Washington Hilton Hotel
1:52 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, hello! Thank you, Madam President. Please, have a seat. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.
Denise, thanks for your leadership of this organization. You're right, I'm a county guy.
You know, one of the things, for real, is that one of the things you learn when you start off — and I had the great honor of being a county councilperson in New Castle County. We have — we're like a miniature Illinois. We have — one county has about 60 percent of the state's population.
So, a county commissioner or a county councilperson has a district that's, I think, seven times larger than a state rep and three times bigger than a state senator.
But what I learned early on: If you're in the county, you got to go through someone else to get help. You got to go to the governor. You got to go to your state legislator. You got to go to the state senators. And guess what? I stopped that. (Laughter and applause.) No kidding.
Because I'm telling you — you know, one of the things that we expect people to do is we think that people are, like us, very familiar with all the detail of — (using a handheld microphone) — is this working? — very familiar with all the detail of how government works. They don't know whether there's a pothole in their — in their front — in their side street, whether it's a county, a state, a — they don't know who's responsible.
And they come to the county all the time — at least that was my experience in New Castle County. And when you don't have the same funding that you have for these other programs, you find out — you know, it's just hard.
And one of the things that I found out early on was: We always did better when there was direct funding for the things that related to the county.
I think it's one of the hardest jobs — no, I really mean it. I'm not being solicitous. I think it's one of the hardest jobs in politics. How many of you knocked on a door and said, "My name is so-and-so. I'm running for county commissioner." And they look at you and go, "Oh, um — uh." (Laughter.) "Yeah…" "You want to know what the county commissioner does, aren't you?" (Laughter.) "Well, yeah."
So, I — no, I sincerely mean it. And so, I want to thank — begin by thanking you all for what you do. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I ran for the United States Senate because being in the county council was too hard. (Laughter.)
Look, I'm glad to be here with all of you.
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to say our — our hearts are with the students and the families at Michigan State University.
Last night, I spoke with Governor Whitmer. And the FBI and additional federal law enforcement are on the ground assisting the state and local folks. And three lives have been lost and five seriously injured.
And it's a family's worst nightmare, and it's happening far too often in this country. Far too often.
