Friday the 16th
The Seminar—Our first speaker was Sam Donaldson, who was immediately different from his TV-News persona. He's animated, growling, dramatic (vocal), expressive (physical), funny. He did a respectable impression of Ronald Reagan at one point. My roommates said later they thought he was high on something.
Donaldson's experience with the White House and its presidents drove his talk. White House reporters exist, he said, to challenge the president on behalf of the American public. He liked George W. Bush, personally, but his "I'm-not-talking-to-you" foreign policy was stupid. We have to integrate with the world, he said, knitting his fingers together in front of him, and be a different kind of world leader, different from the kind promoted by the troglodytes in their caves who think the world must do what we say because we say so. In this, his talk meshed well with that we'd heard the day before from Ambassador Hussain Haqqani.
Donaldson, like Koppel, never allows "um" and "uh" and other vocal tics into his speech. Must be the training. He spoke truths, I think, when he said the times sometimes confound the smartest people and life is too short to waste time with dull people.
In the afternoon, my small group met with two journalists and an editor in the offices of the Congressional Quarterly.
Personal time—I retreated to the apartment that evening and did little but relax after the long week.
Donaldson's experience with the White House and its presidents drove his talk. White House reporters exist, he said, to challenge the president on behalf of the American public. He liked George W. Bush, personally, but his "I'm-not-talking-to-you" foreign policy was stupid. We have to integrate with the world, he said, knitting his fingers together in front of him, and be a different kind of world leader, different from the kind promoted by the troglodytes in their caves who think the world must do what we say because we say so. In this, his talk meshed well with that we'd heard the day before from Ambassador Hussain Haqqani.
Donaldson, like Koppel, never allows "um" and "uh" and other vocal tics into his speech. Must be the training. He spoke truths, I think, when he said the times sometimes confound the smartest people and life is too short to waste time with dull people.
In the afternoon, my small group met with two journalists and an editor in the offices of the Congressional Quarterly.
Personal time—I retreated to the apartment that evening and did little but relax after the long week.
posted by mac | 8:25 PM
6 Comments:
Donaldson calls in to a local talk show every week here and speaks his mind to the host. They are obviously great friends so he really allows himself to be open. I really like what he says, usually.
I do think it's funny to think that Bush didn't talk to foreign leaders...it may not have been in public but he would have had to talk with them to do what he did.
Now if Obama could get a little training on not using the "ums and uhs"!
I think Donaldson mainly meant talking with those the leaders of those countries that don't agree with or bow down to the USA. I get the feeling that Bush rarely conversed seriously and openly with anybody--foreign or domestic--who was sure to challenge or disagree with him. Rice might have carried the burden on that one, at least internationally.
Remember in the debates when McCain was going after Obama about saying that he'd talk with other world leaders without "preconditions"?
Agreed on President O's ums and uh when speaking extemporaneously.
Yes...I know what they say. But, I don't believe a flippin' word any of them say.
Looks like we have another president that won't be talking to at least the domestic ones. He's certainly bringing his agenda around quickly.
Thanks for the continuing saga of MC's excellent adventure.... or is it just adventure... anyway, it is certainly interesting reading... Cheers, john
Oh yah, Mark, I think we should have a reporter as president then there won't be any ums and ahs... of course there won't be any brains behind the decision making either... and you had better hope the producer gives her or him a good script or nothing will happen at all!!!
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Obama does just fine reading scripts. It's just when he has to wing it and know what he's talking about when he brings out the ums an ahs.
I know John that you like this guy and that's okay with me! I just happen to disagree with pretty much everything that he stands for as I did with Bush and do with McCain...but, he is the president and I will pray for him.
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