The Presidency in Black and White by April Ryan

Author:April Ryan [Ryan, April]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2017-06-07T04:00:00+00:00

6

President Bush

High drama ushered in the George W. Bush Administration, and the newsworthy thrills remained constant for most of his eight years in office. The government scenes played out on the world stage covering various topics and issues, and matters of color were included. The spectacle began in the political fight over who would become the nation’s forty-third President, with Al Gore chasing what he thought was his and then–Texas Governor George W. Bush staking claim to the title of Commander in Chief at the same time. To say the nation was divided could be considered the ultimate understatement. As a White House journalist, I had a bird’s-eye view of the political firestorm that was brewing.

That November 2000 night, the Nashville press filing center was jammed with reporters waiting to pen quotes from either a victory or a concession speech. Instead, we pulled an all-nighter, waiting for Al Gore’s decision not to go down without a fight. It was an office he had been groomed for since childhood, following in his father, Senator Al Gore Sr.’s, footsteps in the family business. Politics.

Suddenly, a loud scream went out over the spacious, overcrowded room. Gore aide and supporter Anne Edwards elatedly said, “Did I hear it right? They called Florida for Gore?” This was one of those news stories where the “facts” seemed to keep changing. We would get a tip that would later be contradicted by another, supposedly more reliable tip. It was chaos as everyone realized that the country’s direction would be affected by this outcome, one that seemed to be teetering indefinitely.

Later that evening, unsure of the time, we worked to get news on Al Gore’s thoughts in the midst of the news frenzy. Change happened at breakneck speed. A pall fell over the Gore Nashville campaign headquarters camp like a drawn shade. ABC News took the state of Florida, a huge political “get,” out of the Gore win column. The wound was swift and fatal. That night was the beginning of weeks of questions about the election and confusion over the forty-third presidency of this country. We now know the outcome. It was not a textbook finish by any means, but it is certainly something for the annals of history. “W” got it.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of the few African Americans with a presidential pedigree who was once thought of as presidential material, contends, “You gotta win an election, and I don’t say that flippantly.” For weeks the nation was divided and held in limbo as we pondered, How did we end up in a “tie”? Why wasn’t there a clear winner? What exactly does it take to reach the highest office? Powell’s winning formula: “You have a combination of intelligence, character and synchronization with the thinking of the American people at the time that you are running for office. A synchronization where you can capture their hopes and their fears and their ambitions and their dreams and become one of them and one with them so that they will elect you.

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