David Gergen
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergenis an American political commentator and former presidential advisor who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a Senior Political Analyst for CNN and a Professor of Public Service and Co-Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen is also the former Editor-at-Large of U.S. News and World Report and a contributor to CNN.com and Parade Magazine. He has twice been a member...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Show Host
Date of Birth9 May 1942
CountryUnited States of America
I think he has to calibrate it very carefully. The White House says it is going to be a very optimistic speech. But I think people are not feeling very optimistic at the moment.
Leadership is about calling people to do things beyond themselves.
A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.
I'm told by some people close to him that this will not be a Kerry-bashing speech. But he's not going to simply rally around Bush. Indeed it's going to be the story of an immigrant coming to this country and finding a country that's embraced him and a party that's embraced him.
If people stay that long, group-think can set in, and that's dangerous for a president.
I think he still has time to recover politically, and I think it's likely he will. He's good at this. You'll see a better Bush during the next few days, in charge and compassionate. But if he doesn't, there's going to be a serious political price to pay.
I still think this president would be served by having someone fresh come in. It would be a matter of making room at the table.
I was in the Nixon White House during Watergate, and we pretended that we were all about business as usual. And we had a president who was talking to the portraits. It was not business as usual, but you have to say it.
You can agree or disagree with Ronald Reagan's policies, his conservatism. I was less conservative than he was, but if you add it all up, I believe he ranked as the best leader we've had in the White House since Franklin Roosevelt, and that's saying a lot.
You can agree or disagree with Ronald Reagan's policies, his conservatism.
Win or lose, he realized that it was going to be very difficult to govern and that the better part of valor was to step aside.
Why a White House that was so adept in most of the first term has misjudged two or three big calls in its second term it's puzzling.
We know that second terms have historically been marred by hubris and by scandal.
One cannot underestimate how widely admired Tom Daschle is in Washington for his integrity.