents -- let them say this -- they say I spent too much time on national security and foreign policy. Well, let me tell you, when I took office I saw a chance to help finish off imperial communism, and I did it with your help. Perhaps even more important, I saw a chance to help rid our children's dreams of the nuclear nightmare, to help them live in a safer world. And I did that with your help, and that is good. So let the Clinton-Gore ticket understand one thing: I am not going to apologize for one minute for having spent time making the world a place of peace for all the children in this country.

For 40 years this was a change that Americans fought and died for. Now it offers us a defining challenge of the nineties, to take advantage of our victory around the world and then to build a stronger and more prosperous Nation right here at home.

So for these next 73 days I'm going to ask the American people: Who do you trust to bring it all home, foreign policy, security policy, and economic policy? Who do you trust?

Audience members. Bush! Bush! Bush!

The President. So I came here to Georgia today to ask the good people of this patriotic State to give me your support based on my experience, my ideas, and my character. I will not let you down.

Here we go. Let me spell out the differences. Okay, we're going to start it right here, right now in Woodstock. I believe our Government is too big, and it spends too much of your money. I believe the deficit is a dark cloud on the future of these young people. You know it, and I know it.

Clinton does not know it, and Gore does not know it. Hey, listen, you listen to these guys and you think the deficit is a big game of the "Wheel of Fortune." You know that one? They want to buy three vowels: I, O, U. That's not good enough for the American taxpayer.

In Houston 2 nights ago, I announced a freeze on Government spending, and let me repeat it right here. If Congress sends me a bill spending one penny more than I requested, I will veto it faster than a spinner bait after Orlando's lure. We're going right after it. For the past 3 years, past 3 years, we've endorsed and proposed significant cuts in Federal spending. But that gridlock liberal Democratic-controlled Congress has chosen to direct your taxpayer dollars to their favorite projects. If they need more help curing the pork addiction, I'll say as I said the other night, let's give the taxpayers the power to dedicate up to 10 percent of their tax dollars to the deficit. If Congress won't cut that spending, the people of America will. It's just that clear.

And yes, we must cut spending. With a new Congress cutting that spending, I'll propose a tax cut to give you more of the money to pay the bills, to give the businesses the incentives to create the new jobs that this economy so desperately needs, and we will do more to jump-start the economy.

Frankly, it's the small business people that are hurting. They're the ones that create the jobs. I want to give small business a shot in the arm. Small businesses, they create two-thirds of the jobs in this country. You take places like the Cost Plus on South Main Street or Morgan's Hardware. If we're going to get this country moving, small business needs relief from taxation, these awful lawsuits, and from regulation. And we are going to give it to them.

Now, let me tell you this: the Governor of Arkansas, the commander of the Arkansas National Guard, he wants a different kind of change.

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. Now, wait a minute. This is a fact. He has actually proposed already, isn't even in there yet, and he's proposed raising Government spending by $220 billion and raising taxes, the biggest increase in history, by $150 billion. We cannot have that.

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. You think those guys only know one word, change. They talk about it. Well, that's change all right; that's about all you'll have left in your pocket when they get through with you. Yes, we want change, but it's also a question of trust. Look at every big issue we face, and you're going to see a choice between the people who put their faith in everyday Americans and those who put their faith in the Government.

I trust you, the families and the parents, to make the decisions that matter in life. I trust the parents, not the Government, to choose their children's schools, private, public, or religious. Very, very candidly, the Congress opens a meeting with a prayer. I think the schoolchildren ought to have a voluntary prayer in schools. You could argue that Congress needs it more, but I think everybody ought to have that option. I trust the parents, not the Government, to choose the children's child care. It's better to have parents do it than have some subcommittee in Washington tell you how to look after your kids.

Frankly, it all sums up to this: I think the Government is already big enough, and they tax people too much. It's that simple. If you want fewer lawsuits and fewer regulations and more opportunity for small business, vote for me.

I wonder about the Governor of Arkansas. I wonder why it is that whenever he's faced with any problem, his solution is always to put Government first. But you know, it's not so surprising. When you spent more of your life in government, like he has, government is all you know anything about. I've got my belief in trust, about limited Government from working out in the oilfields of west Texas, from trying to build a business and trying to meet a payroll. That's where I learned how jobs are created. That's where I learned this: In this country, the Government works for the people, not the other way around.

But Bill Clinton isn't the only one who's forgotten that lesson, if he ever knew it. There's a whole party of his colleagues up there on Capitol Hill who have spent their lives on the Government payroll. They, that liberal Democratic gridlock, has been controlled by one party for 38 years, 38 years. I call them the gridlocked Congress. I'm going to remind the American people: 38 years. Clean the House, clean the House, clean the House. You have to do it; we ought to do it.

Audience members. Clean the House! Clean the House! Clean the House!

The President. Let me just put it parenthetically, the last thing this country needs is a rubber-check Congress and a rubber-stamp President. We don't need it, and we're not going to have it.

I think the American people know this, that I've tried to work with these people. You remember when I said, "We didn't come here to bicker. We came here to do something for the people"? I held out my hand, and that liberal Democrat-controlled Congress bit it off. Now I'm going to take that case to the American people and say, change the Congress.

Every American knows the truth that Congress has become corrupt and conceited and confused, a body of these PAC's and privileges and partisanship and paralysis. They can't run a tiny bank. They can't run a tiny post office. And yet, they're running your lives. We've got to change it.

You know, Harry Truman took it this way. He went out across the country. He got in his sights the Congress, took his case to the people, and then he linked his opponent right into those sights. Well, let me tell you this. I'm going to do the same thing.

I am for Paul Coverdell, and here's why. He was willing to stand up and think anew. As Truman did, he's willing to single out those who talk one way and vote another. The thing in this Senate race is this: I stand for a balanced budget amendment; Wyche Fowler is against it. I stand for the line-item veto; Wyche Fowler is against it. I stand for those who stood at Desert Storm, and he opposed me. Now we want a change. That is the fact. It's fine to talk one way in downtown Woodstock and vote differently in Washington, but we cannot have that anymore.

You know, I know this race is long, know it; read all these polls about being behind. But yes, I really believe and have a confidence that we will win. We're going to win, not because of a victory for me but because we trust the American people. We win because our ideas are strong, and we win because we understand the American way. We'll win also because I think we've got a great First Lady who stands for the family and family values.

So you tell Governor Clinton and that gridlocked Congress: If you can't run with the big dogs, stay under the porch. We're coming after them.

Thank you very, very much. May God bless the greatest, freest country on the face of the Earth. And thank you for this fantastic rally. Thank you so very much.