THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, all. It must be
hard to describe how to cause people to love one
another. Which is precisely why this program is so
meaningful and so real to people. I'm here because I want
the American people to understand the greatest gift they can give this
holiday season is to programs such as Martha's Table.
We're such a generous nation, and after September the 11th, people
gave very generously to those whose lives were affected as a result of
the terrorist activity. But, unfortunately, contributions to
organizations, community based organizations all aimed at helping
brothers and sisters in need have fallen off.
And so my wish for Christmas, for the holiday season, is for our
country to be at peace, to be protected, that our men and women
overseas are protected, but that the great generosity of Americans come
to the surface again to help people whose sole purpose is to say, what
can I do to help somebody? What can I do? How can
I live the biblical admonition to treat somebody just like I'd like to
be treated myself?
I want to thank the leadership of this great
program. It's a pretty strong leadership. First
of all, they got my mother to come. (Laughter.) Who said,
when you get up there, you make sure you go by Martha's
Table. I said, yes,
ma'am. (Laughter.) And, by the way, I'm going to
see her Saturday and I look forward to telling her you're doing
great. I got to see the expansion, the new addition to this
program. And I want to congratulate the members of the board
and the hard workers who've gone out to raise the money to see that the
expansion came to be. I want to thank all the volunteers who
are here.
You know, part of my vision for a better America is that our
country understands the power of faith-based and community based
organizations. And government should do everything it can to
facilitate their expansion all around the country. That a
lot of times faith can do things that others can't. And
while governments should never promote a particular religion,
governments should not fear faith and should welcome those programs
based upon faith.
Because government couldn't possibly duplicate what goes on inside
this building. There is no way that our government could
mandate love. I used to tell people, I wish I could make
people love one another, and I'd sign the bill -- but that's not the
way life works. What happens is, dedicated citizens decide
they're going to do something to embetter the community in which they
live and, without government, say, let's go, let's roll, let's make it
happen. And that's what's happened here at Martha's Table.
So I urge my fellow citizens to find ways to contribute not only
time, but money. Instead of giving a gift this year, for
example, one of the things I hope people do instead of sending Laura
and me something, if they choose to do so, I would hope they would
figure out a way to help a community, a charitable based
organization. It would be the best gift you could possibly
give us. If they're trying to send Barney a gift -- they
ought to send it to a charitable based organization. That
would make our hearts feel great and I know it would help people in
need.
And while we're here in this joyous season, we've also got to
remember people hurt in our society. And as a result of
September the 11th, people have lost work. And I'm worried
about that. I've been working hard to try to get the
Congress to take care of unemployed people, people who lost their
jobs.
I thought we made pretty good progress yesterday when Republicans
and Democrats decided to set aside the typical partisanship that takes
place in Washington and put a pretty good package out there -- not a
pretty good, a real good package -- that said that we're going to
extend the unemployment benefits for displaced workers; that we're
going to help people with health care needs in a significant way; over
$30 billion to help unemployed people take care of themselves during
this period of national tragedy.
As well, in the package that passed the House of Representatives,
there are ways to stimulate small business growth. And the
truth of the matter is, we've got to figure out ways to create jobs in
America. A job is the best thing that you can do to help
anybody.
And, unfortunately, that particular piece of legislation was
declared dead before it even got to the Senate floor, even though I'm
confident that if it was ever voted on it would pass. I
think we need to pass that bill. I think for the good of the American
people, that bill ought to get out of the United States Senate and get
to my desk so that we can help the unemployed people and help grow
jobs.
And I hope, as well, next year when we come back that the
faith-based initiative passes. I think this -- again, this
isn't a partisan issue, this is a good American issue. This
is an issue that will help people. And that's what I want to
see. I want to see people in need have hope; people who live
with despair in their lives, have sunshine. And I know how
to get it done, and that is to encourage places like Martha's Table to
flourish and grow.
My fellow Americans need to know that as we head into this time of
joy, that our nation is doing everything we can to protect our
citizens; that we'll be on alert during the holiday season; that if we
have any hint anybody wants to hurt us, we'll respond, to make sure
that the good citizens of our land are able to celebrate peacefully
with their families.
I wish everybody a happy holiday season. I want to thank
you all for giving me the chance to come by a place of love and
compassion. I want to thank you for what you do, on behalf
of all Americans. God bless. (Applause.)
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