During an appearance in Cedar Rapids yesterday, President Bush promised to usher in a “safer, more peaceful world” if he’s reelected. Bush said “nobody wants to be the war president,” and Bush said his goal is to make America “a safer country.” Bush said “for a while we were marching to war, now we’re marching to peace.”
Bush said while “there is more hard work to do, this,” the world will be even more peaceful than it is today under his leadership in a second term. Bush spoke to about three-thousand Iowans in a gymnasium on the Kirkwood Community College campus, and while Bush spent the beginning of his speech focusing on foreign policy, then for over half-an-hour, Bush asked questions of an array of business owners and workers who were assembled with him on stage to share their economic success stories. “I feel like kind of a talk show host here,” Bush said. John Bloomhall, C-E-O of Diamond V Mills in Cedar Rapids, hailed the Bush-era tax cuts.
Bloomhall said “we can grow jobs and investment in our country better than the government can by collecting taxes.” Bush, who is urging Congress to make recent tax cuts permanent, responded. “I didn’t tell him to say that, but I couldn’t have said it better myself.” One man talked of using his family’s 17-hundred-dollar federal income tax refund to buy a home computer. Then, Bush shifted gears again and let folks in the friendly crowd ask him questions. “Do I like being President?” Bush said as he relayed one of the questions to the crowd. “So much so that I want to do it for four more years.” The gymnasium was jammed, and very warm when Bush called on one man who was holding a 12-day-old baby.
Bush said the “baby probably thinks it’s in the incubator.” Iowa has become a bit of a hot spot, politically, as both the Bush and Kerry camps vie to win Iowa’s seven electoral votes. Bush’s trip to Iowa yesterday capped a month that saw Vice President Dick Cheney and First Lady Laura Bush visit the state, too. On the democrat side, John Kerry spent Independence Day in Iowa; his running mate John Edwards spoke here last week and Kerry himself is due in Sioux City this Saturday as he crosses the country on his way to the Democratic National Convention.