George H.W. Bush: “I am very, very pleased to be back. Mike, how are you? This guy meets me at Pease every time I come in there. [Laughter]…”

“I am very, very pleased to be back. Mike, how are you? This guy meets me at Pease every time I come in there. [Laughter] Exeter rose-grower. Let me just say how really pleased I am to be here and to thank you for turning out. I want to make a couple of comments, and then it's mainly questions. Isn't it, Judd? First, I want to thank the Governor for being at my side. You know my and Barbara's affection for Governor Judd Gregg and for Hugh and Kay, old longtime friends who stay in touch and who have kept me informed of this State--both of them, both Greggs--of the problems that we face in this State. And I'm not talking political; I'm talking about hardship for people that are hurting. One of the things I'm pleased to be able to do here is to at least let the people of this State know that even though I am President and do have two or three other responsibilities, that when people are hurting, we care. We get the message there. We read the mail. We can understand. And I just wanted to get that out loud and clear because we're in a political year, and you hear a lot of people that have discovered New Hampshire for the first time running around trying to say something different. Of course, we care. Secondly, I am very grateful not only to the Governor but to Senator Bob Smith, Senator Rudman, who couldn't be with us--Bob Smith here today--who are doing a superb job, and then your Congressman, another dear friend, a man I respect, Bill Zeliff. These are leaders in the Congress. And they talk about pledges and all of this. Let me tell you something. I took a pledge when I was sworn in, the oath of office, and what I need a pledge about is to get more Congressmen and Senators like Senator Smith and Gordon Humphrey, who was in the Senate and is supporting me, and your Congressman here, Bill Zeliff, and Warren Rudman. Then we would be able to control this Federal spending better. Then we would be able to see that we get these tax improvements that I've been asking for. So that's the pledge I want, is the pledge from the people to give us more. And you're going to have to use your influence out of the State because you've done pretty darn well in the State in the United States Congress. So, that was one point I wanted to make. The other one is that people say, ``Well, you're in trouble in New Hampshire.'' Well, that may be. But I'm here to listen. I'm here to take the questions. I'm here to say, hey, there's a lot to do in partnership, the Federal Government, the State government where you've got superb leadership, and the people themselves. And of course, we care. And somebody gave me the analogy of a country-western song about a train, hoping they'd see the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train coming through. And I trumped it with saying, well, remember the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band one, if you've got any country music people here, ``If you're going to see a rainbow, you've got to stand a little rain.'' Well, New Hampshire has stood more than its share of rain, job-- hurting and the families wondering how they're going to make their ends meet. But there is going to be a rainbow out there. There's some fundamentals that are pretty darn good. And yet, we've got to do better. And the last point I want to make is I hope that you will listen to the State of the Union Message. I have proposed, 3 straight years, growth agenda programs. Not some fancy quick fix that's going to have broad appeal in an election time, but things that would stimulate this economy. Now we're putting this all together again with new additions to it to take these proposals to the American people. And then what I hope we can do is rally the American people and get the economy moving by sound investment-oriented treatment of the Tax Code. That is what's needed, and still hold the line on spending. One of the few benefits of that budget agreement was that we have caps on the excesses of Federal spending, those things that can be controlled. And I want to keep them there. I do not want to bust the one restraint that is on the spenders in the United States Congress. So having said that, I hope you'll ask the questions. We'll have a good health program that I think will have appeal to the voters here because it's family; it keeps things close to the people themselves rather than having a lot of mandated benefits out of Washington. And this is the last point. I'm just back from a rather spectacular trip to Asia. I say spectacular--you try getting the flu at a dinner. [Laughter] I have a feeling the people in New England, and certainly having been a neighbor of this State for so long, understand that even Presidents get the flu. I said over there, even Democrats get it from time to time. [Laughter] But you've got to admit I did it in a dramatic way. Having said that, exports account for a tremendous amount of the growth in this country. A lot of the jobs, I think it's estimated--I was talking to Bob and Bill coming over here-- 35,000 to 40,000 jobs in New Hampshire related to exports. So please don't buy this protection legislation that the Democrats and some others are putting out, this idea that we can shrink back inside. I want to put America first in the sense of the values, in the sense of getting this economy to be first, but not in the sense of some kind of protection legislation that is going to shrink markets and throw the working people of New Hampshire further out of work. Let's expand these markets. Now, fire away. Shoot. Any questions, even if they're tough ones. I know we've got a few fans in here for someone else. Bring them up. You're second. Got the first guy, and we'll be right over. The Economy”