Starting with the State of the Union address: Podhoretz, Hell, 199.
“In one of history’s most painful paradoxes”: John Greenwald, “Why We’re So Gloomy,” Time, January 13, 1992.
The speechwriters prepared remarks: Author interview with Smith.
The State of the Union address was: Podhoretz, Hell, 71–72.
Peggy Noonan was summoned: Carol Gelderman, All the President’s Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency (New York: Walker & Co., 1997), 152.
“Rarely had a speech”: Ann Devroy, “A Declaration of Political War on the Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 29, 1992.
Noonan was among those: Fitzwater, Call the Briefing!, 324–25.
“He ad-libbed significantly”: Michele Nix memo to David Demarest et al., February 21, 1992, “Documents 6251–6300” folder, Open P2/P5 documents, George Bush Library.
“The President, Mrs. Bush”: Dan McGroarty memo to Writers/Researchers, March 2, 1992, “Memorandum Economic,” folder, Speech Writing, Office of, Snow, Tony: Files, George Bush Library.
“a comically hangdog”: Podhoretz, Hell, 200.
“very studious, very methodical”: Author interview with Ken Askew.
Ferguson was told…scant attention: Podhoretz, Hell, 199–201.
Demarest was driving in to work: Author interview with Demarest.
“So in short”: Ibid.
“a deep-think piece”: Andrew Rosenthal, “Bush Tries to Shift to Active Style on Domestic Policy,” New York Times, May 10, 1992.
It acknowledged that racism existed: Michael Kranish and Peter G. Gosselin, “Aides Split Over Bush Urban Plan,” Boston Globe, May 17, 1992.
He showed it to Demarest: Tony Snow memo to Samuel K. Skinner, May 12, 1992, “[Snow—Memos 2/92–1/93]” folder, Speech Writing, Office of, Snow, Tony: Files, George Bush Library.
It was the approach: Author interview with Demarest.
“What I want from you”: Podhoretz, Hell, 196.
“This is absolutely ludicrous”: Ann Devroy, “Bush Communications Chief Named; Critics Call Kentucky Friend Chicken Official Too Inexperienced,” Washington Post, July 9, 1992.
A friend faxed Provost: Author interview with Steve Provost.
“Provost came from a totally”: Author interview with Ferguson.
In some instances: Author interview with Provost.
“When you’re in the bubble”: Ibid.
“My problem, very frankly”: Medhurst, Bully Pulpit, 34.
“The answer, before you change”: George H. W. Bush letter to Curt Smith et al., June 14, 1993, private papers of Curt Smith.
11. “NO, NO, NO, THIS IS A SPEECH—I JUST WANT TO TALK TO PEOPLE”
Vice President–elect Al Gore’s head: George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human: A Political Education (Boston: Back Bay Books, 2000), 115.
Work on the speech had begun: Michael Waldman, POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words That Defined the Clinton Presidency (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 20, 27, 30, and 32.
“Our job was to capture”: Ibid., 30.
They produced at least twenty: Author interview with David Kusnet.
Kusnet, adapting a slogan: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 32.
From the late Father Timothy Healy: Ibid., 35.
“This capital, like every capital”: Ibid., 33.
Clinton and his staff had decamped: Ibid., 33–37.
“He’s never met a sentence”: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 122.
“Clinton never knew exactly”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 200.
“Bill Clinton was equal”: “Taking Command with a Call to Change,” Time, February 1, 1993.
a “B+”: William Safire, “Clinton’s Forced Spring,” New York Times, January 21, 1993.
“Even at their moment of triumph”: R. W. Apple, Jr., “A Change of Power, But Barely a Break in Stride,” New York Times, January 21, 1993.
The hope was that the initial: John F. Harris, The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House (New York: Random House, 2005), 29.
“ambitious, wide-ranging”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 40.
Only occasionally: Harris, Survivor, 19–20.
Clinton’s advisers were split: Ibid., 21, 29.
“Was the budget to be sold”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 40–41.
“You know, I never”: Jeff Shesol, remarks at the Anschutz Lecture, Princeton University, April 22, 2002.
“No one looked”: Author interview with Kusnet.
“string of cursive ‘u’s”: Author interview with Jeff Shesol.
The deadline for getting: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 136.
Clinton, Stephanopoulos, and the senior staff: Ibid., 137.
The reviews were not good: Author interview with Ted Sorensen.
“You mean”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 137.
“What’s bungee jumping?”: Safire, “Bunjee Jumping,” New York Times, April 4, 1993.
“one of the worst speeches”: Margaret Carlson, “…And Then Came Carrot Cake,” Time, March 1, 1993.
The stock market fell: Allen R. Myerson, “Dow Off 82.94 As Most Stocks Take a Beating,” New York Times, February 17, 1993.
Thomas “Mack” McLarty: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 41.
“Hey Gene”: Carlson, “…And Then Came Carrot Cake.”
On Wednesday morning: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 42.
When Clinton arrived: Carlson, “…And Then Came Carrot Cake.”
“We never received anything”: Carol Gelderman, All the President’s Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency (New York: Walker & Co., 1997), 161.
“lawmakers stir and respond”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 43–44.
“The job of the speechwriters”: Author interview with Antony Blinken, 408 a “very structured, disciplined form”: Author interview with Don Baer, 408 “It’s when he gets up there”: Author interview with Terry Edmonds, 409 Clinton’s speechwriters would eventually: Ibid.
“that’s the way the cookie crumbles”: Author interview with Jordan Tamagni.
Returning to the White House: Carlson, “…And Then Came Carrot Cake.”
“a tremendous writer”: Author interview with Baer.
Speeches are written by: Author interview with Jeremy Rosner, 410 “The reason for doing this”: Author interview with Anthony Lake, 410 Rosner sent several drafts: The entire account of the February 26, 1993, American University speech is drawn from the author’s interview with Rosner.
Rosner felt calmer: Ibid.
“pedestrian”: Bob Woodward, The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 317.
The Clintons do not like: Haynes Johnson and David Broder. The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point (Boston: Little Brown, xxxx), 1996, 21–22.
Rosner said that: Author interview with Rosner.
Rosner and Dreyer were close friends: Ibid.
With his ponytail: Johnson and Broder, System, 23.
When the president’s senior aides: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 199.
Clinton wrote all over it: Johnson and Broder, System, 28.
“And [Clinton] said, ‘No,’”: Author interview with Rosner.
“everyone becomes the speechwriter”: Johnson and Broder, System, 28.
Rehearsal extended past 8 pm: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 200.
At the rostrum: Johnson and Broder, System, 4–6.
“just sort of whipped back”: Bill Clinton, My Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 548.
After the longest seven minutes: Johnson and Broder, System, 9.
Clinton’s approval rating: The American Presidency Project has presidential polling data on its Web site, adapted from the Gallup Poll by Gerhard Peters. Clinton’s is available at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php?pres=42&sort=time&direct=ASC& Submit=DISPLAY.
“He gave a thoroughly”: Maureen Dowd, “Reporter’s Notebook
; Props and Fuzzy Anecdotes in a Sober, Grown-Up Talk,” New York Times, September 23, 1993.
“Members of Congress”: Clifford Krauss, “Reaction; Congress Praises President’s Plan But Is Wary of Taxes and Costs,” New York Times, September 23, 1993.
spending around $100 million: Neil A. Lewis, “Vast Sum Spent to Sway Health Plan,” New York Times, July 22, 1994.
It seemed a political: Harris, Survivor, 110–11.
a scant five weeks before: Ibid., 118.
Carolyn Curiel: Michael Waldman, My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents, From George Washington to George W. Bush (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks media Fusion, 2003), 285–86; William Safire, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in American History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997), 538–39.
“MLK didn’t die”: Waldman, My Fellow Americans, 288.
“The Memphis speech was a hymn”: Clinton, My Life, 560.
I understand that you’re not: Author interview with Baer.
“nice Jewish boy”: Ibid.
“I don’t think [Clinton] liked”: Ibid.
Part of the problem: Author interview with Kusnet.
“If you were running against”: Ibid.
“It was meatball surgery”: Author interview with Baer.
“There are few voices”: Author interview with Kusnet.
The line had come to Baer: Author interview with Baer.
Rosner and Liu had learned to speak: Author interview with Rosner.
The three writers had an extended session: Author interview with Eric Liu.
The president hosted a dinner: Author interviews with Baer and Rosner.
Baer, Rosner, and Liu spent days: Author interviews with Rosner and Baer.
“He both liked rhetoric”: Author interview with Tom Malinowski.
“WORDS, WORDS, WORDS”: Paul Glastris, “Immortal Words,” Washington Monthly, July–August 2007.
It was a line: Author interview with Rosner.
“You’re going to lose the Senate”: Dick Morris, Behind the Oval Office: Getting Reelected Against All Odds (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999), 16–17.
Morris and Clinton went back: Ibid., 42–69.
The two man’s relationship: Harris, Survivor, 163, 168.
“You can say things”: Author interview with Dick Morris.
“When he spoke”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 75.
The electorate saw Clinton: Harris, Survivor, 149–50.
“an unfamiliar frequency”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 329.
“Just in case what”: Morris, Behind, 16.
Clinton maintained an air: Harris, Survivor, 153.
“This could be liberating”: Don Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union Helped Turn Around Loss of Congress,” Politico.com, January 22, 2007.
“You saw I gave your statement”: Morris, Behind, 83.
“Party leaders wonder”: Michael Duffy, “Getting Out the Wrecking Ball,” Time, December 19, 1994.
Clinton now retreated in gloom: Harris, Survivor, 154.
“Triangulate”: Morris, Behind, 80.
Morris faxed suggestions: Harris, Survivor, 165.
That December, he started meeting: Morris, Behind, 348.
“beachhead”: Author interview with Jonathan Prince.
Clinton was not the flip-flopper: Morris, Behind, 84.
Morris was in Paris: Ibid., 87.
“Who came up with this language?”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 336–37.
“Immaculate Conception”: Morris, Behind, 87.
“Just about everybody”: Michael Duffy, “The 12-Minute Makeover,” Time, December 26, 1994.
“A democracy also needs”: Anthony Lewis, “Leading from Behind,” New York Times, December 19, 1994.
the question was should it be: Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union.”
“did not regard the people”: Harris, Survivor, 163.
“These white guys”: Ibid., 160.
The president had commissioned: Morris, Behind, 93.
a “green monster”: Author interview with Morris.
chewing on an unlit cigar: Morris, Behind, 90.
writing the new line: Author interview with Baer.
“Here, listen to this”: Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union.”
“You couldn’t see the planets”: Author interview with Baer.
A line about “tax cuts”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 336.
“It’s your speech, Bill”: Harris, Survivor, 160.
That’s weird: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 336.
“It was coming down”: Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union.”
Baer’s recollection is: Author interview with Baer.
“Theirs was the standard”: Author interview with Morris.
That night, Clinton sent a copy: Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union.”
He never came down: Author interview with Baer.
“by turns conciliatory”: Todd S. Purdum, “Clinton, with Bow to G.O.P., Reaffirms His Themes of ’92 and Asks New Cooperation,” New York Times, January 25, 1995.
It was, in effect, two speeches: Harris, Survivor, 160; Morris, Behind, 95.
“In those final thirty minutes”: Morris, Behind, 95.
“who hoped for signs”: R. W. Apple, Jr., “A Deflated Presidency,” New York Times, January 25, 1995.
Baer was at the White House: Baer, “Clinton’s State of the Union.”
“Every presidential event”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 337–38.
“I get up there”: Morris, Behind, 97.
“As Newt Gingrich was orchestrating”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 338.
In January 1995, Hillary Clinton: Morris, Behind, 348.
“Our ratings”: Ibid., 369–71.
“Be sure all White House staff”: Ibid., 371.
Liberals like Ickes: Harris, Survivor, 170–71.
And while he was no liberal: Morris, Behind, 98.
He would kick off: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 338.
Harold Ickes called Baer: Author interview with Baer.
Morris had one more idea: Morris, Behind, 121.
“That’s odd”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 80.
“Mr. Clinton for the first time in months”: Steven A. Holmes, “Clinton Defines the Limits of Compromise with G.O.P.,” New York Times, April 8, 1995.
Baer had argued unsuccessfully: Author interview with Baer.
Chris Matthews: Ibid.
When the presidential party: Ibid.
“style in the absence of all style”: Author interview with Tamagni.
“zoot suits”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 141.
He was cocky: Author interview with Edmonds.
No one had called: Author interview with Baer.
Prince’s first clear memory: Author interview with Prince.
Curiel produced a first draft: Author interview with Baer.
Prince specialized: Author interview with Prince.
Typically, Clinton had edited: Marked-up reading copy of April 23, 1995, speech, William J. Clinton Library Web site.
“It was the first time”: Author interview with Morris.
“It changed dramatically”: Author interview with Prince.
When new speechwriters joined: Author interviews with Jeff Shesol and June Shih.
“Often the speeches were written”: Author interview with Baer.
and he was an aspiring poet: Author interview with Edmonds.
“Every time you write”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 173.
Morris polled everything: Ibid., 94, 100.
“that their values”: Ibid., 99.
“I would write the sound bite”: Author interview with Morris.
“In contrast to the stately”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 107.
“the past thirty years”: Author interview with Waldman. Stephanopoulos, who opposed the “era” line, wrote that Morris’s draft only contained the end of big government, and that he and his allies a
dded the “every man for himself” line. Waldman’s account credits Morris with the complete line, as does Baer. Morris does not recall. (Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 412; author interviews with Baer and Morris.)
In the summer of 1996: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 127.
“coincidence”: Author interview with Morris.
The speechwriters expected: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 108.
“the death of liberalism”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 412.
“Clinton Embraces GOP Themes”: Ann Devroy, “Clinton Embraces GOP Themes in Setting Agenda,” The Washington Post, January 24, 1996.
“House Republicans are muttering”: Richard Stengel, “What Clinton Is Doing Right,” Time, February 5, 1996.
“that we had won some battles”: Stephanopoulos, All Too Human, 412.
“The reason lies in the”: Morris, Behind, 207.
Clinton often spoke extemporaneously: Author interview with Morris.
“we polled it and it blew up”: Ibid.
After his speeches: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 142.
He opened the folder: Author interview with Prince.
“I loved your speech”: Ibid.
“like a basketball team”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 190.
A major speech would start: Author interview with Baer.
“would be a far-reaching attempt”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 190–91.
Waldman would have to finish: Ibid., 196.
On January 21, Jeff Shesol: The details of Jeff Shesol’s hiring come from the author’s interview with Shesol.
“Now the speech has to be”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 202, 207.
Don’t use the word “millennium”: Author interview with Tamagni.
“What should we do with the surplus?”: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 207.
“The notion that President Clinton”: Author interview with Lowell Weiss.
In the spectator seats: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 207.
“What is usually a gladiator’s”: Alessandra Stanley, “If Only for an Hour, Playing by the Time-Honored Rules,” New York Times, January 28, 1998.
Waldman was standing: Author interview with Blinken.
A year earlier he had introduced: Waldman, POTUS Speaks, 161.
Congressional Republicans had raised: Francis X. Clines and Jeff Gerth, “Subpoenas Sent as Clinton Denies Reports of an Affair with Aide at the White House,” New York Times, January 22, 1998.
“white noise”: Author interview with Shesol.
White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters Page 66
