President Obama:
Good morning, everybody. In times of great
challenge in our country and around the world,
Americans have always come together to lend
a hand and to serve others and to do what's
right. That's what the American people have
been doing in recent days with their extraordinary
generosity and contributions to the Haitian
people. At this moment, we're moving forward
with one of the largest relief efforts in
our history -- to save lives and to deliver
relief that averts an even larger catastrophe.
The two leaders with me today will ensure
that this is matched by a historic effort
that extends beyond our government, because
America has no greater resource than the strength
and the compassion of the American people.
We just met in the Oval Office -- an office
they both know well. And I'm pleased that
President George W. Bush and President Bill
Clinton have agreed to lead a major fundraising
effort for relief: the Clinton Bush Haiti
Fund. On behalf of the American people, I
want to thank both of you for returning to
service and leading this urgent mission. This
is a model that works. After the terrible
tsunami in Asia, President Bush turned to
President Clinton and the first President
Bush to lead a similar fund. That effort raised
substantial resources for the victims of that
disaster -- money that helped save lives,
deliver aid, and rebuild communities. And
that's exactly what the people of Haiti desperately
need right now. Every day that goes by, we
learn more about the horrifying scope of this
catastrophe -- destruction and suffering that
defies comprehension. Entire communities buried
under mountains of concrete. Families sleeping
in the streets. Injured desperate for care.
Many thousands feared dead. That's why thousands
of American personnel -- civilian and military
 -- are on the scene working to distribute
clean drinking water and food and medicine,
and thousands of tons of emergency food supplies
are arriving every day. It will be difficult.
It is an enormous challenge to distribute
this aid quickly and safely in a place that
has suffered such destruction. That's what
we're focused on now -- working closely with
our partners: the Haitian government, the
United Nations, and many organizations and
nations -- friends from Argentina and France,
from Dominican Republic and Brazil, and countries
all around the world. And Secretary Hillary
Clinton will be in Haiti today to meet with
President Préval and continue our close coordination
with his government. But we also know that
our longer-term effort will not be measured
in days and weeks; it will be measured in
months and even years. And that's why it's
so important to enlist and sustain the support
of the American people. That's why it's so
important to have a point of coordination
for all the support that extends beyond our
government. Here at home, Presidents Bush
and Clinton will help the American people
to do their part, because responding to a
disaster must be the work of all of us. Indeed,
those wrenching scenes of devastation remind
us not only of our common humanity but also
of our common responsibilities. This time
of suffering can and must be a time of compassion.
As the scope of the destruction became apparent,
I spoke to each of these gentlemen, and they
each asked the same simple question: How can
I help? In the days ahead they'll be asking
everyone what they can do -- individuals,
corporations, NGOs, and institutions. And
I urge everyone who wants to help to visit
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
We're fortunate to have the
service of these two leaders.
President Bush led America's response to the
Asian tsunami, aid and relief that prevented
even greater loss of life in the months after
that disaster. And his administration's efforts
to fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa treated
more than 10 million men, women, and children.
As President, Bill Clinton helped restore
democracy in Haiti. As a private citizen,
he has helped to save the lives of millions
of people around the world. And as the United
Nations special envoy to Haiti, he understands
intimately the daily struggles and needs of
the Haitian people. And by coming together
in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable
message to the people of Haiti and to the
people of the world: In these difficult hours,
America stands united. We stand united with
the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible
resilience, and we will help them to recover
and to rebuild. Yesterday we witnessed a small
but remarkable display of that determination
 -- some of you may have seen it -- Haitians
with little more than the clothes on their
back marched peacefully through a ruined neighborhood,
and despite all their loss and all their suffering
they sang songs of faith and songs of hope.
These are the people we're called upon to
help. Those are the hopes that we're committed
to answering. That's why the three of us are
standing together today. And with that, I
would invite each President to say a few words.
I'm going to start with President Bush.
President Bush:
I join President Obama in expressing my sympathy
for the people of Haiti. I commend the President
for his swift and timely response to the disaster.
I am so pleased to answer the call to work
alongside President Clinton to mobilize the
compassion of the American people. Like most
Americans, Laura and I have been following
the television coverage from Haiti. Our hearts
are broken when we see the scenes of little
children struggling without a mom or a dad,
or the bodies in the streets or the physical
damage of the earthquake. The challenges down
there are immense, but there's a lot of devoted
people leading the relief effort, from government
personnel who deployed into the disaster zone
to the faith-based groups that have made Haiti
a calling. The most effective way for Americans
to help the people of Haiti is to contribute
money. That money will go to organizations
on the ground and will be -- who will be able
to effectively spend it. I know a lot of people
want to send blankets or water -- just send
your cash. One of the things that the President
and I will do is to make sure your money is
spent wisely. As President Obama said, you
can look us up on HYPERLINK "http://clintonbushhaitifund.org"
clintonbushhaitifund.org . The Haitian people
have got a tough journey, yet it's amazing
how terrible tragedies can bring out the best
of the human spirit. We've all seen that firsthand
when American citizens responded to the tsunami
or to Katrina or to the earthquake in Pakistan.
And President Clinton and I are going to work
to tap that same spirit of giving to help
our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.
Toward the end of my presidency, Laura made
a trip down to Haiti to look at the Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief programs down there.
I remember clearly her coming back and telling
me about the energy and optimism of the people
of Haiti. There's just an unbelievable spirit
amongst the Haitian people. And while that
earthquake destroyed a lot, it didn't destroy
their spirit. So the people of Haiti will
recovery and rebuild, and as they do they
know they'll have a friend in the United States
of America. Mr. President, thank you for giving
me the chance to serve.
President Clinton:
First, I want to thank President Obama for
asking President Bush and me to do this, and
for what I believe has been a truly extraordinary
response on the part of the American government.
Because I've been working down there for nearly
a year as the U.N. special envoy, I've been
in constant touch with our people through
the U.N. on the ground, and you know we lost
a lot of our people there -- the largest loss
of life in the history of the United Nations
on a single day. The United States has been
there from the beginning. The military has
been great. The response by the State Department
and AID has been great. I just can't say enough
about it. And the people in Haiti know it,
and I'm grateful. Secondly, I'd like to thank
President Bush for agreeing to do this, and
for the concern he showed for Haiti. Before
this happened, my foundation worked with the
PEPFAR people on the AIDS problems in Haiti
and I saw how good they were and what they
did and how many lives they saved. Finally,
let me say that -- I don't have to read the
Web site because they did -- but I want to
say something about this. Right now all we
need to do is get food and medicine and water
and a secure place for them to be. But when
we start the rebuilding effort, we want to
do what I did with the President's father
in the tsunami area. We want to be a place
where people can know their money will be
well spent; where we will ensure the ongoing
integrity of the process. And we want to stay
with this over the long run. My job with the
U.N. basically is not at all in conflict with
this because I'm sort of the outside guy.
My job is to work with the donor nations,
the international agencies, the business people
around the world to try to get them to invest
there, the nongovernmental organizations,
the Haitian diaspora community. I believe
before this earthquake Haiti had the best
chance in my lifetime to escape its history
 -- a history that Hillary and I have shared
a tiny part of. I still believe that. The
Haitians want to just amend their development
plan to take account of what's happened in
Port-au-Prince and west, figure out what they
got to do about that, and then go back to
implementing it. But it's going to take a
lot of help and a long time. So I'm just grateful
that President Bush wants to help, and I've
already figured out how I can get him to do
some things that he didn't sign on for. (laughter)
Again, I have no words to say what I feel
like. When you -- I was in those hotels that
collapsed. I had meals with people who are
dead. The cathedral church that Hillary and
I sat in 34 years ago is a total rubble. But
what these men have said is true: It is still
one of the most remarkable, unique places
I have ever been. And they can escape their
history and build a better future if we do
our part. And President Obama, thank you for
giving us a chance to do a little of that.
President Obama:
Well, these gentlemen are going to do an extraordinary
job, but really what they're going to be doing
is just tapping into the incredible generosity,
the ingenuity, the can-do spirit of the American
people in helping our neighbors in need. So
I want to thank each of them not only for
being here today but what I know is going
to be an extraordinary effort. I want to make
sure that everybody got that Web site one
more time. Obviously we're just standing it
up, but it will immediately give people a
means to contact our offices --
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
And I just want to amplify one thing that
was said. We were talking in the back. In
any extraordinary catastrophe like this, the
first several weeks are just going to involve
getting immediate relief on the ground. And
there are going to be some tough days over
the next several days. People are still trying
to figure out how to organize themselves.
There's going to be fear, anxiety, a sense
of desperation in some cases. I've been in
contact with President Préval. I've been
talking to the folks on the ground. We are
going to be making slow and steady progress,
and the key now is to -- for everybody in
Haiti to understand that there is going to
be sustained help on the way. But what these
gentlemen are going to be able to do is when
the news media starts seeing its attention
drift to other things but there's still enormous
needs on the ground, these two gentlemen of
extraordinary stature I think are going to
be able to help ensure that these efforts
are sustained. And that's why it's so important
and that's why I'm so grateful that they agreed
to do it. Thank you, gentlemen.
