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American Morning

Ritual & Rhetoric

Aired January 28, 2003 - 09:34   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is along to talk about what the president may say tonight and how he will say it.
Good morning.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST Good morning.

ZAHN: So what makes State of the Union Speech different?

GREENFIELD: Well, as you've mentioned, the setting is different, from the days when message wasn't even delivered in person, it was sent up until the days of Wilson. It's became this ritual, where it's moved into prime time television. You see president's television in the royal box with favored guests, but also, unlike an inaugural or acceptance speech, this is unveiling usually of an agenda, set of very specific policy goals, and this year, with the real possibility of war approaching, it makes the normally tricky rhetoric even more difficult.

ZAHN: Although there a lot of people out there who say that the president will be a beneficiary of the patriotic spirit out there, don't most presidents get a bump after getting State of the Union Address?

GREENFIELD: You could read phone book and majority of Americans would approve, because pageantry makes you presidential. But the problem is the country and the Congress and much of the world are looking for him to lay out some kind of a case against Iraq with at least some specificity. So rhetorical flourishes like last year's Axis of Evil won't do it. And if he doesn't offer something, there are people, particularly in the Democratic Party , who know from polls that there is a rise in skepticism, and they'll say, well, he didn't do the job, he didn't tell us enough.

The other thing, as you mentioned a few minutes ago, Paula, the country's real doubts that are growing about this administration are, big surprise, in the economic arena, where his dad came to grief in 1992. This administration from the beginning has been at pains to show the president is in touch with that anxiety, and they also know, there's a good deal of doubt about the tax cut plan.

The tricky part here, I think, if the war is the dominant story, and it probably will we, it may well overshadow, whatever domestic message on prescription drugs or the economy that he wants.

ZAHN: It will be interesting to see what the president says, because Ari Fleischer has indicated that the speech will not be dominated by the war, but the issues of health care and the economy will be more prevalent in the speech.

Help us poke our heads out tonight for some nonrhetorical flourishes?

GREENFIELD: Well, there are two things that happen in the State of the Union that I always look for. The first, who are the scutniks (ph), the honored guests in the presidential box of which I spoke. We call them scutniks (ph) after Lenny Scutnik (ph). He was the hero of the Air Florida Rescue in the early 1980s who Ronald Reagan honored, and ever since, president's have chosen -- quote -- "regular people" to make a point. Maybe they're teachers, or firefighters or soldiers. So we'll see who's up there this year.

And second, I am always fascinated by another ritual, which is these otherwise grown men and women jumping up and down every five seconds as if you could measure the power of a speech by how many standing ovations. And here's one key that nobody else will tell you, if Vice President Cheney can jump and down every time the other Republicans jump up and down, that will answer any doubts about whether or not he's healthy enough for a second term. So for me, that may be the key underanalyzed element of the speech.

ZAHN: Thank you for the road map.

GREENFIELD: Heard it hear first.

ZAHN: I talked with Dan Bartlett a little bit earlier this morning, the communications director of the president, and he said the big speech, in his words, is baked, president comfortable with it, ready to go.

Given the history of how much president's revised speeches going in limousine from the White House to the halls of Congress.

GREENFIELD: Not this guy.

ZAHN: Not this guy.

GREENFIELD: Do you remember the Clinton health care speech when they delivered the wrong speech into the teleprompter, and he had to deliver the first 10 minutes ad lib. This is a very different White House. It's much more disciplined. The idea of President Bush rewriting speech walking into the hall, I don't think so. It's very different presidency in a lot of ways, and that's one of them.

ZAHN: We'll be watching right along with you tonight. Thanks, Jeff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 28, 2003 - 09:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is along to talk about what the president may say tonight and how he will say it.
Good morning.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST Good morning.

ZAHN: So what makes State of the Union Speech different?

GREENFIELD: Well, as you've mentioned, the setting is different, from the days when message wasn't even delivered in person, it was sent up until the days of Wilson. It's became this ritual, where it's moved into prime time television. You see president's television in the royal box with favored guests, but also, unlike an inaugural or acceptance speech, this is unveiling usually of an agenda, set of very specific policy goals, and this year, with the real possibility of war approaching, it makes the normally tricky rhetoric even more difficult.

ZAHN: Although there a lot of people out there who say that the president will be a beneficiary of the patriotic spirit out there, don't most presidents get a bump after getting State of the Union Address?

GREENFIELD: You could read phone book and majority of Americans would approve, because pageantry makes you presidential. But the problem is the country and the Congress and much of the world are looking for him to lay out some kind of a case against Iraq with at least some specificity. So rhetorical flourishes like last year's Axis of Evil won't do it. And if he doesn't offer something, there are people, particularly in the Democratic Party , who know from polls that there is a rise in skepticism, and they'll say, well, he didn't do the job, he didn't tell us enough.

The other thing, as you mentioned a few minutes ago, Paula, the country's real doubts that are growing about this administration are, big surprise, in the economic arena, where his dad came to grief in 1992. This administration from the beginning has been at pains to show the president is in touch with that anxiety, and they also know, there's a good deal of doubt about the tax cut plan.

The tricky part here, I think, if the war is the dominant story, and it probably will we, it may well overshadow, whatever domestic message on prescription drugs or the economy that he wants.

ZAHN: It will be interesting to see what the president says, because Ari Fleischer has indicated that the speech will not be dominated by the war, but the issues of health care and the economy will be more prevalent in the speech.

Help us poke our heads out tonight for some nonrhetorical flourishes?

GREENFIELD: Well, there are two things that happen in the State of the Union that I always look for. The first, who are the scutniks (ph), the honored guests in the presidential box of which I spoke. We call them scutniks (ph) after Lenny Scutnik (ph). He was the hero of the Air Florida Rescue in the early 1980s who Ronald Reagan honored, and ever since, president's have chosen -- quote -- "regular people" to make a point. Maybe they're teachers, or firefighters or soldiers. So we'll see who's up there this year.

And second, I am always fascinated by another ritual, which is these otherwise grown men and women jumping up and down every five seconds as if you could measure the power of a speech by how many standing ovations. And here's one key that nobody else will tell you, if Vice President Cheney can jump and down every time the other Republicans jump up and down, that will answer any doubts about whether or not he's healthy enough for a second term. So for me, that may be the key underanalyzed element of the speech.

ZAHN: Thank you for the road map.

GREENFIELD: Heard it hear first.

ZAHN: I talked with Dan Bartlett a little bit earlier this morning, the communications director of the president, and he said the big speech, in his words, is baked, president comfortable with it, ready to go.

Given the history of how much president's revised speeches going in limousine from the White House to the halls of Congress.

GREENFIELD: Not this guy.

ZAHN: Not this guy.

GREENFIELD: Do you remember the Clinton health care speech when they delivered the wrong speech into the teleprompter, and he had to deliver the first 10 minutes ad lib. This is a very different White House. It's much more disciplined. The idea of President Bush rewriting speech walking into the hall, I don't think so. It's very different presidency in a lot of ways, and that's one of them.

ZAHN: We'll be watching right along with you tonight. Thanks, Jeff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com