Bush’s speech to Congress one of his best, analysts say
President used humor, anecdotes and audience to illustrate proposals

By Kasey Feldman
Skiff Staff

Though they may disagree on the validity of his political views, commentators agree President George W. Bush has a great speechwriter.

Experts said Bush gave one of his best speeches when he addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday.

Paul King, associate professor of speech communication, said he expected to react to Bush’s address by saying that Bush is a great conversationalist, but his speeches leave something to be desired.

However, he said, the speech Tuesday night surpassed his expectations.

“The speech was very disarming,” King said. “In the introduction, he used humor and demonstrated his humility.”

In the beginning of his address, Bush made the audience laugh by thanking Congress for inviting him with an allusion to his narrow win of the presidential election.

“I know Congress had to formally invite me, and it could have been a close vote,” Bush said. “So Mr. Vice President, I appreciate you being here to break the tie.”

Bush used anecdotes as well as humor, to illustrate his points. When he was discussing medical research he mentioned “one of Congress’ own” who is fighting cancer and the ailing representative received a standing ovation.

Later, Bush used a Pennsylvania couple in the audience to illustrate the effects of his tax cuts on American families. He said with the money they would save, they could pay their debts and begin saving for their 2-year-old daughter’s college tuition.

King said Bush used good rhetorical strategy by discussing widely agreed-upon issues, such as increasing funds for education, in the beginning of the speech.

King said this strategy unified the audience before discussing controversial issues, like tax cuts.

Valerie Martinez-Ebers, associate professor of political science, said selling the public on those tax cuts was Bush’s most critical objective in his speech.

“It was even noted by senior Republicans in Congress that he did not have enough votes for his tax-cut proposal,” Martinez-Ebers said. “In this speech, Bush was going over Congress’ heads, straight to the people for support on his proposal.”

She said Bush explained his plan in just the right amount of detail.

“He successfully laid out the components without giving details, and of course, the devil is in the details,” she said. “He made it look like the poor will get the biggest tax cuts by telling us that the lowest (income tax bracket) would be lowered from 15 percent to 1O percent and the highest would be lowered to 33 percent. What is interesting is he never told us how much they paid in the first place.”

Not everyone listening to Bush’s proposal was convinced the poor would get the biggest tax cuts.

Dick Gephardt, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives and Tom Daschle, Democratic leader in the Senate, said in their response to the address, that the tax cuts they would approve would give more relief to the poor, arguing that Bush’s tax cuts mostly benefit the rich.

John Lovett, instructor of economics, said according to his calculations, people earning less than $30,000 a year or more than $80,000 a year will save the most money under Bush’s plan.

Bush also discussed his plans for improving the military, Medicare and the environment. He said he would work to end racial profiling, pay down the national debt and help faith-based and community organizations to help the poor.

An underlying theme throughout the speech was unifying the political parties.

Mark Davis, a talk show host for WBAP, said the speech helped Bush win bi-partisan support.

“The speech had a wonderful tone,” Davis said. “Instead of saying, these are my ideas and I am President so you should listen to me, it was an invitation to try a new way and work together with the Democrats.”

Lucas Henderson, a senior political science and international relations major, said he thought the speech was characteristic of a Texan and showed a marked contrast to Washington, D.C. He said he liked how Bush used individuals in the audience during the speech.

“I liked how the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia was sitting next to Laura Bush. It was a nod to the Democratic base and Bush’s rhetoric of being bi-partisan,” Henderson said.

Kasey Feldman
k.l.feldman@student.tcu.edu