LaRouche: State of the Union Address, 2003

Getting Bush To Do the Right Thing
page 42

Getting Bush To Do the Right Thing

Question: This from an elected official:

"Mr. LaRouche, I came into public office as a product of the Civil Rights movement. I represent people in what probably qualifies as one of the poorest districts in the United States. Most of my constituents are very reluctant to trust any white man, let alone George Bush. In the course of your remarks, you repeatedly refer to what Bush should do, and you certainly indicate that you would work with him to accomplish these things. But the fact is, that I simply don't think my constituents would go along with it. It's also the case that although my community is poor in terms of capital, it's not poor in terms of human capital. We have many young black men and women who are intellectuals, who know you and trust you as I do. So, I'm asking you to do me a favor, and to speak to them directly, because I really can't convince them, as to why they should not simply oppose everything that this President says and does."

LaRouche: Well, that's the way you deal with people, you see. It's called strategic defense. If you want to get somebody to do something--I mean, George Bush needs me. I'm not offering to work for him, but he needs me because this country has problems, and he has problems that he can't solve. I know the solutions. So therefore, maybe we'll get a little trade-off here. And if he listens to me, I don't want anything in return, I just want him to do some good things, and he can take the credit for it if he does them. But if he doesn't, he's got to reckon with me.

We've got to be realistic, in the sense that we've got people dying around the world. We've got the danger of a Hitler-like phenomenon coming out of something like an Iraq war. And that's what it could mean. If we start down the road toward war, we don't know where it's going to end. There's no need for this war, there's no sense to it, there's no excuse for it. But it could lead to a terrible situation, in a highly inflammable world, at a time when the alternatives are good ones. So therefore, I have to get these results now. I have to get results from official U.S. official institutions. The parties, as I think most people as you who asked the question know, are pretty much worthless at the moment. We've got some decent fellows here, but they're not willing to play the role they must play, to get the job done.

In the meantime, the executive powers of the government under our system reside in the Presidency as an institution. Not in the person of the President, but in the Presidency. In that, the sitting President has a certain function. He must be induced to play that function, and he must have several kinds of inducements. One are the soft ones, the others are the hard ones. And the Presidency can put very tough conditions upon a sitting President. And when I say I'm going to get George Bush out of his mess, I'm not trying to save him; I'm trying to save the United States. And I have to do it. There's no other way to do it in this two-year period. I have to do it.

And I'm putting the pressure, not on the President. I'm putting the pressure on the Presidency, and on those institutions of government and retired people around government who have the power to push something. I'm saying, “Push! Make this guy do it, any way you have to get him, convince him, to do it. But let him know there is a reward in it. If he does it, he'll get safely through the next two years without being impeached or something terrible. No guarantee beyond that point. All we want from him is, if he wants his place in immortality, we'll give it to him. but he's got to do what we want, what we need. It's the only way to do it.

And it's true. I will be talking to people as I can. Of course, when you're campaigning in a country with somewhat less than 300 million people, and also campaigning around the world, in Europe, in Asia, and so forth, as I'm doing right now--I'm already acting as a President all over the world. Don't stay in the White House. Let 'em clean it out once in a while. I think my exemplary meetings with typical people and various constituencies, is going to be important in this period. And I'll take this thing up, and anyone who wants to rake me over the coals over this, they can rake me over the coals over this. You want me to do that, I'll do that.

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