Stephen Hess
Stephen Hess
Stephen H. Hessis a senior fellow emeritus in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution. He studies media, the U.S. presidency, political dynasties and the U.S. government. He first joined Brookings in 1972 and was distinguished research professor of media and public affairs at the George Washington University. He served on Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon's White House staff and as an adviser to Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter...
agenda came last robust state
Last year, he came out with a very robust agenda in the State of the Union.
caught egg fellow government looking political statements uptight
Even in this context, I am not going to get too uptight about it. When (officials such as Griffin) make statements that can be interpreted as political statements, the government should not be underwriting it. You just caught the fellow with a little egg on his vest, looking untidy.
justices run states supreme united united-states
The most important thing in the long run in the United States was the appointment of two new justices to the Supreme Court.
cost historic people room run state talk union wiggle
I don't think this is going to be one of those historic State of the Union messages. When people talk about new initiatives, they cost money. He's run out of wiggle room there.
celebrity culture elect expect intrigued learn people president stars
I think as we become more and more of a celebrity culture -- as we expect to learn more and more about the people who we elect president or make movie stars -- we are intrigued by their families.
agenda katrina stops
Katrina pretty much stops his legislative agenda cold.
certainly domestic effect immediate money
It certainly has some effect on his immediate domestic agenda. He has no money for anything but Katrina.
campaign press secret seeking suddenly wake
Suddenly the campaign is over, they wake up and the press is not seeking their opinion. There's no more entourage, no Secret Service. It's very, very difficult.
main
That's the main thing he's got going for him,
change nature
It doesn't change the nature of the court.
presidency president
The president was still Ike, and the presidency went on.
across cabinet case looks president reason table vice
The president looks across the cabinet table at the vice president and has to realize, 'The only reason he's there is in case I die.
appeal beyond democrat ethnic nation needs party
The party needs him and, for all I know, the nation needs him. There hasn't been an African-American Democrat who has had an appeal broadly beyond his ethnic group.
bad good heard
We need to know how bad it is — but we want a little good news, too. We've heard a lot about how bad Americans are, or some Americans were in Katrina, but we're not a bad people.