While delivering Tuesday's keynote speech at the Benefits Selling Expo, former White House Press Secretary Lawrence Ari Fleischer couldn't resist opening with a jab against journalists.
"After spending my mornings, afternoons and far too many of my nights in the company of the White House Press Corps, I can say that it's a pleasure to be here with you," said Fleischer, to amused reaction from those in attendance.
Raised as a liberal Democrat, Fleischer recalled how President Ronald Reagan's "peace through strength and unyielding sense of patriotism" moved him to embrace a conservative point of view, and how proud he was to accept the position as press secretary for President George W. Bush following the hotly contested 2000 election. He recounted how his office was located 30 feet from the podium in the White House briefing room, where he would address the press corps. Fleischer described each briefing as a "live quiz show with no net under the podium," and thrived on the pressure. "That was the excitement of the job, and eventually, that leads to the burnout of the job," he admitted. "It was the honor of a lifetime."
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Fleischer explained how there has to be a simpatico relationship between the press secretary and the president, as there's not always time to ask what should and should not be said during briefings. "You just have to know," he said.
During his time serving under President Bush Fleischer met Pope John Paul II twice, and Shaquille O'Neal only once; flying aboard Air Force One, he said, was an experience beyond compare, and he misses the days when "not once while waiting to take off from New York would you hear that you were [listed as] No. 17 for takeoff."
The 9-11 attacks that devastated America in 2001 were his most poignant moments during the Bush administration, and Fleischer recalled how he stood 15 feet away as Bush was informed during a visit with schoolchildren that the second tower had been hit by a commercial airliner and that America was under attack. During the president's subsequent trip to Manhattan to visit Ground Zero (then still a smoking pile several stories high of twisted, molten metal and debris), he watched as Bush spoke with the families of those still missing in the remains of the once-great skyscrapers, desperate for answers but still clinging to hope that they would be found.
Fleischer next weighed in on the presidential race and spoke at length about the various wild cards in play, still three months away from the Democratic and Republican conventions. "This race is nuts," he said, shaking his head in bemusement and noting that the two most outside candidates on the Republican side, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, are first and second.
"Trump has shown that much of the Republican base is more of a populist, blue-collar group of voters," said Fleischer. "The Republican base is fed up, and has heard it all before." It is sick of business-as-usual politicians, he added, upon whom the populace feels they cannot rely to get anything done in Washington. "Trump makes himself sound like someone who 'gets it,' and will fight for them. He has done a superb job of revving them up and giving them hope."
However, Fleischer noted that if Trump does not garner 50 percent of the vote and 50 percent of the delegates needed, he won't be able to secure the Republican nomination. Those votes, Fleischer noted, are earned by building bridges with politicians on the other side of the fence and bringing in coalition partners, something Fleischer said he believes very much in. Finding that common ground and working well with others is essential, he added, in proving oneself worthy of the presidency.
Additionally, Fleischer noted the importance of the minority vote, and that the general election is becoming less and less white. The Hispanic vote in particular, he said, is critical, and that garnering 30 percent of the minority vote is key to a presidential victory.
As for Ted Cruz, Fleischer said he has always gotten along well with the Texas senator and still does, and the former press secretary believes that Cruz hopes if Trump doesn't get that 50 percent vote, that he can still win in a one-on-one race in the second round during the Republican convention.
Like many Republicans, Fleischer is concerned that a close race between Trump and Cruz will create a situation in which the supporters of the "losing" candidate (between Cruz and Trump) will stay home in November and not vote – but that one person could unite them: Hillary Clinton.
Fleischer cited a "tremendous amount of distrust" of Clinton, who is being challenged in some areas of the country by "socialist" Bernie Sanders. "He's actually giving her a run for her money."
Still, Fleischer believes that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination due to her popularity with minority communities that represent so much of the Democratic vote – and that in order for either Trump or Cruz to emerge victorious, they would have to capitalize heavily on high-impact attacks against her as an establishment candidate who offers more of the same of what the public has seen out of Washington in recent years.
Fleischer added that he believes President Obama "created the environment for Trump to come along," explaining that Obama has not worked effectively across the aisle with a Republican-held Congress – something that he said both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were able to achieve. Fleischer said Obama's "high-minded, moralistic point of view" has kept him from achieving such bipartisan compromises.
In any case, no matter who wins, one thing is certain: It's going to be a wild ride for the remainder of the election process.
"What a year," said Fleischer. "And we haven't even hit the conventions yet."
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Shawn Moynihan
Shawn Moynihan is Editor-in-Chief of National Underwriter Property & Casualty. A St. John’s University alum, Moynihan has earned 11 Jesse H. Neal Awards, the Pulitzers of the business press; seven Azbee Awards, from the American Society of Business Press Editors; two Folio Awards; and a SABEW award, from the Society of American Business Editors & Writers. Prior to joining ALM, he served as Managing Editor/Online Editor of journalism institution Editor & Publisher, the trade bible of the newspaper industry. Moynihan also has held editorial positions with AOL, Metro New York, and Newhouse Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].
