Bush Takes a Verbal Cue from Howard Dean Richard Forno www.infowarrior.org
17 March 2004 Copyright (c) 2004 by Author. Permission granted to reproduce with credit. Article with in-line URLs: http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2004-09.html Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Dick Cheney, and the GOP leadership must be terrified whenever George W. Bush speaks and his remarks aren't prepared in advance -- something that probably explains why so many of the president's public interactions are rehearsed in advance before he dares to open his mouth, especially now that everything America says or does is scrutinized with a skeptical eye by the world more closely than ever. Nearly every speech of his presidency consists of short, folksy phrases (many serve as future soundbytes or policy statements) separated by many, many commas, semi-colons, and undramatic verbal pauses that conveys a certain level of ignorance regarding the issue being discussed - something confirmed in Suskind's new book "The Price of Loyalty." Both during impromptu press gaggles and pre-arranged interviews like his recent appearance on "Meet The Press" he clearly is uncomfortable - or incapable of - speaking without pausing several times to collect his thoughts and decide what the next phrase from his mouth should be. You can almost see the gears turning inside his head as he draws a blank stare with alarming frequency during such remarks. Simply put, George W. Bush is still not comfortable speaking sans safety net -- or without significant advance preparation by his handlers, supporting him either locally or from a secure, undisclosed location. Policy fiascoes aside, his repeated verbal gaffes continue to make us - and America - look bad, if not also incompetent; three years into his administration and he still can't speak coherently on a regular basis or even pronounce the names of certain American states! Concerned, his handlers began to look for help. Oddly enough, and since Tony Blair - himself a very capable and dynamic public speaker - couldn't give George any lessons in public speaking due to his own busy schedule, the White House speechwriters have turned to an unlikely source for speechmaking inspiration: Governor Howard Dean. Remember Howard Dean's much-animated speech after the Iowa caucuses? You know, the litany of states that was affectionately dubbed by the media as the "scream"? Here's an excerpt: "And you know something? You know something? Not only are we going to New Hampshire ... we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York. And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C. To take back the White House. Yeah! [wave fist and grin] We will not give up....We will not give up in New Hampshire. We will not give up in South Carolina. We will not give up in Arizona or New Mexico, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan. We will not quit now or ever. We'll earn our country back for ordinary Americans....And we're going to win in Massachusetts. And North Carolina. And Missouri. And Arkansas. And Connecticut. And New York. And Ohio...." Taking a lesson in rhetoric from his one-time Democratic opponent, Bush's thirty-minute speech on March 19 celebrating the one-year anniversary of the invasion - pardon me, liberation - of Iraq contained three distinct Dean-like litanies: "In recent years, terrorists have struck from Spain to Russia, to Israel, to East Africa, to Morocco, to the Philippines and to America. They've targeted Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen. They've attacked Muslims in Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan...." "Our coalition is taking urgent action to stop the transfer of deadly weapons and materials. America and the nations of Australia and France and Germany and Italy and Japan and the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and Norway have joined in the Proliferation Security Initiative, all aimed to bind together to interdict lethal materials transported by air or sea or land...." "Many coalition countries have sacrificed in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the fallen soldiers and civilians are sons and daughters of Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom and the United States..." All that was missing to create the GOP-branded version of Howard Dean, Public Speaker Extraordinaire was some emotion, a fire-and-brimstone "yeah" and a raised fist -- or, perhaps more appropriately, a Strangelovian "yee-ha" and waving a cowboy hat while straddling the dais. Such a change may be forthcoming for Bush as his campaign team invents new ways of portraying him heading into November; we'll just have to wait and see. That being said, and despite his Stepford-like speaking skills, Bush's particular use of rhetoric today had two likely goals. Given current world events and a growing discontent with America's questionable foreign policy by some allies, naming all these nations was intended to both acknowledge their support for and discourage them from abandoning America's side in the 'War on Terror" as some have hinted in recent days. That's a logical diplomatic tactic, and not unexpected for a national leader trying to maintain an international coalition of disparate partners with unique concerns and national interests. Depending on future events, we may see similar remarks down the road. Or, and perhaps more likely, it was done to show that despite his inability to speak coherently, Bush has grown up during his first term as president. White House speechwriters and the Bush 2004 campaign team probably feel that his naming so many foreign lands in a major address will tell voters that after four years in the White House, George has a significantly greater awareness (if not yet an understanding) of the world outside America's borders compared with the lingering memories of him fumbling through foreign policy interviews during the 2000 campaign. I'm sure we'll see more of this in the coming months; it's an interesting strategy, if it works -- at this point, I'm sure they're desparate to find anything remotely "good" to use for this year's campaign, particularly since there's so little "good" to report on over the past four years. However the Bush/Cheney team markets its campaign strategy, it would be wise to remember that old Texas saying: Fool us once, shame on you -- Fool us twice, shame on us. Given this Administration's current and quite dismal record on nearly every issue, including its inability to tell the simple, honest truth on matters of national and global importance, with any luck, we won't be fooled again. # # # # # # Richard Forno is a Washington, DC-based security consultant and author of "Weapons of Mass Delusion." His home in cyberspace is at http://www.infowarrior.org. This article means no disrespect to Howard Dean -- he's one of the few politicans today who freely speaks his mind ... a very admirable quality and welcome change to "politics-as-usual" here in DC. -- You are a subscribed member of the infowarrior list. Visit www.infowarrior.org for list information or to unsubscribe. This message may be redistributed freely in its entirety. Any and all copyrights appearing in list messages are maintained by their respective owners.
