For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
July 21, 2005
Remarks by the First Lady at a Reception for Governor Bob Ehrlich
Bethesda North Marriot Hotel
Bethesda, Maryland
6:01 P.M. EDT
MRS. BUSH: Thank you all. Thank you for that very, very warm
welcome. And Governor, thank you very much. Thank you for that
introduction. And I do follow Maryland politics. Governor Ehrlich has
been a very good friend of President Bush and me, starting with his
years in Congress, and now as the Governor of Maryland. In fact,
Governor Bush just -- Governor Ehrlich just hosted President Bush
yesterday at the Port of Baltimore, and it's nice to have very friendly
neighbors, which might be one of the reasons I do follow Maryland
politics. (Laughter.)
For well over a decade, Bob Ehrlich has served his home state, and he's
an outstanding leader for Maryland. Thank each one of you tonight,
who's come tonight, for supporting Governor Ehrlich. I'm so happy to
have your support for him. It's very, very important as he works over
the next year-and-a-half that he's re-elected.
I also always love to see Kendel. Kendel is a great advocate for
children in Maryland, and when it comes to improving schools or teaching
children to avoid drugs and alcohol, Maryland's parents have a wonderful
friend in Kendel. (Applause.)
And you may not know it, but they actually deserve congratulations,
because this Sunday will be their 12th wedding anniversary. (Applause.)
And it also happens to be their son Drew's sixth birthday on the 24th of
July. So congratulations to both of you and I'm sure it will be a very
festive weekend for your whole family.
I also want to thank Tom Kane, Maryland's Republican chairman for
joining us here tonight. Thank you, Tom. Let's see, there he is.
Thank you very much for all you're doing. (Applause.)
One thing we know about your Governor is that he has the energy to keep
up with two little boys at home. We know he's got the energy to be
Governor. My husband likes to refer to him as Maryland's live wire.
(Laughter.) Bob Ehrlich has spent his time in the Governor's office
putting his energy to good use. Governor Ehrlich's efforts have turned
budget deficits into surpluses, which is terrific. (Applause.) His
policies have led to 60,000 new jobs for Maryland. (Applause.) In
fact, Maryland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.
So congratulations on that. (Applause.) And we know that the Governor
is working to restore the health and the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay,
which is one of the most treasured parts of Maryland's environment, but
actually one of the treasures of our whole country. So thank you for
doing that, as well.
And, as a mother and former teacher myself, I'm most impressed with
Governor Ehrlich's commitment to education. He's giving schools more
funding and accountability so that every child can receive a great
education. And the latest test results, released just last month, show
that this leadership is getting results. Over the last two years,
Maryland students made major gains in both reading and math. So
congratulations to you. (Applause.)
And the good news is, we know this is only the beginning. When the
Governor has two children running around the house, you can be sure
he'll stay focused on education. (Laughter.)
Education will always be a top priority for President Bush. It's one of
the many issues that require cooperation between the federal government
and the states. On education, on homeland security, on health care, the
President and the governors have to work together, and it's vitally
important that President Bush has a great partner like Bob Ehrlich.
The President is also addressing issues around the world, and I want to
mention, I want to thank Kendel for telling the story of Governor
Ehrlich calling families who have lost a loved one in Iraq or
Afghanistan. All Americans, governors who might not have that much
interest in foreign affairs before in our history, now are all really
involved. And I want to thank you for that very much, Bob, for both the
homeland security aspect of it, as well as for just the love and concern
you have for Maryland families who have a loved one in harm's way. And
I know there's at least one person here who has a son, a Marine son in
Iraq. So I want to thank you for that. And we all want you to give him
our thanks. (Applause.)
The week before last, I joined the President at the G8 meetings in
Scotland when he and other world leaders made pledges to relieve debt
and increase aid to Africa. So after the G8 conference, I was able to
visit three countries in Africa myself to see how United States aid
makes a difference in the lives of Africans. In these three countries,
I visited programs that are supported by the U.S. government in one way
or the other.
I visited programs where compassionate people are helping men and women
live with AIDS. Caring individuals are providing shelter and schooling
to orphans. They're giving support to women who suffer domestic abuse
or rape.
The American people contribute billions of dollars every year to help
people around the world. We contributed through our tax money, through
our government. Many American individuals also contribute around the
world. Churches, synagogues and mosques do inspirational work, American
churches, synagogues and mosques around the world. And I think this
generosity shows what the American people are really like, and I'm so
proud to have the chance to visit these programs and these projects
around the world, these programs and projects that wouldn't be possible
without the generosity of Americans.
In many places, governments, private sector organizations and
individuals are all working together to bring urgent help to people in
need. Our government works with local service providers, people who
have relationships with local communities and can provide help right
where people live.
A program that I visited in South Africa, which was actually started by
an Arizona doctor, called Mothers to Mothers-to-Be, it helps pregnant
women who are HIV-positive to avoid transmitting the disease to their
children through the use of anti-retroviral treatments that are provided
by PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief. Mothers
to Mothers-to-Be relies on the network of mother mentors. Women who
have HIV and have given birth to healthy babies through the program are
recruited and paid to mentor other women. They work with expectant
mothers to make sure that the next generation is HIV-free, and they earn
an income while they do that that gives them some independence and some
control over their other lives -- over their own lives.
Then I visited a wonderful church program that also gets some funding
from the U.S. government, the World Relief site in Kigali, Rwanda. And
that is a local church provider and they work with ministers all over
Kigali to provide services to people who have AIDS. They have a school
to educate children who are AIDS orphans or orphans of the genocide in
Rwanda. And they also work, of course, to prevent further HIV
transmission.
I met with a 12-year-old girl who is raising her three younger brothers
after her father died in the genocide and her mother died with AIDS.
There are a large number of orphan-headed families like hers in Rwanda
and around Africa. The World Relief program at this church provides
food and shelter for this family of orphan children and it provides an
education to the little girl who is now the head of her family.
Americans can be proud that our generosity extends to people around the
world, and that we can have such a profound and positive influence on
people's lives.
And of course, there are many needs right here in our own
communities. I know that Kendel has been working on a number of issues
that have to do with what President Bush announced this year in his
State of the Union, a new initiative called Helping America's Youth that
addresses the problems of young Americans. Like Kendel, I've had the
privilege of highlighting programs that help children who might be at
risk of dropping out of school or turning to drinking or drugs or crime.
One great program that I visited is right here in Baltimore -- it's at a
number of schools, actually, in Baltimore -- it's called the Good
Behavior Game. They have about 20 years of research that showed that if
first graders are taught how to be students, this Dr. Shep Kellam from
Baltimore believes that it's not intuitive, that kids don't just know
how to be a good student, and that if teachers, as they teach their
other subjects, teach children how to be a good student in the first
grade, their chances of graduating from high school are much increased
over their peers. It's a terrific program that's here, and I had a
really great time visiting it.
That's one of the many programs that I've had the chance to look at all
over America. But what I found is that parents and teachers and coaches
and mentors are spending time with children, showing kids that they care
about them, and guiding them toward a healthy and responsible adulthood.
In our country and around the world, people are making an extraordinary
difference in their communities by identifying challenges and taking
actions to overcome them. And these active citizens benefit from having
strong leaders. Bob Ehrlich has been this kind of strong leader for
Maryland. (Applause.)
Governor Ehrlich has been the kind of leader that every one of us are
proud to support. In the next year-and-a-half, he'll need our help as
he's running for re-election. So I want to urge you to let your friends
and neighbors know what a great job the Governor has done, and how
important his re-election is to Maryland.
Thank you all, each one of you, for coming out tonight. Thank you,
Governor Ehrlich, and Kendel, for the great job you do for Maryland and
for our country. I appreciate it very, very much. (Applause.)
END 6:13 P.M. EDT
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