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Skriven 2007-03-13 23:31:02 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0703133) for Tue, 2007 Mar 13
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Vice President's Remarks at the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award Ceremony
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For Immediate Release Office of the Vice President March 13, 2007

Vice President's Remarks at the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award Ceremony Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C.



2:40 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Well, it's good to be here today
and I want to thank Secretary Gutierrez for the kind introduction, and all
of you for the welcome. It's a privilege once again to join in the Malcolm
Baldrige Awards.

I want also thank David Spong, NIST Director Bill Jeffrey and everyone
associated with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program,
including Director Harry Hertz, award examiners, judges and overseers, as
well as members of the foundation. This is a proud day for everyone
associated with the Baldrige Award, but most especially for the hardworking
men and women of Premier, Incorporated; Mesa Products, Incorporated; and
North Mississippi Medical Center.

Earlier today, I met at the White House with the young men and women who
have been named as finalists for the Intel Science Talent Search. This is
the pre-college science competition that has been going on now for many,
many years and has become known as the junior Nobel Prize. To have that
event and then the Baldrige Awards on the same day has put me in the
company of some of America's highest achievers, and I count it an honor to
share this special moment of recognition with all of you.

The honor of presenting this award is customarily reserved for the
President but, as you all know, he is traveling through Latin America this
week. But he did ask me to extend his warmest regards to all of you, and
his congratulations to our distinguished honorees.

The President sends good wishes as well to the family of Secretary Malcolm
Baldrige, the man for whom this award is named. And as Carlos mentioned,
the family is represented today by Leticia Baldrige, who served with
distinction in the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

Mac Baldrige, as you've been told, was the twenty-sixth Secretary of
Commerce and someone I was proud to call a friend. In those days, I was
serving in the Congress. It's been almost 20 years now since Mac passed
away, yet he is widely and fondly remembered in this city and his
reputation has only grown with time. Mac Baldrige belonged to what Thomas
Jefferson called the "natural aristocracy among men." He was a person of
virtue and talent, who excelled in everything he tried. He was highly
intelligent and honest to the core. He won people's confidence on first
impression. And that impression held up over time.

Mac was a man of action with an incredible variety of interests. One of the
reasons people looked up to him was that he could move easily in any
environment, from the world of ideas, to the halls of government, to the
boardroom, to the shop floor or to the horse corral. I'm sure he's the only
American ever to serve in the Cabinet, belong to the Council on Foreign
Relations and also be a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Association. (Laughter.)

Secretary Baldrige was an original member of Ronald Reagan's administration
and, like the President he served, Mac had unlimited confidence in this
country and in the American system of free enterprise. That system was
greatly tested during those years, first by a tough recession and then by
the rise of serious economic competition from other countries. The Reagan
team responded with an aggressive pro-growth strategy that rewarded
enterprise and risk taking, lifted up the economy and generated millions of
new jobs. They regarded global competition as a challenge not to be feared
but to be mastered, and they built a legacy of opportunity and prosperity
that has greatly enhanced the wealth of our country and the wellbeing of
all our people.

That vision succeeded because it focused not on the power or perceived
wisdom of government planners, but on the creative genius of free men and
women. We're not the biggest nation in the world; other countries have more
people. And yet we're the largest economy by far, because generations of
Americans have lived and worked in freedom, following their dreams, putting
their ideas into action and striving every day to achieve something better.
It is only fitting that the American economy, which inspires people
everywhere, should also be the source of quality measures recognized
throughout the world.

It's become a tradition here in the United States and in many other
countries to mark progress according to the standards of the Malcolm
Baldrige Quality Awards. Almost any organization knows that it's likely to
perform better, provide a better product or service, be a better place to
work and be a better corporate citizen if it sets Baldrige goals and
applies Baldrige principles.

Only a select few, however, receive Baldrige recognition. This year's group
is an elite one. Only three organizations have emerged from a high-level
nationwide competition. Premier, Incorporated; Mesa Products, Incorporated;
and North Mississippi Medical Center are very diverse organizations. Each
of them, however, has shown the same basic strengths: A team effort, a
problem solving mindset, an atmosphere of trust and consistent habits of
excellence.

The award you receive today represents far more than a single moment of
recognition. Rather, it represents your own commitment, year in and year
out, seeking quality, following a good plan, putting good people in place
to get the job done right. By rising to the top of the Baldrige
competition, you've reflected great credit on yourselves, on your
communities and on this great country of ours. And, on behalf of the
President of the United States, I want to proudly congratulate and salute
each and every one of you. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 2:47 P.M. EDT

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