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Condoleeza Rice, the National Security Advisor and eventual Secretary of State for George W. Bush gave a speech last week at the 4th of July fundraiser among the big dog supporters of Mitt Romney. Here is the speech. Below I have detailed an ad hoc transcript of the speech. Not perfectly transcribed, but I did my best. It was definitely interesting. Inspiring? I'm not so sure. What do you think?
Condi Transcript
Seeking the consent of the American people for Government and as President of the United States we sometimes forget that that is exactly what is happening here. We live in a country where people have to ask for our consent to govern us. And I want to thank you for putting yourself forward for that. It's not an easy path for you, Thank you very much.
I also want to note two more things. The first is that governor Romney has, uh, told me that I am all that stands between you and lunch so, uh, I will try to be brief. And secondly as the governor has said I have been out now for three and a half years I've been back at Stanford. Not a bad place to be and I am very often asked what the biggest difference between being out of government and being in government. There are alot of difference but the most important one is that I get up every morning, I read the newspapers, and I say, "Isn't that interesting." And I go right on with whatever else I might do. Because I am no longer responsible for what is in the newspaper. But like you I am concerned about the state of our country and the state of our world. And that is why we are gathered here on this day, in this beautiful setting to do what must be done and that is to support and, ah, help deliver the election of um, Mitt Romney for President of the United States. We live in, ah, turbulent times. And where in turbulent times because the international system has been through three great shocks in the last decade or so. First of all there was the shock of 9/11. And I can tell you that if you were in a position of authority on September 11... ... his phone kept ringing and ringing and I turned around and a plane had hit the pentagon. From that time on your concept of what constitutes physical security has never been the same. The United States of American from that day on would know that failed states in places like Afgahnistan and Yemen and Libya and other places in many ways become our security threats. And we would avoid another attack on our territory, not because we weren't trying, but because we were vigilent of our security people, of our intelligence people. But most importantly because we have young men and women who volunteer, they volunteer, at the front lines of freedom to defend us. And then there was this other great shock. This global, international and economic crisis. As much as 9/11 challenged our concept of the global international economic shock would challenge what constitutes economic security and responsibility. And you would see in this country people who . I remember when I was a little girl and my grandfather said to my Mother, "Anne, you and John need to buy a house as soon as you can because the value of a house never goes down." And so imagine how Americans feel now as they watch the value of their homes become less than what they paid for them. And for those people who really think that they have been unemployed for a long as ever a time to have a job. And that has reverberated around the world and we see Europe, and we see even slow growth in the emerging markets. And we wonder, when again will we get to economic growth, led by the private sector, in which we, once again obtain, a hopeful future for economic prosperity. And so our concept of economic security has changed. And then there has been a third shock. And that's the Arab Spring. Which in many ways, that is the most dramatic of all of these shocks. Because you see, people are seizing the very right to the freedom that we enjoy. The right to say what you please. To as you please. To secret police and to have those that govern you ask for your . What you're seeing in the middle east is what happens when . Because every authoritary regime experiences or will experience what I call a Csicescu moment. Now that the day when Nicolai Csicescu the dictator of Romania stood in a square in before 250,000 people, revolution was occuring all over eastern Europe Czechloslovakia, Germany and he was exhorting them to what he could do for them. What he had done for them. And all of the sudden and he turned to run and a young military officer ... . The Cxicesu moment is when what seperates the dictator from his people, fear.......a policeman gives way at the Berlin wall and all that is left is the anger. And that is what you see in the middle east. So again these three great shocks have potentially restored the foundations of the international system? And, yes it's chaotic and tumultuous but what there revealing most is not that . But what we are experiencing is the absence of American leadership. Because you see, when there isn't a country that has a view ...they have no.... The don't know that there is an anchor and the United States should bring that view. That view is that free markets and free people hold the future. That free markets and free people will reap the profits. That free market and free people will ultimately lead . And when the United States doesn't lead, when our friends aren't certain that they can count on us - and they aren't so certain right now - and when our foes don't fear us, or respect us, this is what you get. Tumultous, dangerous, chaotic times. The world seeks, desires, American leadership. Yes, they fuss about it sometimes, but when the United States of American decides that it's just gonna be any old country. That it is gonna be governed by the uncommon denominator/collective will of the international community through the United Nations, this is what you get. And that is why we have got to elect a President who understands that the United States of America are going to have to lead, have to inspire the people of the United States of American to want to lead. And, does it not prove, high flown rhetoric about hope and change. But through an essence and ... that they know that this is truly an exceptional country. That we are not just "any other country". "Any other country" would not have sent young men to storm the beaches of Normandy for the rights and freedoms of people that . "Any country", would not have been vigilent in Asia or great Japan and North Korea. And "just any old country" would not in Khandahar and try to deliver a better future to those peoples. And with that future a better and more secure future for ourselves.
And so, we have got to have a president of the United States who understands the essence of who we are, and by the way that is not just a factor of what we do in the international community at large, it starts with who we are at home and you cannot lead the American people to lead the international system if you do not lead them to repair the damage we are at home. That means, getting our internal house in order. It means dealing with the deficits, it means dealing with entitlements, it means not living beyond our means, it means no more borrowing money that we cannot afford. It means recognizing that this countries success comes through stability and mobilized individuals that is better than any other experiement in history. And we have done it because we believe that it doesn't matter where you came from, it matters where you're going. And that experiment has brought people here from around the world for generations to be a part of that. Sergei Brin came here at 7 years old and founded Google. And who come from and get a good education and then go on to do great things. And unless we deal with the crisis that we have we are going to lose a very important part of ourselves. When I can look at your zip code and I can tell if you're going to get a good education or not . We're losing the essence of who we are. It is and a narrative that is not American. It is a narrative that is pushed . "That I am doing poorly, because you are doing well." That has never been the American narrative. Ours has never been a narrative of agrievement and ours has never been a narrative of entitlement. It has been one of . And that too, And that too, is why we need a change in Washington. We need a change in Washington because the essence of who we are as Americans is really at stake. And since the essence of who we are as Americans is at stake, also is the essence of what the international community will become.
And don't think for a minute that if we don't lead, someone won't. And that someone might be a country that doesn't believe in free markets and free people. That would be bad for , that would be bad for our dollar. It would be bad for prosperity and security and peace. That is why it is time for all of us, in any way that we can, to mobilize, to get our act together, to storm Washington DC with somebody who understands better. Thank you everyone.
