English subtitles for clip: File:Presidents Obama, Bush, & Clinton- Help for Haiti.webm

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President Obama:
Good morning, everybody. In times of great

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challenge in our country and around the world,
Americans have always come together to lend

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a hand and to serve others and to do what's
right. That's what the American people have

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been doing in recent days with their extraordinary
generosity and contributions to the Haitian

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people. At this moment, we're moving forward
with one of the largest relief efforts in

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our history -- to save lives and to deliver
relief that averts an even larger catastrophe.

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The two leaders with me today will ensure
that this is matched by a historic effort

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that extends beyond our government, because
America has no greater resource than the strength

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and the compassion of the American people.
We just met in the Oval Office -- an office

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they both know well. And I'm pleased that
President George W. Bush and President Bill

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Clinton have agreed to lead a major fundraising
effort for relief: the Clinton Bush Haiti

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Fund. On behalf of the American people, I
want to thank both of you for returning to

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service and leading this urgent mission. This
is a model that works. After the terrible

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tsunami in Asia, President Bush turned to
President Clinton and the first President

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Bush to lead a similar fund. That effort raised
substantial resources for the victims of that

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disaster -- money that helped save lives,
deliver aid, and rebuild communities. And

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that's exactly what the people of Haiti desperately
need right now. Every day that goes by, we

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learn more about the horrifying scope of this
catastrophe -- destruction and suffering that

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defies comprehension. Entire communities buried
under mountains of concrete. Families sleeping

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in the streets. Injured desperate for care.
Many thousands feared dead. That's why thousands

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of American personnel -- civilian and military
 -- are on the scene working to distribute

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clean drinking water and food and medicine,
and thousands of tons of emergency food supplies

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are arriving every day. It will be difficult.
It is an enormous challenge to distribute

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this aid quickly and safely in a place that
has suffered such destruction. That's what

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we're focused on now -- working closely with
our partners: the Haitian government, the

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United Nations, and many organizations and
nations -- friends from Argentina and France,

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from Dominican Republic and Brazil, and countries
all around the world. And Secretary Hillary

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Clinton will be in Haiti today to meet with
President PrĂŠval and continue our close coordination

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with his government. But we also know that
our longer-term effort will not be measured

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in days and weeks; it will be measured in
months and even years. And that's why it's

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so important to enlist and sustain the support
of the American people. That's why it's so

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important to have a point of coordination
for all the support that extends beyond our

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government. Here at home, Presidents Bush
and Clinton will help the American people

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to do their part, because responding to a
disaster must be the work of all of us. Indeed,

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those wrenching scenes of devastation remind
us not only of our common humanity but also

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of our common responsibilities. This time
of suffering can and must be a time of compassion.

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As the scope of the destruction became apparent,
I spoke to each of these gentlemen, and they

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each asked the same simple question: How can
I help? In the days ahead they'll be asking

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everyone what they can do -- individuals,
corporations, NGOs, and institutions. And

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I urge everyone who wants to help to visit
www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.

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We're fortunate to have the
service of these two leaders.

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President Bush led America's response to the
Asian tsunami, aid and relief that prevented

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even greater loss of life in the months after
that disaster. And his administration's efforts

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to fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa treated
more than 10 million men, women, and children.

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As President, Bill Clinton helped restore
democracy in Haiti. As a private citizen,

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he has helped to save the lives of millions
of people around the world. And as the United

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Nations special envoy to Haiti, he understands
intimately the daily struggles and needs of

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the Haitian people. And by coming together
in this way, these two leaders send an unmistakable

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message to the people of Haiti and to the
people of the world: In these difficult hours,

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America stands united. We stand united with
the people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible

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resilience, and we will help them to recover
and to rebuild. Yesterday we witnessed a small

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but remarkable display of that determination
 -- some of you may have seen it -- Haitians

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with little more than the clothes on their
back marched peacefully through a ruined neighborhood,

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and despite all their loss and all their suffering
they sang songs of faith and songs of hope.

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These are the people we're called upon to
help. Those are the hopes that we're committed

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to answering. That's why the three of us are
standing together today. And with that, I

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would invite each President to say a few words.
I'm going to start with President Bush.

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President Bush:
I join President Obama in expressing my sympathy

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for the people of Haiti. I commend the President
for his swift and timely response to the disaster.

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I am so pleased to answer the call to work
alongside President Clinton to mobilize the

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compassion of the American people. Like most
Americans, Laura and I have been following

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the television coverage from Haiti. Our hearts
are broken when we see the scenes of little

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children struggling without a mom or a dad,
or the bodies in the streets or the physical

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damage of the earthquake. The challenges down
there are immense, but there's a lot of devoted

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people leading the relief effort, from government
personnel who deployed into the disaster zone

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to the faith-based groups that have made Haiti
a calling. The most effective way for Americans

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to help the people of Haiti is to contribute
money. That money will go to organizations

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on the ground and will be -- who will be able
to effectively spend it. I know a lot of people

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want to send blankets or water -- just send
your cash. One of the things that the President

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and I will do is to make sure your money is
spent wisely. As President Obama said, you

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can look us up on HYPERLINK "http://clintonbushhaitifund.org"
clintonbushhaitifund.org . The Haitian people

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have got a tough journey, yet it's amazing
how terrible tragedies can bring out the best

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of the human spirit. We've all seen that firsthand
when American citizens responded to the tsunami

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or to Katrina or to the earthquake in Pakistan.
And President Clinton and I are going to work

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to tap that same spirit of giving to help
our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean.

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Toward the end of my presidency, Laura made
a trip down to Haiti to look at the Emergency

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Plan for AIDS Relief programs down there.
I remember clearly her coming back and telling

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me about the energy and optimism of the people
of Haiti. There's just an unbelievable spirit

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amongst the Haitian people. And while that
earthquake destroyed a lot, it didn't destroy

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their spirit. So the people of Haiti will
recovery and rebuild, and as they do they

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know they'll have a friend in the United States
of America. Mr. President, thank you for giving

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me the chance to serve.
President Clinton:

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First, I want to thank President Obama for
asking President Bush and me to do this, and

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for what I believe has been a truly extraordinary
response on the part of the American government.

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Because I've been working down there for nearly
a year as the U.N. special envoy, I've been

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in constant touch with our people through
the U.N. on the ground, and you know we lost

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a lot of our people there -- the largest loss
of life in the history of the United Nations

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on a single day. The United States has been
there from the beginning. The military has

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been great. The response by the State Department
and AID has been great. I just can't say enough

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about it. And the people in Haiti know it,
and I'm grateful. Secondly, I'd like to thank

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President Bush for agreeing to do this, and
for the concern he showed for Haiti. Before

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this happened, my foundation worked with the
PEPFAR people on the AIDS problems in Haiti

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and I saw how good they were and what they
did and how many lives they saved. Finally,

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let me say that -- I don't have to read the
Web site because they did -- but I want to

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say something about this. Right now all we
need to do is get food and medicine and water

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and a secure place for them to be. But when
we start the rebuilding effort, we want to

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do what I did with the President's father
in the tsunami area. We want to be a place

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where people can know their money will be
well spent; where we will ensure the ongoing

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integrity of the process. And we want to stay
with this over the long run. My job with the

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U.N. basically is not at all in conflict with
this because I'm sort of the outside guy.

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My job is to work with the donor nations,
the international agencies, the business people

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around the world to try to get them to invest
there, the nongovernmental organizations,

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the Haitian diaspora community. I believe
before this earthquake Haiti had the best

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chance in my lifetime to escape its history
 -- a history that Hillary and I have shared

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a tiny part of. I still believe that. The
Haitians want to just amend their development

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plan to take account of what's happened in
Port-au-Prince and west, figure out what they

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got to do about that, and then go back to
implementing it. But it's going to take a

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lot of help and a long time. So I'm just grateful
that President Bush wants to help, and I've

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already figured out how I can get him to do
some things that he didn't sign on for. (laughter)

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Again, I have no words to say what I feel
like. When you -- I was in those hotels that

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collapsed. I had meals with people who are
dead. The cathedral church that Hillary and

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I sat in 34 years ago is a total rubble. But
what these men have said is true: It is still

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one of the most remarkable, unique places
I have ever been. And they can escape their

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history and build a better future if we do
our part. And President Obama, thank you for

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giving us a chance to do a little of that.

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President Obama:
Well, these gentlemen are going to do an extraordinary
job, but really what they're going to be doing

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is just tapping into the incredible generosity,
the ingenuity, the can-do spirit of the American

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people in helping our neighbors in need. So
I want to thank each of them not only for

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being here today but what I know is going
to be an extraordinary effort. I want to make

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sure that everybody got that Web site one
more time. Obviously we're just standing it

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up, but it will immediately give people a
means to contact our offices --

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www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.
And I just want to amplify one thing that

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was said. We were talking in the back. In
any extraordinary catastrophe like this, the

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first several weeks are just going to involve
getting immediate relief on the ground. And

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there are going to be some tough days over
the next several days. People are still trying

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to figure out how to organize themselves.
There's going to be fear, anxiety, a sense

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of desperation in some cases. I've been in
contact with President PrĂŠval. I've been

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talking to the folks on the ground. We are
going to be making slow and steady progress,

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and the key now is to -- for everybody in
Haiti to understand that there is going to

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be sustained help on the way. But what these
gentlemen are going to be able to do is when

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the news media starts seeing its attention
drift to other things but there's still enormous

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needs on the ground, these two gentlemen of
extraordinary stature I think are going to

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be able to help ensure that these efforts
are sustained. And that's why it's so important

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and that's why I'm so grateful that they agreed
to do it. Thank you, gentlemen.