Thank you and good morning.

Anyone who knows President Bush knows that presidential introductions should be short and to the point. I believe, after working with him in the White House and in the Texas state capitol, the reason is simple: This is a President who values action and demands results. Talk is cheap. Deeds are not.

We have seen the results of his leadership—in the steady progress in the War on Terror and in the liberation of two nations and 50 million people.

We saw evidence of that leadership in the weeks and months following September 11 th, as the President led the bipartisan effort to enact the PATRIOT Act to give law enforcement the tools we need to seize the initiative against our enemies, wherever they plot or hide.

President Bush believes in the American people, in this great country of ours, and in the cause of freedom. And he reminds those of us who serve in his Cabinet that it is our government’s duty and obligation to pursue aggressively all those who would do harm to our beloved America. The President has shown by his actions—and the American people have seen in his leadership—a promise kept and a duty fulfilled: We are waging a war that defends the lives of all Americans. And we wage that war each day in a way that values and protects the civil liberties and the constitutional freedoms that make our Nation so special.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States….

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