Each of you is part of a legacy of service that harkens back to our country's earliest days. When Martha Washington — the husband of the first George W. — organized sick wards for wounded soldiers and made visits to battlefields to boost the morale of the troops, she volunteered for a cause bigger than herself.

Some time ago, a naval aviator about to deploy to war wrote a letter to his fiancé. This letter may remind you of some of the letters you've received. His words back then were these: 'For a long time I had anxiously looked forward to the day when we would go abroad and set to sea... but you have changed all that. I do want to go because it is my part, but now leaving presents itself not as an adventure but as a job.'

For example, if a school — a child is trapped in a school for several years that is — that's not meeting standards, the federal government will pay for after-school tutoring, and the parent can choose all kind of tutoring options, whether they be public or private. One parent — a parent can send the school — a child to a different public school. In other words, when — there has to be accountability in order for a — I mean, there has to be a consequence in order for an accountability system to work.

REPORTER: Given what's going on with energy prices and the difficulties in the economy, can you assure the American people at the start of your term that they'll be better off at the end of it than they are today? And, if they're not, should they blame you?
DUBYA: Well, I certainly hope they're better off. There's no question that the minute I got elected the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead.