March 21, 2006 — The president is assuming a new strategy: He’s fielding unscreened questions from the audience after speeches, much like he did Monday when he spoke at the City Club in Cleveland.The questions are not always friendly and vary in topic, but White House aides think it will make Bush appear in touch with America.
He ducked an invitation from the Cleveland Hungarian community for an event in October, and fielded questions about terrorism, the apocalypse, and about how to deal with ally nations like Pakistan that have been known to harbor terrorists. This is part of the administration’s campaign to recapture waning public support.
“It’s one of the essential principles of effective public communication. Nobody is a better advocate than yourself,” said Allan Meyer, a communications expert and managing director and head of the entertainment division of Sitrick & Co.
A White House aide said this showed that the president was diving into the tough stuff, as he did with a hardball question about whether or not he would consider a no-first-use policy in terms of nuclear weapons.
“I’ll take your words to heart and think about it,” Bush responded. “Thank you. No commitment standing right here, of course.”
Bush will participate in another question-and-answer session Wednesday. The new approach is part of what ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos said is an initiative to regain Americans’ faith in the president’s credibility and confidence that he is up to the job — both of which have significantly eroded since the Hurricane Katrina debacle.
“He can show he’s up to the job, and he can level a bit more with the American people,” Stephanopoulos said.
Much like talk-show psychologist Dr. Phil, Bush is using confrontation to get attention. Confrontation gets Dr. Phil viewers, and hopefully it will get Bush coverage, Stephanopoulos said. More importantly, it is setting the stage for people to understand the philosophy behind the war in Iraq, so if and when the conditions begin to improve, people will understand the rationale for staying the course.
The administration is laying “the groundwork for the country to see that progress as it develops,” Stephanopoulos said. “Then, of course, if that progress doesn’t come, then nothing will help the public.”