My friend is excited that the President is visiting her place of employment, tomorrow, 3M. My Dad spent 30 years working for 3M, and my Mom and I are excited too!
To that end, I've put together a long list of compliments and a few suggestions to enhance the speech for tomorrow. Please don't think I'm weird. We were waiting for a repairman to come, and I had my laptop with me, and had a lot of time on my hands. (I know, it will show ;-)
Here's what I wrote:
After Listening to President Bush’s Speech in Nashville – February 01, 2006
Compliments and Suggestions Regarding the Speech, for MN tomorrow :
Minnesotans have excellent work ethic. They are the “roll up your sleeves and get the job done" type worker. They are very clever and hard workers. You could work into the speech that MN is the “Land of MacGyver (sp?)” if you want to remind them that they are clever and innovative.
Also work in the words… DOING THE RIGHT THING ISN’T ALWAYS EASY, BUT IT IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
Taliban Issue – Use the story about a woman walking down the street, barely able to see the ground, while in her Burka, and she stumbles. She would be beaten, if her legs showed during her fall. The Taliban not allowing any music would have easily been understood as a travesty, by a Nashville audience.
Military - Loved the example of how caring Americans are—that we weep, when we see our military handing out candy to children, instead of killing them (implied).
Patriot Act - Loved the quote, “The Patriot Act will expire – the War Will Not Expire.” That was great!
Entrepreneurial Spirit - All great! Minnesotans are great pleaser/problem solver types. Any talk of goal setting, hard work, and problem solving will be well received.
NSA Terrorist Call Monitoring - I think instead of the, “let me talk Texan….” if you said what I heard Mitch McConnell (sp?) say, “If you’re calling from Tora Bora – you’re not calling for pizza!” I LOVED that example.
Statistic Quip - GREAT
Keep Your Own Money & Tax Relief - GREAT – Loved the “Get their hands out of your pockets” and the “Congress raises $, only to spend your $” - GREAT
Deficit Points - All good, really good. Minnesotans see themselves as very thrifty people—aware of their budgets and keeping theirs under control. When you reinforce that of being thrifty with our money, MN will like that.
Retirement Age & Social Security - All good – really good. And remind MNs that every time you’ve tried to act responsibly, it’s as if your hands are tied because the Congress doesn’t believe it’s that big of an issue or a problem. Remind MNs that you are not one to run from a problem, but rather to tackle (good football term) it head on. You have to acknowledge there IS a problem, before you can tackle it. Congress has the covers over their heads, while America will be living this issue. I loved the rate of inflation statistic, too.
Immigration - THANK YOU SIR!!!! Finally, we hear the right words from our President on BORDER CONTROL!!! Yeah!!!
Guest Worker Program - Thank you for denouncing amnesty!!! I think most of us will understand that migrant workers are already quite woven into the economy of the regions they serve, but I’m still glad you addressed the situation. The reference to the “Catch and Release” problem was like music to the ears of one living in CA. Thank you thank you thank you!
There is ONE thing I would CHANGE, though…your reference to “a job Americans don’t want.” I would have said, “a job that NOT ENOUGH Americans will do.” I think that would be a better way of saying it. I really liked your saying we all don’t like seeing lots of people shoved into vans and getting hurt. No one wants people to get hurt, but we also think---they shouldn’t put themselves in that situation. I don’t think the average American understands the great poverty that makes a person be one of the many crammed in a van. I wonder if Americans know of the rape trees at the half way point from Mexico to America, where the women have to put out so that they can go forward—they know they can’t go back alone, and they are forced to do what they have to do. It’s terrible!
Also, many of us in CA are REALLY concerned with “Anchor Babies” and the many family members just one illegal alien brings with him/her when doing their “guest work” in the program. It’s hurting our schools, our medical facilities, and our economies, more than their help is providing our areas.
Health Care - All sounded good – Doctor joke funny. Great ideas for small business pooling to receive same benefit $ breaks as larger companies get for their volume of members. I’m so glad you mention Health Services Accounts. There needs to be some easy examples said to bring this idea home. There MUST be some simple analogies to help Americans feel like it isn’t such an overwhelming task. I liked your explanation of why they are needed, just add how easy it would be to comply into the speech. 1-2-3- steps. Simple to do, yet the benefits would be so great….and then examples of the benefits of doing that vs. what we are doing now. Very simple comparisons.
Oil - You REALLY got the Dems there last night. Excellent. Even the environmentalists HAVE to have listened. Now, just back up your ideas with some way of letting America know of the progress being made, so they can’t say you said something and didn’t back it up with results. I’m also REALLY glad you mentioned the cars we already have, and that you’d like for them to be converted. That’s exactly what my 85 year old Mom mentioned right off the bat. It was great when you said those were your thoughts too. Make new ones better, and help the older cars too. Great!
Exciting Times Ahead - This was wonderful! This is what Americans love. This is why Jeanne Bice on QVC is doing so well. You/she are inspirations! You guide America along the path to a better day, by actually describing that better day ahead. We BELIEVE because YOU BELIEVE. Great! Well done!!!
Probably WAY more than you wanted to hear, but, we’re sitting here waiting for a repairman to come fix an appliance at my Mom’s house, and I have a laptop, and I care that you’re going to Minnesota, tomorrow, and I believe in you so, that I want to, “Be A Citizen, Not a Spectator,” Sir.
Finally, THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR PRESIDENT. GOD BLESS YOU, SIR!!! WE ARE ALL BEHIND YOU.
Just excellent, NordP .... very thorough. You took a lot of time with that .. why not send it to the White House?? ;) They visit here, but they may miss it. I was blown away by his demeanor today ... and polished spontaneous off-the-cuff performance. He really was on FIRE1