The American President Page #12

went on here today?

I know exactly what went on

here today. I got screwed!

You saw the poll, needed the bill,

couldn't get it, so I got screwed!

The environment got screwed, Sydney.

Nothing happened to you.

Governing is choosing.

Governing is prioritizing.

I made no secret of the fact

the crime bill was my top priority.

Well, congratulations.

It's only taken you

three years to put together...

crime prevention legislation

that has no hope of preventing crime.

Syd, please.

I don't want

to lose you over this.

Mr. President, you got

bigger problems than losing me.

You just lost my vote.

What's in Hartford?

Richard Reynolds' district office.

She's thinking of running his campaign.

Twelve in the corner.

Hartford--

insurance capital of the world.

Have a good time, Syd.

Listen, I'm gonna have Janie

clear your schedule for the weekend.

- You need rest.

- You handling me?

- No.

- Good.

But I will if you don't start

taking your head out of your ass.

Excuse me?

Lewis is right.

Go after this guy.

- Has he lied?

- What?

- Has Rumson lied in the past 7 weeks?

- Has he lied?

Other than not knowing the difference

between Harvard and Stanford...

has he said something

that isn't true?

Am I not a commander in chief

who's never served in the military?

Am I not opposed to a constitutional

amendment banning flag burning?

Am I not an unmarried father who

shared a bed with a liberal lobbyist...

down the hall from

his 12-year-old daughter?

And you think you're wrong?

You don't win elections by

telling people that they are!

We fight the fights we can win.

You fight the fights that need fighting!

Is the view pretty good

from the cheap seats, A.J.?

- I beg your pardon?

- Because it occurs to me...

that in 25 years, I've never

seen your name on a ballot.

Why are you always

one step behind me?

Because if I wasn't...

you'd be the most popular professor

at the University of Wisconsin.

F*** you!

Have Lewis put the final draft

of the State of the Union...

on my desk in the morning.

Yes, sir.

If Mary hadn't died...

would we have won

three years ago?

Would we have won?

If we had to go through

a character debate three years ago...

would we have won?

I don't know.

But I would have liked

that campaign.

If my friend

Andy Shepherd had shown up...

I would have liked

that campaign very much.

Because the president feels

there's no value...

in this kind

of character debate.

Will the president

ever respond to...

Rumson's question about being a member

of the American Civil Liberties Union?

Yes, he will. Good morning.

Please keep your seats.

Good morning.

For the last couple of months,

Senator Rumson has suggested...

that being president was,

to a certain extent, about character.

Although I have not been willing

to engage in his attacks on me...

I've been here

three years and three days...

and I can tell you,

without hesitation...

being president

of this country...

is entirely about character.

For the record:

Yes, I am a card-carrying

member of the ACLU.

But the more important question is,

why aren't you, Bob?

Now, this is an organization...

whose sole purpose

is to defend the Bill of Rights.

So it begs the question:

Why would a senator--

his party's most powerful spokesman...

and a candidate for president-- choose

to reject upholding the Constitution?

If you can answer that question,

you're smarter than I am...

because I didn't understand it

until a few hours ago.

America isn't easy.

America is advanced citizenship.

You've gotta want it bad,

'cause it's gonna put up a fight.

It's gonna say,

"You want free speech?"

Let's see you acknowledge a man

whose words make your blood boil...

who's standing center stage and

advocating at the top of his lungs...

that which you would spend a lifetime

opposing at the top of yours.

You want to claim this land

as the land of the free?

Then the symbol of your country

cannot just be a flag!

The symbol also has to be one of

its citizens exercising his right...

to burn that flag in protest.

Now, show me that, defend that,

celebrate that in your classrooms.

Then you can stand up

and sing about the land of the free.

I've known Bob Rumson for years, and

I've operated under the assumption...

that the reason Bob devotes so much

energy to shouting at the rain...

was that he simply didn't get it.

Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem

isn't that he doesn't get it.

Bob's problem is

that he can't sell it.

We have serious

problems to solve...

and we need serious people

to solve them.

Whatever your particular

problem is, I promise you...

Bob Rumson's not the least bit

interested in solving it.

He is interested in two things,

and two things only:

making you afraid of it

and telling you who's to blame for it.

That, ladies and gentlemen,

is how you win elections.

You gather a group of middle-age,

middle-class, middle-income voters...

who remember with longing

an easier time...

and you talk to them about family

and American values and character.

You wave an old photo

of the president's girlfriend...

and you scream about patriotism

and you tell them...

"She's to blame

for their lot in life."

And you go on television...

and you call her a whore.

Sydney Ellen Wade

has done nothing to you, Bob.

She has done nothing but

put herself through school...

represent the interests

of public school teachers...

and lobby for the safety

of our natural resources.

You want a character debate, Bob,

you better stick with me.

'Cause Sydney Ellen Wade

is way out of your league.

I've loved two women in my life.

I lost one to cancer.

And I lost the other 'cause

I was so busy keeping my job...

I forgot to do my job.

Well, that ends right now.

Tomorrow morning,

the White House is sending a bill...

to Congress for its consideration.

It's White House

Resolution 455...

an energy bill

requiring a 20% reduction...

of the emission of fossil fuels

over the next ten years.

It is, by far, the most

aggressive stride ever taken...

in the fight to reverse

the effects of global warming.

The other piece of legislation

is the crime bill.

As of today, it no longer exists.

I'm throwing it out.

I'm throwing it out and writing

a law that makes sense.

You cannot address

crime prevention...

without getting rid of

assault weapons and handguns.

I consider them a threat

to national security...

and I will go door to door

if I have to...

but I'm gonna convince Americans that

I'm right, and I'm gonna get the guns.

We've got serious problems,

and we need serious people.

If you want to talk

about character, Bob...

you better come at me with more than

a burning flag and a membership card.

If you want to talk about

character and American values, fine.

Just tell me where and when,

and I'll show up.

This is a time for serious people, Bob,

and your 15 minutes are up.

My name is Andrew Shepherd,

and I am the president.

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes