I had a transcript sent to me of Bayh's speech in NH.

Jefferson-Jackson Dinner - New Hampshire (October 29, 2005)

Evan Bayh



Thank you very much. Thank you very much, ladies and
gentleman.
Kathy, thank you for that very gracious introduction. I really
appreciate
your going on at some length saying those many, many positive things,
you
know, I'm always surprised when I am introduced exactly the way I wrote
it.
So I am grateful to Kathy for sticking to the script here tonight.



I have learned not to take kind introductions like Kathy's
for
granted.



Since early in my career, shortly after I was elected
governor,
I think it was in 1990. We had the midterm Democratic gathering in
Indianapolis - I was the first Democrat in 20 years so Ron Brown
decided it
would be a good place to come. We had all the Democratic dignitaries
from
around the country, each state and its state chairman, vice-chairman,
all
the DNC members, we rolled out the red carpet. And the highlight of
the
occasion was a reception in the Governors residence, where we invited
everybody to come. So Susan and I stood on the landing of the home
greeting
the different dignitaries as they came in. It was in the springtime so
people still had coats. We were shaking hands and welcoming them, and
along
came the delegation from Tennessee, Kathy. Apparently their state
chairman
hadn't been paying too much attention, and I extended my hand in
greeting to
him, and I said, "Good evening sir, welcome to the Governor's
residence."
Well, he looked me up one side and down the other, and he proceeded to
put
his coat over my arm, looked me in the eye and said, "Thank you very
much
young man, I'll pick this up when I leave."



Well, what could I say besides, "Yes sir, we'll take good care of it."
So,
no cases of mistaken identity tonight thanks to you tonight, Kathy, and
I am
very grateful for that. So many of you I'd like to acknowledge
tonight,
starting where your governor began, with Kathy Sullivan and her
husband,
John. You know since she's been your State Party Chairwoman, you've
regained the Governorship, you've picked up 2 seats in the state Senate
and
26 seats in the state House of Representatives, you became the only
state in
the USA to move from the Republican column to the Democratic column in
the
presidential election last year. So Kathy, that's a long way of
saying, if
we could clone you, we would, and share you with the other 49 states.


I'd also like to pay tribute to your governor, John Lynch. What a
great job
he's done so far in your state. John understands what being governor
is all
about. And frankly John, there are times in Washington, when I'm a
little
nostalgic. Because as governor, you are responsible for getting the
job
done, for making decisions, for advancing the interests of your state.
Too
often in Washington, it's about votes and speeches and who is up and
who is
down, rather than whether we are moving forward together. John Lynch
has
made a real difference for the citizens of New Hampshire already by
lowering
health care costs for small businesses, increasing funding for your
schools,
working to create jobs, and I've got to say Governor, I was very, very
impressed by the way you handled the recent flooding in the Western
part of
your state. John Lynch was on the scene making sure things got done.
I
have had several of you say that he gave out his personal cell phone
number,
saying to people look, if you have a problem, call me, call me. John
Lynch
could teach George Bush and FEMA a thing or two about responding to
emergencies.



It's great to be with Jim Craig and Sylvia Larsen, we need to work hard
to
regain the majority in the legislature here so your governor can get
his
program enacted and we can have good government for the people of New
Hampshire.



Its great to be with Bill Shaheen, Bill, tell Jeanne I said hello. She
was
a great Governor. I was privileged to help with her campaign for the
US
Senate. You know, it occurred to me last week, if you had elected
Jeanne
Shaheen as your Senator, the people of New Hampshire would have hit the
lottery, rather than having a Senator hit the lottery. Bill, give my
best
to Jeanne.



I have a rare privilege here tonight, ladies and gentleman. As Kathy
mentioned, we have young children, twin boys who are going to be 10 in
about
two weeks so we don't get to travel together very often. But I am here
tonight with someone who for more than 20 years has been a great
partner, a
tremendous mother, for 8 years she was an outstanding First Lady for
our
state, I wouldn't be here tonight without her. I want to introduce you
to
my better half, my wife, Susan.



Now I'd like to begin this evening by sharing some good news with all
of
you. In just about 3 years, the Bush era will be over. Done. Gone.
Forever. I know that may seem like an eternity at times, but in the
great
sweep of history, its really only the blink of an eye.



So, as tempted as I am tonight to spend our few minutes together,
telling
you how disappointed I have been, how occasionally angry I have been at
the
needless division, at the misplaced priorities, at the ineptitude that
too
often has characterized these last five years, I believe we have a
responsibility as Democrats to do better than that. And so I'd like to
have
a conversation for just these few moments about the future, about what
comes
next, about the challenges that we face and the changes that are
affecting
New Hampshire and Indiana and our other 48 states and what together as
Americans we will do to make that future and the tomorrow that our
children
will inherit from us all that it must and should be.



I think it involves embracing four values that have always been at the
core
of the promise of America. And that really is what has brought us here
together tonight, to seize the opportunity and to realize the
responsibility
that we have to restore, to renew that promise.



Real unity for the people of our country. Opportunity for everyone who
is
willing to work hard to achieve it. True security during these
dangerous
times. And accountability for the kind of performance the American
people
have a right to expect in their government.



It all begins with unity. Because we will never meet the challenges of
our
time as deeply divided as we currently are. Our parents could not have
met
the challenges of their time, overcoming the Great Depression, winning
the
Second World War, overcoming Communism, ending segregation and all the
rest,
if they had been as alienated from one another as we are today. But
they
came together to get the job done, and so can we.



But it's going to take a different kind of leadership than we've had
these
last five years. I predict when the history of this time is written,
this
president will be criticized harshly for many things. But perhaps
foremost
among them, will be the fact that he sought our nation's highest office
pledging to be "a uniter not a divider" and has proceeded to divide
this
country more profoundly than any time since the Vietnam War. We need
better
leadership than that .



We as Democrats need to provide the kind of leadership that John Lynch
has
provided. That understands that the true challenge facing us is not how
we
divide one another for short-term political gain, but instead how we
reconcile our differences, find common ground. We need leaders who
understand that "while we may have arrived on these shores in different
ships, we're all in the same boat now." We need leaders who understand
that
America is at its strongest and at its greatest, not when we are
divided
between red states and blue states, but when America is united as 50
red,
white and blue states with a common heritage and a common destiny. And
its
about time that we started behaving that way.



And the unity we seek is not unity for its own sake, its not the mushy
middle or the consensus of the lowest common denominator, but instead a
summoning of the American people to realize the true promise of this
nation,
by meeting the challenges of our time, starting with real opportunity
for
our middle class and all those who aspire to be a part of it.

We have to understand during these times of challenge and change that
the
solution of the 1930's, the solutions of the 1960's and even the
solutions
of 1990's will be inadequate to meet the challenges of the 21st
Century.
And so we must invest in research and development, to create the new
jobs,
the new industries, the new innovations of the future. Under this
administration, we are at a 50-year low. That won't get the job done.



We need to lift up small businesses, entrepreneurs, and inventors who
are
creating the real jobs of today. Under this administration, most of
our
assistance goes to the Fortune 500 who over the last 20 years have
created
zero net new jobs. That's wrong and something that we can do better.



As our friends in labor would tell you here tonight, we need to insist
upon
fair trade and a level playing field so that the ingenuity and hard
work of
the American workers and businesspeople isn't stolen from us by foreign
competitors who seek to cheat and gain an artificial advantage.



And perhaps most of all we need to understand and emphasize that true
opportunity, true prosperity in the 21st century involves providing an
education for every child and worker in this country that will enable
them
to realize their full God-given potential.



That involves a lot of different things, but I'll mention just one here
tonight. I'd like to see us dedicate ourselves as a country to
ensuring
that every child who dreams and aspires and works hard and wants to go
to
college someday has an opportunity to do that.



That's something that we did in Indiana.



In 1990, even during the depths of the first Bush recession, we made
that
commitment and said to every child in our state who qualifies for the
free
or reduced lunch program - that is about 185 percent of the poverty
level -
to each and every one of those children we said that if you will sign a
written pledge to graduate from high school with passing grades and to
not
break the law by getting involved with illegal drugs, you will be
entitled
to a full college scholarship to the public university of your choice,
and
those scholarships are fully transferable to the private university of
your
choice.



As a result of that program, our state has moved from 40th in the
percentage
of our kids who go on to higher education to 9th. We have literally
lifted
up thousands of less fortunate children and helped them to become
better
employees, better taxpayers, better citizens. And if you ever want to
know
whether all this could really make a difference, let me put a human
face on
it for you for a second. Kathy, I was the speaker at our state's JJ
dinner
last April. And when it was over, I was standing there and the people
came
up to get their pictures taken. Among them was a young man, came up
all
excited, he said, he called me governor, John, I still like that. He
said,
"Governor, can I have my picture taken with you?" I said, "Of course."
He
happened to be in a wheel chair. He was missing both legs. He was
missing
most of his left arm. He happened to be African-American. I sat down
on
the edge of the stage in the Convention Center, and he hoisted himself
off
his chair onto the stage. He put his arm around me. I put my arm
around
him. And he said, "I just want to thank you because I am a 21st
Century
Scholar." That's the promise of America, that's the kind of pledge we
need
to make to every child growing up in this country, that's what we will
do as
Democrats.



And we need to do what it takes to provide for real security in this
country
too. Because it's painfully obvious that those in charge in Washington
today don't have a clue. It's been on their watch that North Korea has
become a virtual assembly line for nuclear weapons. It's been on their
watch that we are still much too vulnerable to the possibility of an
avian
flu pandemic. It's been on their watch that our military has been
stretched
to the breaking point. On their watch that our alliances have been
frayed.
And on their watch that the conflict in Iraq has been terribly,
terribly
mismanaged.



It's now obvious that the intelligence was wrong. It's obvious that we
never had enough troops to get the job done. It's clear that there was
never a plan for the aftermath. When I was in Baghdad in last
December, our
top intelligence official told me, he said, "Evan, things would be 100
percent better in Iraq today - 100 percent - if they'd only not sent
the
Iraqi army home." But they did, and that is a tragedy. And you know
what,
we can do better. We can do better.



We can do better than the delusion of "mission accomplished." You
remember
that one? We can do better than the false bravado of "bring 'em on."
We
can do better than the flippancy of "well, you go to war with the army
that
you've got."



Because what happened in Iraq, my friends, is that they did come on,
the
conflict is far from over, and we went to war with the army that we had
but
we didn't give our troops the equipment that they need and 2,000 of
them
have perished and that's not strength, it is irresponsibility and those
in
charge should be held to account.



And we Democrats will explain to the American people that we know
something
about truly providing security for this country. And that is it
involves a
lot more than just the strength of our arms, as important as they are.
A
truly secure America, a truly strong America must begin at home, with
stronger communities and stronger families and a true policy for energy
independence in this country. That is something that will truly
strengthen
America.



One of the great missed opportunities of our time was in
the
immediate aftermath following 9/11 when the country was yearning for
something better and the leadership just wasn't there. You may
remember the
moment. John, you may remember. In people were literally stopping me
in
the street asking, "Evan, what can I do? I want to help my country."
Well
the president was asked that question at a press conference. One of
the
reporters said, "Mr. President, the American people are asking, what
can
they do? What can they do to help?" Do any of you remember what he
said?
Go to the mall; go shopping. Well, I'm sorry, but that is not enough.



If I had been President of the United States, I would have looked the
American people in the eye and said, the time has come for a new
Declaration
of Independence. Today it must be a declaration of energy independence
because it is not right for our country be as dependent as we are on
unstable places like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and Russia for
something as
critically important as our petroleum supply. And so we as Democrats
will
provide the leadership to do better.



We'll invest in high-mileage vehicles like hybrids with
incentives for research and to buy them. We'll help to create new
high-strength light-weight alloys to lower the weight of a vehicle and
increase the gas mileage. We'll invest in biofuels so that America's
farmers can produce America's fuel. And we will focus on this like a
laser
and make it a top priority because we know that it's right for our
economy,
it's right for our finances, it's good for the environment, and most of
all,
it's what we must do to set our children free.



We face some daunting challenges today. But I am convinced
with
the right kind of leadership, we can do what America has always done.
We can
overcome them. I've seen it in my own state. About 9 months after I
was
elected governor, the first Bush recession began. And Indiana was hit
hard.
But we didn't throw in the towel, we rolled up our sleeves.



We worked with our working men and women and our businesses, and at the
end
of 8 years, we had created more new jobs than during any other 8 year
period
in the history of the state.



We increased funding for our schools, each and every year. We raised
academic standards and insisted on accountability for real progress.



We paid for health care for pregnant women and new-born infants,
thousands
of additional ones.



We raised water quality standards and instituted new recycling programs
to
protect our environment.



We were one of the first states to start reforming welfare, by
insisting
upon work but we also created day care slots to make that work
possible.



And unlike this current crowd in Washington, we insisted upon real
fiscal
responsibility.



You know, George Bush likes to talk a lot about it, John. Truth of the
matter is, he hasn't vetoed one penny of spending. When I was
governor, I
had to veto a state budget one year, because I didn't think it was
fiscally
sustainable. That's what leaders do. You know, I'm in the Congress
now and
I can say this. Occasionally, the Congress needs adult supervision.
But
under this Administration, the children have been home alone.



But quite honestly, we need to do more than point out the
deep
fiscal irresponsibility of those in charge. We've got to do better
too. I
don't know how many of you saw last week, but we had a vote down there
on
something called the Bridges to Nowhere. Any of you heard of that?
Bridges
to Nowhere. 14 US Senators voted against it. 5 Democrats. I was one.
We
need to do better than that. We need to convince the American people
that
we have the right priorities to truly restore our finances. Because
when I
look at my children and you look at yours, its not right to know that
if we
continue down the path that we're on, one of the main things they are
going
to inherit from us are our unpaid bills. Now, we need to do better than
that
and with Democratic leadership that's exactly what we are going to do.



And you know good government, embracing the values at the
heart
of the promise of America, unity, opportunity, real security and
accountability, those things can lead to better political outcomes too.
I
know it's not easy in your state. Just ask your governor. Let me tell
you
about mine.



Out of the last 17 presidential elections, the Republican nominee has
carried Indiana 16 times. Last November, while you were moving your
state
from the Republican column to the Democratic column, we weren't quite
that
lucky in Indiana. George Bush carried Indiana by 21 percent.



But the same day, with the same group of voters, I was honored to be
re-elected by 24 percent.



I don't say that just to toot my own horn. I say that because it shows
that
if we embrace the promise of America and the values that have always
stood
at the heart of that promise, there is no state anywhere in this
country in
which we cannot succeed. By understanding the challenges of the
future, by
appreciating the anxieties that is creating in ordinary Americans'
lives,
and having an agenda for meeting those challenges and addressing that
change
that resonates in most people's lives.



Now this has never been better expressed than in some words I'd like to
leave you with tonight. They were spoken by, well actually they
weren't,
they were written by, another son of New England. A former president.
It
happened to be John Kennedy. And while I'd be the first to say that I
too
am no John Kennedy, his words resonate still. They were written for a
group
a lot like this. The Democratic Party of the State of Texas. But
President
Kennedy never had a chance to give that speech. Because his life was
ended
earlier that day in Dallas.



But if he had given it, here's what he intended to end by saying -
literally, his last words to us. He said, "Now is a time for courage
and
for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither
the
fanatics nor the fainthearted are needed. Our duty as a party is not
to our
party alone, but to this nation and to all of mankind. Our duty is not
merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of
peace and
of freedom. So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us
not
argue amongst ourselves when the future of our nation is at stake. Let
us
stand together with renewed confidence in our cause, united in our
pride of
the past, and in our hopes for the future, and determine that this land
we
love will lead all of mankind forward to new frontiers of peace and
abundance."



That is the challenge my friends, appealing to our better angels, not
our
baser instincts. Embracing opportunity for everyone among us,
providing
real security in the context of these times. That is the challenge for
America, that has always been the Democratic Party, that is what has
brought
us here together tonight. And with your help, and God-willing, I know
we
will get the job done.



Thank you for having me.