Fred Barnes:On Message(Bush ignores the press and takes his message right to the American people)

The Weekly Standard ^ | April 13, 2004 | Fred Barnes

[RWR8189]

George W. Bush ignores the press at his press conference and takes his message of steadfastness in Iraq right to the American people.

WATCHING PRESIDENT BUSH'S PRESS CONFERENCE Tuesday night, you could see why he drives the press crazy. No matter what they asked, his answer was invariably the same: We're staying the course in Iraq. It's important to gaining freedom for Iraqis and winning the war on terror.

Not only that, he began the session with reporters by gobbling up 17 minutes of time they consider theirs. He devoted it to an opening statement--it was actually a speech--in which he said basically one thing: We're not flinching in Iraq. He was heroically on message, relentlessly repetitive, but effective in his own way.

Washington hates this type of public performance, which is characteristic of Bush. The press, the political community, the inside-the-Beltway lifers--they prefer a rich display of details, a bit of nuance, and some wit. Reporters, particularly, are soft on presidents who seem to like them or at least pretend to--or who pander to them.

Bush, of course, gives them none of that. He's not aiming to please the Washington crowd--the political elite. His audience is outside the Beltway--the mass--and he does surprisingly well in appealing to it. How does he do it? By being plain spoken and amiable and down to earth. By sounding more like Midland, Texas, than like Georgetown or Chevy Chase. By honing in on a single message and not giving reporters much else to write about. Bush tried Tuesday night to dictate the lead of stories.

If one was expecting a Kissingerian strategic case for America's intervention in Iraq, one wasn't going to get it from Bush. His argument was simple. Freedom in Iraq is good for Iraqis, good for America, and good for the world. And though we've had some tough weeks recently, we're sticking in Iraq and with our plan to turn over sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.

By my count, reporters got in 15 questions. I categorize them this way: six were seeking information, three were gotcha, three were accusations, one was obscure, one stupid, one showboating. This is a pretty good breakdown of questions. More often than not, the majority of them will be either gotcha or accusations.

One of the gotcha question was disingenuous. Elizabeth Bumiller of the New York Times asked about a statement by Bush to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in which he said he didn't feel "that sense of urgency" about terrorism before September 11. As any reporter would have known, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice had fleshed out the context of that quote in her testimony last Thursday before the 9/11 Commission. Bush was comparing his feeling before the September 11 attacks with how he felt afterwards.

Several questions were attempts by reporters to get Bush to admit mistakes. These are hardy perennials at presidential press conferences, and Bush wisely didn't take the bait. He knows the reporters won't treat an admission of a mistake as a admirable moment of introspection and candor. Rather, they'll jump on the admission and hammer him. Nor would he apologize for having allowed the September 11 attacks to occur, as his ex-aide Richard Clarke did recently. Bush said the blame was on Osama bin Laden.

The last question came from a fellow from National Public Radio, Don Gonyea, who queried Bush about his supposed failure as a communicator. Sure enough, Bush seized the opportunity to tout himself as a strong leader who can be counted on. "When I say something, I mean it," he declared. I suspect this answer didn't thrill the assembled reporters.

The press conference, only the third prime time one of his presidency, was Bush's idea. My guess is after several weeks of renewed fighting in Iraq and eroding support for the war, he wanted to get back on the political offensive. He may have done so. Polls in a day or two will tell us.

Bush left nothing to chance. Many viewers were unlikely to hang around for the full 62 minutes of the press conference. So he delivered his message right at the top and without interference from the reporters. We're not changing course in Iraq, he said. We're hanging in there. It was a message that no viewer could have missed and one that reporters have heard too often.

 

Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Yep. This is what Bush always does at press conferences. He speaks over the heads of the media, right into the camera, to the American people. Great strategy on many fronts. Shows the media bias, while getting his side of the Iraq issue out to the voters. Clinton always played to the media with polished phrases and answers. Bush conveys a sense of decency and honesty.

[Two-Bits]

Please call the President and let he know we back him 100%. Call the White House and leave a message. We must let him know the American people are behind him! What a better way since he does not pay attention to polls. The numbers are as follows:

Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 E-Mail President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov

[PGalt]

Good post. Good strategery. Go Dubya Go!

[Sister_T]

Unfortunately, I was at school and couldn't hear the press conference but when my class ended, I turned on the radio and Michael Savage was on. Goodness! The way he described the press conference, President Bush BOMBED! Thanks to FreeRepublic, however, I read comments from many of you and some of the transcript and it sounds to me like the President did a great job. That also seems to be the consensus of Freepers here.

Michael Savage is so cynical!

[dts32041]

I only listen to Michael savage when Jerry Doyle is on

I like bald headed security officers.

[okie01]

Michael Savage is so cynical!

Besides which, he is a fool.

[TheDon]

I particularly liked it when President Bush referred to those who don't think democracy and freedom can work for Muslims and people with brown skin. Though directed at liberals, I doubt they even flinched. They are completely oblivious to their racism.

[DJtex]

To be honest, the President was clearly low on energy tonight. He did sound tentative and made a few more verbal gaffes than usual. He's a guy that gets up at 5:30am and I think that Karl Rove made a mistake scheduling this so late to let this hit the West Coast at 6pm. I fully agree with Fred Barnes though. If the Press thinks they won, they're totally mistaken. Even when Bush was struggling for an answer or restraining his anger or cynicism at the Press, he was scoring points with all Americans who love this country and view ourselves as patriots.

On the political campaign level, you could not have a more stark contrast between Bush tonight and Kerry. This is where I think that the pretender to the throne was badly shown up for the fake that he is tonight. Bush's last line was perfect. "People know that when I speak, I mean it. That's incredibly important for the U.S. in the World that they know that we mean what we say."

Message to Kerry--Ouch! That's going to leave a mark. Put some ice on it, ya' big whiner!

[Democratshavenobrains]

Nah, they noticed it. Some guy on a DU thread mentioned it, probably grinding his teeth as he was typing.

[TheLion]

I actually wrote this in post #97 earlier on this thread.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1117158/posts

"I don't think the President was worried about what the "opposite side" was going to think....he already knows!

He was going right through them directly to the American people...I think the mission was a success."

What time did this article come out?

[ladyinred]

I loved the entire thing! The so called reporters didn't really want answers to questions, they made political statements right from the DNC talking points. This President, whom they try to say is not very smart is a heck of a lot smarter than they are!

[Greg Weston]

Barnes - Neo-CON parrot.

[montag813]

To be honest, the President was clearly low on energy tonight. He did sound tentative and made a few more verbal gaffes than usual.

Bush, as usual, was slow and quite tentative in the first 25 minutes. But then, as usual, like some switch being turned on--his fire ignited and he was more impressive than any President I have ever seen to close this out. Neither Reagan nor Clinton's styles work any more--too Hollwood and too slick. But Bush comes across so well to average Americans. He just oozes INTEGRITY. Kerry's statement was so weak. He must surely realize his task is impossible.

[Smartass]

Click below to see Jamie Gorlick's Memo

Click Here
Adobe Acrobat Reader Required.

To try to get Ms. Gorlick removed from the 9-11
Commission, e-mail to...info@9-11commission.gov

[MNJohnnie]

Michael Savage is so cynical!


Savage is like the media. He wants to be a player. Bush talked right over his head to the people. Left nothing for his fragile little ego to blow up into this big Savage insite. Sorry, Savage is a joke. I would listen to Laura Ingrham, Hugh Hewitt and Rush for real insite. Bush was brillant. Here is a link to the transcript. Read it for yourself.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040413-20.html

[PhilDragoo]

The "reporters" were as snotty as they could be--as usual.

They were only there to deprecate, denigrate, slander, and distort--as usual.

He was excellent, successfully stating the case to the people--as usual.

[wardaddy]

Savage was 100% wrong on this one.

W did great.

[smonk]

the comparison with clinton is appropriate. bush is
clearly in his own special agony over the loss of life
in iraq. it's genuine and sincere. he doesn't need to
bit his lower lip, or fake a tear, or any of the other
theatrical devices that the fornicator in chief would
employ.

[nutmeg]

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