Remarks by the President in Remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, Washington, DC

12:00 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  Praise be to God.  Let me begin by thanking the entire Vermont Avenue Baptist Church family for welcoming our family here today.  It feels like a family.  Thank you for making us feel that way.  (Applause.)  To Pastor Wheeler, first lady Wheeler, thank you so much for welcoming us here today.  Congratulations on Jordan Denice -- aka Cornelia.  (Laughter.)

Michelle and I have been blessed with a new nephew this year as well -- Austin Lucas Robinson.  (Applause.)  So maybe at the appropriate time we can make introductions.  (Laughter.)  Now, if Jordan's father is like me, then that will be in about 30 years. (Laughter.)  That is a great blessing.

Michelle and Malia and Sasha and I are thrilled to be here today.  And I know that sometimes you have to go through a little fuss to have me as a guest speaker.  (Laughter.)  So let me apologize in advance for all the fuss.

We gather here, on a Sabbath, during a time of profound difficulty for our nation and for our world.  In such a time, it soothes the soul to seek out the Divine in a spirit of prayer; to seek solace among a community of believers.  But we are not here just to ask the Lord for His blessing.  We aren't here just to interpret His Scripture.  We're also here to call on the memory of one of His noble servants, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, it's fitting that we do so here, within the four walls of Vermont Avenue Baptist Church -- here, in a church that rose like the phoenix from the ashes of the civil war; here in a church formed by freed slaves, whose founding pastor had worn the union blue; here in a church from whose pews congregants set out for marches and from whom choir anthems of freedom were heard; from whose sanctuary King himself would sermonize from time to time.

One of those times was Thursday, December 6, 1956.  Pastor, you said you were a little older than me, so were you around at that point?  (Laughter.)  You were three years old -- okay.  (Laughter.)  I wasn’t born yet.  (Laughter.)
 
On Thursday, December 6, 1956.  And before Dr. King had pointed us to the mountaintop, before he told us about his dream in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King came here, as a 27-year-old preacher, to speak on what he called "The Challenge of a New Age."  "The Challenge of a New Age."  It was a period of triumph, but also uncertainty, for Dr. King and his followers -- because just weeks earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the desegregation of Montgomery's buses, a hard-wrought, hard-fought victory that would put an end to the 381-day historic boycott down in Montgomery, Alabama.

And yet, as Dr. King rose to take that pulpit, the future still seemed daunting.  It wasn't clear what would come next for the movement that Dr. King led.  It wasn't clear how we were going to reach the Promised Land.  Because segregation was still rife; lynchings still a fact.  Yes, the Supreme Court had ruled not only on the Montgomery buses, but also on Brown v. Board of Education.  And yet that ruling was defied throughout the South  -- by schools and by states; they ignored it with impunity.  And here in the nation's capital, the federal government had yet to fully align itself with the laws on its books and the ideals of its founding. 

So it's not hard for us, then, to imagine that moment.  We can imagine folks coming to this church, happy about the boycott being over.  We can also imagine them, though, coming here concerned about their future, sometimes second-guessing strategy, maybe fighting off some creeping doubts, perhaps despairing about whether the movement in which they had placed so many of their hopes -- a movement in which they believed so deeply -- could actually deliver on its promise.

So here we are, more than half a century later, once again facing the challenges of a new age.  Here we are, once more marching toward an unknown future, what I call the Joshua generation to their Moses generation -- the great inheritors of progress paid for with sweat and blood, and sometimes life itself. 

We've inherited the progress of unjust laws that are now overturned.  We take for granted the progress of a ballot being available to anybody who wants to take the time to actually vote. We enjoy the fruits of prejudice and bigotry being lifted -- slowly, sometimes in fits and starts, but irrevocably -- from human hearts.  It's that progress that made it possible for me to be here today; for the good people of this country to elect an African American the 44th President of the United States of America.   

Reverend Wheeler mentioned the inauguration, last year's election.  You know, on the heels of that victory over a year ago, there were some who suggested that somehow we had entered into a post-racial America, all those problems would be solved.  There were those who argued that because I had spoke of a need for unity in this country that our nation was somehow entering into a period of post-partisanship.  That didn’t work out so well.  There was a hope shared by many that life would be better from the moment that I swore that oath.

Of course, as we meet here today, one year later, we know the promise of that moment has not yet been fully fulfilled.  Because of an era of greed and irresponsibility that sowed the seeds of its own demise, because of persistent economic troubles unaddressed through the generations, because of a banking crisis that brought the financial system to the brink of catastrophe, we are being tested -- in our own lives and as a nation -- as few have been tested before.

Unemployment is at its highest level in more than a quarter of a century.  Nowhere is it higher than the African American community.  Poverty is on the rise.  Home ownership is slipping. Beyond our shores, our sons and daughters are fighting two wars. Closer to home, our Haitian brothers and sisters are in desperate need.  Bruised, battered, many people are legitimately feeling doubt, even despair, about the future.  Like those who came to this church on that Thursday in 1956, folks are wondering, where do we go from here?

I understand those feelings.  I understand the frustration and sometimes anger that so many folks feel as they struggle to stay afloat.  I get letters from folks around the country every day; I read 10 a night out of the 40,000 that we receive.  And there are stories of hardship and desperation, in some cases, pleading for help:  I need a job.  I'm about to lose my home.  I don't have health care -- it's about to cause my family to be bankrupt.  Sometimes you get letters from children:  My mama or my daddy have lost their jobs, is there something you can do to help?  Ten letters like that a day we read.

So, yes, we're passing through a hard winter.  It's the hardest in some time.  But let's always remember that, as a people, the American people, we've weathered some hard winters before.  This country was founded during some harsh winters.  The fishermen, the laborers, the craftsmen who made camp at Valley Forge -- they weathered a hard winter.  The slaves and the freedmen who rode an underground railroad, seeking the light of justice under the cover of night -- they weathered a hard winter. The seamstress whose feet were tired, the pastor whose voice echoes through the ages -- they weathered some hard winters.  It was for them, as it is for us, difficult, in the dead of winter, to sometimes see spring coming.  They, too, sometimes felt their hopes deflate.  And yet, each season, the frost melts, the cold recedes, the sun reappears.  So it was for earlier generations and so it will be for us.

What we need to do is to just ask what lessons we can learn from those earlier generations about how they sustained themselves during those hard winters, how they persevered and prevailed.  Let us in this Joshua generation learn how that Moses generation overcame. 

Let me offer a few thoughts on this.  First and foremost, they did so by remaining firm in their resolve.  Despite being threatened by sniper fire or planted bombs, by shoving and punching and spitting and angry stares, they adhered to that sweet spirit of resistance, the principles of nonviolence that had accounted for their success.

Second, they understood that as much as our government and our political parties had betrayed them in the past -- as much as our nation itself had betrayed its own ideals -- government, if aligned with the interests of its people, can be -- and must be  -- a force for good.  So they stayed on the Justice Department.  They went into the courts.  They pressured Congress, they pressured their President.  They didn’t give up on this country. They didn’t give up on government.  They didn’t somehow say government was the problem; they said, we're going to change government, we're going to make it better.  Imperfect as it was, they continued to believe in the promise of democracy; in America's constant ability to remake itself, to perfect this union.

Third, our predecessors were never so consumed with theoretical debates that they couldn't see progress when it came. Sometimes I get a little frustrated when folks just don't want to see that even if we don't get everything, we're getting something.  (Applause.)  King understood that the desegregation of the Armed Forces didn’t end the civil rights movement, because black and white soldiers still couldn't sit together at the same lunch counter when they came home.  But he still insisted on the rightness of desegregating the Armed Forces.  That was a good first step -- even as he called for more.  He didn’t suggest that somehow by the signing of the Civil Rights that somehow all discrimination would end.  But he also didn’t think that we shouldn’t sign the Civil Rights Act because it hasn’t solved every problem.  Let's take a victory, he said, and then keep on marching.  Forward steps, large and small, were recognized for what they were -- which was progress.

Fourth, at the core of King's success was an appeal to conscience that touched hearts and opened minds, a commitment to universal ideals -- of freedom, of justice, of equality -- that spoke to all people, not just some people.  For King understood that without broad support, any movement for civil rights could not be sustained.  That's why he marched with the white auto worker in Detroit.  That's why he linked arm with the Mexican farm worker in California, and united people of all colors in the noble quest for freedom.

Of course, King overcame in other ways as well.  He remained strategically focused on gaining ground -- his eyes on the prize constantly -- understanding that change would not be easy, understand that change wouldn't come overnight, understanding that there would be setbacks and false starts along the way, but understanding, as he said in 1956, that "we can walk and never get weary, because we know there is a great camp meeting in the promised land of freedom and justice."

And it's because the Moses generation overcame that the trials we face today are very different from the ones that tested us in previous generations.  Even after the worst recession in generations, life in America is not even close to being as brutal as it was back then for so many.  That's the legacy of Dr. King and his movement.  That's our inheritance.  Having said that, let there be no doubt the challenges of our new age are serious in their own right, and we must face them as squarely as they faced the challenges they saw.

I know it's been a hard road we've traveled this year to rescue the economy, but the economy is growing again.  The job losses have finally slowed, and around the country, there's signs that businesses and families are beginning to rebound.  We are making progress.

I know it's been a hard road that we've traveled to reach this point on health reform.  I promise you I know.  (Laughter.) But under the legislation I will sign into law, insurance companies won't be able to drop you when you get sick, and more than 30 million people -- (applause) -- our fellow Americans will finally have insurance.  More than 30 million men and women and children, mothers and fathers, won't be worried about what might happen to them if they get sick.  This will be a victory not for Democrats; this will be a victory for dignity and decency, for our common humanity.  This will be a victory for the United States of America.

Let's work to change the political system, as imperfect as it is.  I know people can feel down about the way things are going sometimes here in Washington.  I know it's tempting to give up on the political process.  But we've put in place tougher rules on lobbying and ethics and transparency -- tougher rules than any administration in history.  It's not enough, but it's progress.  Progress is possible.  Don't give up on voting.  Don't give up on advocacy.  Don't give up on activism.  There are too many needs to be met, too much work to be done.  Like Dr. King said, "We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."

Let us broaden our coalition, building a confederation not of liberals or conservatives, not of red states or blue states, but of all Americans who are hurting today, and searching for a better tomorrow.  The urgency of the hour demands that we make common cause with all of America's workers -- white, black, brown -- all of whom are being hammered by this recession, all of whom are yearning for that spring to come.  It demands that we reach out to those who've been left out in the cold even when the economy is good, even when we're not in recession -- the youth in the inner cities, the youth here in Washington, D.C., people in rural communities who haven't seen prosperity reach them for a very long time.  It demands that we fight discrimination, whatever form it may come.  That means we fight discrimination  against gays and lesbians, and we make common cause to reform our immigration system.
 
And finally, we have to recognize, as Dr. King did, that progress can't just come from without -- it also has to come from within.  And over the past year, for example, we've made meaningful improvements in the field of education.  I've got a terrific Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.  He's been working hard with states and working hard with the D.C. school district, and we've insisted on reform, and we've insisted on accountability.  We we're putting in more money and we've provided more Pell Grants and more tuition tax credits and simpler financial aid forms.  We've done all that, but parents still need to parent.  (Applause.)  Kids still need to own up to their responsibilities.  We still have to set high expectations for our young people.  Folks can't simply look to government for all the answers without also looking inside themselves, inside their own homes, for some of the answers.

Progress will only come if we're willing to promote that ethic of hard work, a sense of responsibility, in our own lives. I'm not talking, by the way, just to the African American community.  Sometimes when I say these things people assme, well, he's just talking to black people about working hard.  No, no, no, no.  I'm talking to the American community.  Because somewhere along the way, we, as a nation, began to lose touch with some of our core values.  You know what I'm talking about.  We became enraptured with the false prophets who prophesized an easy path to success, paved with credit cards and home equity loans and get-rich-quick schemes, and the most important thing was to be a celebrity; it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you get on TV.  That's everybody.

We forgot what made the bus boycott a success; what made the civil rights movement a success; what made the United States of America a success -- that, in this country, there's no substitute for hard work, no substitute for a job well done, no substitute for being responsible stewards of God's blessings.

What we're called to do, then, is rebuild America from its foundation on up.  To reinvest in the essentials that we've neglected for too long -- like health care, like education, like a better energy policy, like basic infrastructure, like scientific research.  Our generation is called to buckle down and get back to basics.

We must do so not only for ourselves, but also for our children, and their children.  For Jordan and for Austin.  That's a sacrifice that falls on us to make.  It's a much smaller sacrifice than the Moses generation had to make, but it's still a sacrifice.  

Yes, it's hard to transition to a clean energy economy.  Sometimes it may be inconvenient, but it's a sacrifice that we have to make.  It's hard to be fiscally responsible when we have all these human needs, and we're inheriting enormous deficits and debt, but that's a sacrifice that we're going to have to make.  You know, it's easy, after a hard day's work, to just put your kid in front of the TV set -- you're tired, don't want to fuss with them -- instead of reading to them, but that's a sacrifice we must joyfully accept. 

Sometimes it's hard to be a good father and good mother. Sometimes it's hard to be a good neighbor, or a good citizen, to give up time in service of others, to give something of ourselves to a cause that's greater than ourselves -- as Michelle and I are urging folks to do tomorrow to honor and celebrate Dr. King.  But these are sacrifices that we are called to make.  These are sacrifices that our faith calls us to make.  Our faith in the future.  Our faith in America.  Our faith in God. 

And on his sermon all those years ago, Dr. King quoted a poet's verse:

Truth forever on the scaffold
Wrong forever on the throne…
And behind the dim unknown stands God
Within the shadows keeping watch above his own.

Even as Dr. King stood in this church, a victory in the past and uncertainty in the future, he trusted God.  He trusted that God would make a way.  A way for prayers to be answered.  A way for our union to be perfected.  A way for the arc of the moral universe, no matter how long, to slowly bend towards truth and bend towards freedom, to bend towards justice.  He had faith that God would make a way out of no way.

You know, folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm.  (Laughter.)  They say, all this stuff coming at you, how come you just seem calm?  And I have a confession to make here.  There are times where I'm not so calm.  (Laughter.)  Reggie Love knows.  My wife knows.  There are times when progress seems too slow.  There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt.  There are times when the barbs sting.  There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught, and change is so painfully slow in coming, and I have to confront my own doubts. 

But let me tell you -- during those times it's faith that keeps me calm.  (Applause.)  It's faith that gives me peace.  The same faith that leads a single mother to work two jobs to put a roof over her head when she has doubts.  The same faith that keeps an unemployed father to keep on submitting job applications even after he's been rejected a hundred times.  The same faith that says to a teacher even if the first nine children she's teaching she can't reach, that that 10th one she's going to be able to reach.  The same faith that breaks the silence of an earthquake's wake with the sound of prayers and hymns sung by a Haitian community.  A faith in things not seen, in better days ahead, in Him who holds the future in the hollow of His hand.  A faith that lets us mount up on wings like eagles; lets us run and not be weary; lets us walk and not faint.

So let us hold fast to that faith, as Joshua held fast to the faith of his fathers, and together, we shall overcome the challenges of a new age.  (Applause.)  Together, we shall seize the promise of this moment.  Together, we shall make a way through winter, and we're going to welcome the spring.  Through God all things are possible.  (Applause.)

May the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King continue to inspire us and ennoble our world and all who inhabit it.  And may God bless the United States of America.  Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  (Applause.)

END
12:30 P.M. EST

Remarks by President Obama, Former President Bill Clinton, and Former President George W. Bush on the Recovery and Rebuilding Effort in Haiti

Rose Garden

11:02 A.M. EST

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good morning, everybody.  In times of great challenge in our country and around the world, Americans have always come together to lend a hand and to serve others and to do what's right.  That's what the American people have been doing in recent days with their extraordinary generosity and contributions to the Haitian people.

At this moment, we're moving forward with one of the largest relief efforts in our history -- to save lives and to deliver relief that averts an even larger catastrophe.  The two leaders with me today will ensure that this is matched by a historic effort that extends beyond our government, because America has no greater resource than the strength and the compassion of the American people.

We just met in the Oval Office -- an office they both know well.  And I'm pleased that President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton have agreed to lead a major fundraising effort for relief:  the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.  On behalf of the American people, I want to thank both of you for returning to service and leading this urgent mission.

This is a model that works.  After the terrible tsunami in Asia, President Bush turned to President Clinton and the first President Bush to lead a similar fund.  That effort raised substantial resources for the victims of that disaster -- money that helped save lives, deliver aid, and rebuild communities.  And that's exactly what the people of Haiti desperately need right now.

Every day that goes by, we learn more about the horrifying scope of this catastrophe -- destruction and suffering that defies comprehension.  Entire communities buried under mountains of concrete.  Families sleeping in the streets.  Injured desperate for care.  Many thousands feared dead.  That's why thousands of American personnel -- civilian and military -- are on the scene working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, and thousands of tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every day.

It will be difficult.  It is an enormous challenge to distribute this aid quickly and safely in a place that has suffered such destruction.  That's what we're focused on now -- working closely with our partners:  the Haitian government, the United Nations, and many organizations and nations -- friends from Argentina and France, from Dominican Republic and Brazil, and countries all around the world.

And Secretary Hillary Clinton will be in Haiti today to meet with President Préval and continue our close coordination with his government.  But we also know that our longer-term effort will not be measured in days and weeks; it will be measured in months and even years.  And that's why it's so important to enlist and sustain the support of the American people.  That's why it's so important to have a point of coordination for all the support that extends beyond our government.

Here at home, Presidents Bush and Clinton will help the American people to do their part, because responding to a disaster must be the work of all of us.  Indeed, those wrenching scenes of devastation remind us not only of our common humanity but also of our common responsibilities.  This time of suffering can and must be a time of compassion.

As the scope of the destruction became apparent, I spoke to each of these gentlemen, and they each asked the same simple question:  How can I help?  In the days ahead they'll be asking everyone what they can do -- individuals, corporations, NGOs, and institutions.  And I urge everyone who wants to help to visit www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.

We're fortunate to have the service of these two leaders.  President Bush led America's response to the Asian tsunami, aid and relief that prevented even greater loss of life in the months after that disaster.  And his administration's efforts to fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa treated more than 10 million men, women, and children.

As President, Bill Clinton helped restore democracy in Haiti.  As a private citizen, he has helped to save the lives of millions of people around the world.  And as the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, he understands intimately the daily struggles and needs of the Haitian people.

And by coming together in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the world:  In these difficult hours, America stands united.  We stand united with the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience, and we will help them to recover and to rebuild.

Yesterday we witnessed a small but remarkable display of that determination -- some of you may have seen it -- Haitians with little more than the clothes on their back marched peacefully through a ruined neighborhood, and despite all their loss and all their suffering they sang songs of faith and songs of hope.

These are the people we're called upon to help.  Those are the hopes that we're committed to answering.  That's why the three of us are standing together today.  And with that, I would invite each President to say a few words.  I'm going to start with President Bush.

PRESIDENT BUSH:  I join President Obama in expressing my sympathy for the people of Haiti.  I commend the President for his swift and timely response to the disaster.  I am so pleased to answer the call to work alongside President Clinton to mobilize the compassion of the American people.

Like most Americans, Laura and I have been following the television coverage from Haiti.  Our hearts are broken when we see the scenes of little children struggling without a mom or a dad, or the bodies in the streets or the physical damage of the earthquake.

The challenges down there are immense, but there's a lot of devoted people leading the relief effort, from government personnel who deployed into the disaster zone to the faith-based groups that have made Haiti a calling.

The most effective way for Americans to help the people of Haiti is to contribute money.  That money will go to organizations on the ground and will be -- who will be able to effectively spend it.  I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water -- just send your cash.  One of the things that the President and I will do is to make sure your money is spent wisely.  As President Obama said, you can look us up on clintonbushhaitifund.org.

The Haitian people have got a tough journey, yet it's amazing how terrible tragedies can bring out the best of the human spirit.  We've all seen that firsthand when American citizens responded to the tsunami or to Katrina or to the earthquake in Pakistan.  And President Clinton and I are going to work to tap that same spirit of giving to help our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.

Toward the end of my presidency, Laura made a trip down to Haiti to look at the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programs down there.  I remember clearly her coming back and telling me about the energy and optimism of the people of Haiti.  There's just an unbelievable spirit amongst the Haitian people.  And while that earthquake destroyed a lot, it didn't destroy their spirit.

So the people of Haiti will recovery and rebuild, and as they do they know they'll have a friend in the United States of America.  Mr. President, thank you for giving me the chance to serve.

PRESIDENT CLINTON:  First, I want to thank President Obama for asking President Bush and me to do this, and for what I believe has been a truly extraordinary response on the part of the American government.  Because I've been working down there for nearly a year as the U.N. special envoy, I've been in constant touch with our people through the U.N. on the ground, and you know we lost a lot of our people there -- the largest loss of life in the history of the United Nations on a single day.  The United States has been there from the beginning.  The military has been great.  The response by the State Department and AID has been great.  I just can't say enough about it.  And the people in Haiti know it, and I'm grateful.

Secondly, I'd like to thank President Bush for agreeing to do this, and for the concern he showed for Haiti.  Before this happened, my foundation worked with the PEPFAR people on the AIDS problems in Haiti and I saw how good they were and what they did and how many lives they saved.

Finally, let me say that -- I don't have to read the Web site because they did -- but I want to say something about this.  Right now all we need to do is get food and medicine and water and a secure place for them to be.  But when we start the rebuilding effort, we want to do what I did with the President's father in the tsunami area.  We want to be a place where people can know their money will be well spent; where we will ensure the ongoing integrity of the process.

And we want to stay with this over the long run.  My job with the U.N. basically is not at all in conflict with this because I'm sort of the outside guy.  My job is to work with the donor nations, the international agencies, the business people around the world to try to get them to invest there, the nongovernmental organizations, the Haitian diaspora community.

I believe before this earthquake Haiti had the best chance in my lifetime to escape its history -- a history that Hillary and I have shared a tiny part of.  I still believe that.  The Haitians want to just amend their development plan to take account of what's happened in Port-au-Prince and west, figure out what they got to do about that, and then go back to implementing it.  But it's going to take a lot of help and a long time.

So I'm just grateful that President Bush wants to help, and I've already figured out how I can get him to do some things that he didn't sign on for.  (Laughter.)

Again, I have no words to say what I feel like.  When you -- I was in those hotels that collapsed.  I had meals with people who are dead.  The cathedral church that Hillary and I sat in 34 years ago is a total rubble.  But what these men have said is true:  It is still one of the most remarkable, unique places I have ever been.  And they can escape their history and build a better future if we do our part.  And President Obama, thank you for giving us a chance to do a little of that.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Well, these gentlemen are going to do an extraordinary job, but really what they're going to be doing is just tapping into the incredible generosity, the ingenuity, the can-do spirit of the American people in helping our neighbors in need.  So I want to thank each of them not only for being here today but what I know is going to be an extraordinary effort.

I want to make sure that everybody got that Web site one more time.  Obviously we're just standing it up, but it will immediately give people a means to contact our offices -- www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.

And I just want to amplify one thing that was said.  We were talking in the back.  In any extraordinary catastrophe like this, the first several weeks are just going to involve getting immediate relief on the ground.  And there are going to be some tough days over the next several days.  People are still trying to figure out how to organize themselves.  There's going to be fear, anxiety, a sense of desperation in some cases.

I've been in contact with President Préval.  I've been talking to the folks on the ground.  We are going to be making slow and steady progress, and the key now is to -- for everybody in Haiti to understand that there is going to be sustained help on the way.

But what these gentlemen are going to be able to do is when the news media starts seeing its attention drift to other things but there's still enormous needs on the ground, these two gentlemen of extraordinary stature I think are going to be able to help ensure that these efforts are sustained.  And that's why it's so important and that's why I'm so grateful that they agreed to do it.

Thank you, gentlemen.

END
11:16 A.M. EST

Declaraciones del Presidente sobre la Situacion en Haiti

Sala de Recepciones Diplomáticas

1:08 P.M. EST

  EL PRESIDENTE: Buenas tardes a todos. Deseo hacer breves declaraciones sobre la más reciente situación en Haití para que el pueblo estadounidense esté totalmente al día de nuestros esfuerzos allá.

  Esta mañana hablé con el Presidente Préval de Haití, quien ha estado en contacto frecuente con nuestro embajador en el terreno. Le expresé al Presidente Préval mi más sincero pésame por el pueblo haitiano y nuestro firme respaldo a los esfuerzos de socorro que están en marcha.

  Como tantos haitianos, el propio Presidente Préval ha perdido su casa, y su gobierno opera bajo condiciones extraordinariamente difíciles. En muchos casos se han interrumpido las comunicaciones y permanecen -- y se desconoce el paradero de muchas personas. La magnitud de la devastación es tremenda, y creo que todos nosotros estamos viéndolo por televisión, y las pérdidas nos parten el alma.

  Prometí el apoyo continuo de Estados Unidos al gobierno y al pueblo de Haití, en la labor inmediata de salvar vidas y prestar socorro, y en los esfuerzos a largo plazo por reconstruir. El Presidente Préval y yo acordamos que es absolutamente esencial que estos esfuerzos estén bien coordinados entre Estados Unidos y el gobierno de Haití; con las Naciones Unidas, que continúa desempeñando una función central, y con los muchos aliados internacionales y organizaciones de ayuda que ahora se encuentran en el terreno.

  Mientras tanto, continúan llegando recursos estadounidenses a Haití. Se continúan realizando operativos de búsqueda y rescate, sacando a la gente de los escombros. Nuestro equipo ha salvado vidas tanto de ciudadanos estadounidenses como ciudadanos haitianos, a menudo bajo circunstancias extraordinariamente difíciles.

  Esta mañana llegó el portaviones USS Carl Vinson, junto con helicópteros que serán cruciales para entregar la ayuda en los próximos días. Están preparándose para llevar a zonas prioritarias de Puerto Príncipe agua, alimentos y otros suministros para salvar vidas y que son sumamente necesarios. Continúan llegando alimentos, agua y medicinas, junto con médicos y socorristas.

  En el aeropuerto, la ayuda continúa llegando, no sólo de Estados Unidos sino también de Brasil, México, Canadá, Francia, Colombia y la República Dominicana, entre otros. Esto afirma lo que le dije al Presidente esta mañana: El mundo entero está con el gobierno y el pueblo de Haití, pues en la devastación de Haití, todos vemos la humanidad que tenemos en común.

  Y mientras la comunidad internacional continúa respondiendo, pienso que Estados Unidos tiene la responsabilidad de seguir actuando. Nuestro país tiene una capacidad única de tender la mano rápida y generosamente, y prestar ayuda que puede salvar vidas.

  Obviamente, esa responsabilidad se magnifica cuando la devastación sufrida está tan cerca de nosotros. Los haitianos son nuestros vecinos en el continente americano, y para los estadounidenses, son familiares y amigos. Es característico del pueblo estadounidense ayudar a otros en momentos de necesidad tan severa. Ése es el espíritu que necesitaremos para mantener este esfuerzo a medida que avance. Habrá muchos días difíciles por delante.

  Hay tanta, tanta gente en necesidad de ayuda. El puerto continúa cerrado, y las carreteras están dañadas. Los alimentos escasean, como también el agua. Tomará tiempo establecer puntos de distribución para que podamos asegurar que los recursos se entreguen de manera segura y eficaz y ordenada.

  Pero deseo que el pueblo haitiano sepa que haremos lo que sea necesario para salvar vidas y ayudarlos a volver a recuperarse. En este esfuerzo, quiero darle las gracias a nuestra gente en el terreno: nuestros hombres y mujeres de uniforme, que han actuado tan rápidamente; nuestros civiles y personal de la embajada, muchos de los cuales tuvieron pérdidas propias en esta tragedia, y a los miembros de los equipos de búsqueda y rescate de Florida y California y Virginia que han dejado su hogar y su familia para ayudar a otros. Deseo que todos ellos sepan que demuestran la valentía y decencia del pueblo estadounidense, y estamos sumamente orgullosos de ustedes.

  También quiero agradecerle al pueblo estadounidense más extensamente. En estos tiempos difíciles, han mostrado extraordinaria compasión, y ya han donado millones de dólares. Los aliento a todos ustedes que quieren ayudar a que lo hagan por medio de whitehouse.gov, donde pueden averiguar dónde contribuir.

  Y mañana me reuniré con el Presidente Clinton y el Presidente George W. Bush aquí en la Casa Blanca para hablar sobre cómo reclutar y ayudar al pueblo estadounidense en este esfuerzo de recuperación y reconstrucción de ahora en adelante.

  Quiero señalar que al concluir mi llamada con el Presidente Préval, dijo que está sumamente conmovido por la amistad y generosidad del pueblo estadounidense. Fue un momento emotivo. Y este Presidente, viendo la devastación a su alrededor, me dio este mensaje para el pueblo estadounidense. Dijo, “Desde el fondo de mi corazón y en nombre del pueblo haitiano, gracias, gracias, gracias”.

  Como le dije al Presidente, nos damos cuenta de que necesita más ayuda, y su país necesita más ayuda, mucha más. Y en este difícil momento, continuaremos proporcionándola.

  Muchas gracias.
 

Remarks by The President at Opening Session of the Forum on Modernizing Government

South Court Auditorium
Eisenhower Executive Office Building

2:03 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Please have a seat, everybody.  Thank you so much.  Well, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for all of you for being here today.

I'd like to recognize the Deputy Cabinet Secretaries who are with us for their leadership at our agencies.  And it's exciting to see the leaders of some of the most innovative, cutting-edge, tech-savvy companies in the world gathered in the city where I had to fight tooth and nail just to get a BlackBerry.  (Laughter.)  There may be a little bit of a cultural clash here, but that's exactly why we want you here.    I really appreciate the time all of you have taken to be in Washington for this forum.  I know how busy all of you are.

We stand in the midst of challenging times for our economy -- I don't think that's any secret.  And I know that many of you have felt these challenges in your industries and in your businesses -- some of you have felt them quite acutely.  But I also know how you've managed to meet them, and managed through them -- experimenting and innovating and finding new ways to increase productivity and better serve your customers.  We're here today because I believe your government should be doing exactly the same thing.

When I first started campaigning for this office, I said I wanted to change the way that Washington works.  And when I said that, I meant how it works for the American people.  I meant making government more responsive to their needs.  I meant getting rid of the waste and the inefficiencies that bloat our deficits and squander their hard-earned savings.  I meant finally revamping the outdated technologies and information systems that undermine our efficiency and threaten our security, and fail to serve their interests.  And I asked all of you to this Forum on Government Modernization today because I believe that this last objective -- bringing our government into the 21st century -- is critical to achieving all those other objectives.

Now, I can say without any hesitation that our government employees are some of the hardest-working, most dedicated, most competent people I know.  Government workers get a bad rap.  They are dedicated; they put in a lot of hours and they care deeply about what they do.  And they desperately want to provide the very best service for the American people.  But all too often, their best efforts are thwarted because the technological revolution that has transformed our society over the past two decades has yet to reach many parts of our government.  Many of these folks will tell you that their kids have better technology in their backpacks and in their bedrooms than they have at the desks at their work.

To this day, there are still places in the federal government where reams of yellow files in manila envelopes are walked from desk to desk, or boxes of documents are shipped back and forth between offices because files aren't yet online.  Believe it or not, in our patent office -- now, this is embarrassing -- this is an institution responsible for protecting and promoting innovation -- our patent office receives more than 80 percent of patent applications electronically, then manually prints them out, scans them, and enters them into an outdated case management system.  This is one of the reasons why the average processing time for a patent is roughly three years.  Imminently solvable; hasn't been solved yet.

Even worse, too often, when we've attempted to update or replace outdated technology, we end up spending exorbitant sums of money on technologies that don't meet our needs -- or that took so long to implement that they were obsolete before we even started using them.

I just met with Department of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, who, a veteran himself, cares so deeply about making sure that veterans get their claims processed efficiently.  We've been talking for 10 years about putting electronic systems in place for Veterans Affairs to reduce the backlog, and so far it has not yet happened -- not because people don't want it to happen, but partly because previous purchasing decisions have mismatched what VA has with what the Department of Defense has; they don't speak to each other, they don't merge.

None of this is acceptable -- particularly at a time when we're experiencing such economic difficulty and so many people are struggling.  We've got to get the best bang for every single dollar that the government has in its possession.  And when Washington lags a generation behind in how we do business that has real and serious impact on people's lives.  When we waste billions of dollars, in part because our technology is out of date, that's billions of dollars we're not investing in better schools for our children, in tax relief for our small businesses, in creating jobs and funding research to spur the scientific breakthroughs and economic growth of this new century.

And we know that the tools, the technology, the solutions are out there.  You know because you put them in place every day.  It's time we started putting them to work for the American people.  If you can book dinner on Open Table, or a flight on Southwest or United online, then why shouldn't you be able to make an appointment at your local Social Security office the same way?  If you can track your UPS package with your iPhone, then why not be able to check the status of your citizenship application on a website, rather than having to write a letter and wait for a letter back?

Now, these are simple, cost-effective steps -- ones which we've already taken, or at least are in the process of taking.  But these are just the beginning.  Going forward, I want to see solutions like this in every agency.  I want to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people's lives?  How are we making it easier for small business owners to get loans so they can open their doors and expand their operations and create new jobs?  How are we helping young people get student loans, so they can get the education they need to pursue their dreams?  How are we ensuring that the brave men and women who've served this country get their benefits as quickly and as easily as possible?  How are we cutting costs and reducing our deficit so that our children and our grandchildren aren't saddled with debt?

Improving the technology our government uses isn't about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our website -- it's about how we use the American people's hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them.  And this is something I'm very serious about.

Now, this is why I appointed the very first ever federal government CIO and CTO -- and Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra are both coordinating our efforts and ensuring that we're embracing the best, most effective technologies possible.

It's also why we introduced our IT Dashboard at usaspending.gov.  Here's a website, which I've personally reviewed, where the American people can monitor every IT project in the federal government.  If a project is over budget, or behind schedule, this site tells you that, and by how much -- and it provides the name, the email and the phone number of the person responsible.  To date, the site has gotten 78 million hits.  We've already terminated a number of projects that weren't performing -- and going forward, we won't hesitate to cut more and then take that money and reinvest it in someplace that's actually going to make a difference.

But here is the reason all of you are here -- we can't do this alone.  Many of you are pioneers -- harnessing new technologies to build thriving businesses; some of you have  revolutionized industries; you've changed the ways that we look at the world.  And if I had any doubt about how much government has to learn from all of you, then the homework assignment you all completed would have certainly convinced me otherwise.  I think the depth and the thoughtfulness of your responses indicates that all of you spent real time on preparing for today, and I deeply thank you for it.

I hope all of you will continue those efforts at the forum today.  I want the very best of what you've got.  I want you to tell us not just what we can do to better serve the American people, but how we can do it.  How we can do it without spending a whole lot of taxpayer dollars is especially what I want to hear from you.

And I also want to emphasize I don't want to just hear your input today -- we're going to need it in the months and years ahead as well.  A lot of this stuff takes time to implement, even when it's implemented well.  That's why I've charged our Federal Chief Performance Officer, Jeff Zients, who you already heard from, to work with Vivek and Aneesh, and all of you, to make sure the changes we make have a lasting impact.

We'll need each of you to keep stepping up and sharing your insights and your ideas and your expertise.  We're going to need you to help us build the kind of government that the American people expect and the kind of government that they deserve -- and that's one that spends their money wisely, serves their interests well, and is fully worthy of their trust and their respect.

So that's the purpose of today's forum; that's the ongoing mission of this administration.  And I very much look forward to hearing what you have to offer us.  Thank you very much for being here, everybody.  (Applause.)

END
2:13 P.M. EST