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American Morning
Employees at Illinois Flag Manufacturer React to State of the Union
Aired January 30, 2002 - 09:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It was his first official State of the Union Address. Last night, President Bush painted a stark picture of a country at war and reeling in a recession. But, he said, despite this, the State of the Union has never been stronger. So, how did his speech play in the heartland of America? Well, we're going back to CNN's Leon Harris, who is standing by at J.C. Schultz Enterprises, the very busy American flag manufacturer in St. Charles, Illinois.
Leon, what do you find there.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, that puts it mildly. The people busy making flags. You know what they told us? If you want one from the company you have to wait until June. Yes, they've very busy. The machines, as you can tell, are already humming.
But people have taken some time to talk to us this morning and give us their impressions of the State of the Union Address last night, and as you might imagine, in a company like this, there's lot of patriotism here. So we heard some critical comments last hour, but this time around, we have, in this room, there's been a different set of reactions here.
Melissa, you said you watched it last night with your 3-year-old son. What did you get out of the speech last night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I thought that the president did a wonderful job of talking about the nation, and the Freedom Corps idea was an excellent idea.
HARRIS: You liked that, you told me earlier.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm willing to put in my, what is it, 4,000 hours?
HARRIS: You don't think too much?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't as a matter of fact. Over the course of the rest of my life, I think I can handle that.
HARRIS: How about what he had to say about the economy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still kind of looking at that. I think he was little vague on that, but he you know he can't really say too much, because he can't hurt anybody.
HARRIS: OK, all right, thank you very much.
By the way here, go ahead and call mom and see little Jacob, see what he thought about your performance. I know you're dying to find out.
Joe, we talked earlier about what you heard last night and you were pleased with what you heard. But let me ask you about, do you think generally the American public is going to be willing to give Mr. Bush the patience he's asking for, both in terms of fighting a war and waiting for the economy to turn around, based upon what you heard last night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do. I think that people from the last time have given a lot of leeway. They will do it, again, because I think we made progress obviously in Afghanistan.
When it comes to the economy, from what I read there's been a lot of leading indicators that already signaled maybe that the economy has bottomed out, and it's on the uptick again. And I think when people hear that their confidence picks up a little bit, and they are going to be more patient.
HARRIS: Thanks Joe. Let me quickly get over here to the president of J.C. Shultz Enterprises, Janice. I know your satisfied with the way things are shaping up economically, because your company has been making a lot of money, making a lot of flags of late. But are you satisfied what you heard last night laid out as an economic plan?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am. I didn't expect a detailed in- depth plan. This was an overview of our economy and how we're doing. Our most important priority right now has to be to prevent another 9- 11 terrorist attack, and that's what we need to focus in on first and foremost.
HARRIS: More so than rebuilding the economy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That goes hand in hand, because there's no rebuilding the economy if there's very many more terrorist attacks. So we need to get our priority first. Yes, I want the economy rebuilt. No employer wants to face the prospect of having to downsize and let go any employees.
HARRIS: Thanks, Janice. We appreciate that.
Anderson, I hear this is not an act. People dress like this here every single day, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
HARRIS: Go back to you in studio -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, some voices from St. Charles. Thanks a lot.
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