A President of All the People

In the grand scheme of things, and particularly in a critical election year, the issue of presidential audiences is probably not of the greatest importance. Except that where and to whom a president speaks tells us a lot about how he views his relationship to the people he is oath-bound to serve. Before we see the last of the incumbent president, I hope someone takes the trouble to review all the public speeches the president, and for that matter the vice-president, and for that matter the entire cabinet, have given and the nature of the audiences to whom they spoke. The point is simple: this administration's officials from the top down do not speak to general audiences representing a cross-section of the American people.

This Bush administration has systematically, and cynically, chosen to speak only to audiences whose acceptance and acceptability are guaranteed. Without any research whatsoever, and based only on observation of the staged backdrops to presidential and other speeches, I am willing to wager that George W. Bush and virtually his entire cabinet have never, during this entire administration, spoken in a forum whose doors were open to all.

Think back. Can you remember a presidential speech where the audience was not hand-picked? My guess is this paranoid manipulation and hand-selection of favorable audiences dates to the second Nixon administration, where the president became so unpopular he could not appear before ordinary Americans. This, of course, was also the period that gave rise to the Cheney-Rumsfeld, Addington-Yoo, blue state-red state carving up of America into us versus them and the anti-Constitutional "unitary executive" imperial consolidation of power.

If you are out to set up an imperial presidency and an imperial foreign policy, you are probably well advised to speak only to audiences of carefully selected robotic ditto-heads, those who surrendered objectivity, critical judgment, and reflective thought a long time ago and who will chant "stay the course" and "support the president" every time stage manager Rove flashes the cue. But if you still believe, as I do, that we live under a Constitutional government where are leaders are elected to serve all the people under a system of checks and balances and are to be held accountable in every regard to the people they serve, then we should demand leaders with the courage to face all their constituents on all occasions and address all relevant issues of the day.

By the way, I also don't recall even one press story in the past seven years calling into question this undemocratic practice of imperial audience staging.

Comments

[deminmo]

Bush and Chaney can't afford to have someone
ask them real questions they haven't cleared.

No one in Washington has the balls to ask
those questions either.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

I'm a big fan of your blog postings, Senator Hart, and personally I can't hear questions like these being asked enough by people that matter.

Here's a key to the quandry of why no one in the main stream is willing to put the preznutz on the spot about 'hand-picked' audiences... "$$$$$$$$$$$$$"!

If you're a main-stream media outlet, it's only smart marketing to make sure the President 'to be' already KNOWS those networks that're willing to 'play ball', because the ultimate prize is HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in campaign advertising revenues, and then greater access on the back-end. Being even slightly hostile to a sitting preznutz WILL be noticed by ALL front running candidates, and then a network runs the risk of losing campaign ad monies from tham ALL, and also to be frozen out of the 'inner circle' for exclusives.

I don't KNOW this through personal experience, but it seems logical and makes a bit of Madison Avenue (dollars and) $en$e.

[Collielady]

Not only have the audiences been staged, but strategic questions from those audiences have been asked by people staged to ask the questions.

It's all symbolic of a staged presidency and an administration who were put in power, not to lead, but to undermine democracy and steal the people's treasury.

[Grit]

This government was never a democracy. It is a republic. If it were a true democracy we would be voting on everything that congress is voting on now. So we have people that represent us that we elect. or so they say. It would be nice if they actually did represent us wouldn't it.
Does anyone remember in the vote recount of 2000 in Florida the screaming line of people on each side of the walkway that the vote counters had to take to go to work? That as it turned out were all republican aides flown in from D.C. at taxpayer expense. That might be Bush's first hand picked supporters.

[libertyanne]

I remember when Clinton Came to Denver when I lived there. It was 1992 and we still lived in America as we think we knew it.
There were BUSH signs among the crowd. Nobody got arrested and nobody tried to tear anybody's sign down. This was outside near the City and County Building and I could get close enough with my film camera to get good
photos and nobody hassled me at all.
Those days are gone forever,

[coloradolover]

What I am wondering now is whether the current candidates running for office are doing the same thing, at least when one of their speeches is televised. Whenever a candidate is speaking now he/she is almost always standing in front of a group of people carefully staged in bleacher type sitting. Often there are people in uniforms of some kind...it appears that the Bush/Rove staging has filtered now to everyone. Kerry did the same thing. The audience may not be hand selected, but the people sitting in the bleachers behind the speakers appear to be.

[StaroftheSea]

Doesn't look so good and might disturb the sleeping giant, if viewers and attenders actually saw what their fellow and sister citizens were so upset about, and the lies, distortions and manipulations that the MSM colludes with daily. Can't have that sleeping giant waking up...no....that would not be good at all. But you know what, the sleeping giant is waking up in any case, just alittle bit more slowly than most of us wish, and even fear may be too late.

[Kirby]

He's got his head in an armageddon's anal cavity. Small wonder that he picks his audiences!

Were it not for the fact that the powers which really pull the strings over us all don't want the U. S. weakened overall by a congressional impeachment, we would have been finished with Mister Gestapo and Mr. Preemption (the same) a some time ago. Their oncern is that a thus "weakened" U. S. would signify an Israel not protected by this idiot.

[hootie1fan]

"This Bush administration has systematically, and cynically, chosen to speak only to audiences whose acceptance and acceptability are guaranteed."

It's a pretty small audience.

[Cole]

In the workup to the first big big taxgiveback which woud go to mostly wealthy backers, the question was asked "Who speaks for.." --there was a speaker for the poor, a speaker for the middle class and who spoke "for the rich"--
W bush came foreward and said "I speak for the wealthy".

[JRAM]

The strange thing is that this ultra-control mentality is often the flip side of extreme insecurity. But this is more than I get to be quarterback because I have the football. This game has turned quite deadly, and the correspondent ripples of negative consequence will continue for years. What ever happened to putting our leaders under the hot lights, asking them tough questions, and challenging them to critical thought?

[Dangoodbar]

We also need to look at the people who are in Bush's audiences when he speaks. The majority of these people are consciously supporting policies that shaft someone else instead of policies that help them. That is the people Bush speaks to want to hear how to prevent other people from being helped and not how they themselves are being hurt or can be helped.

Hence the issue of universal health care is not what it will do for me but rather will it provide coverage to illegal immigrants.

[DoctorDoctor]

You missed the "free-speach zones". You know, where they put those who show up without an engraved invitation to greet members of this administration. Did I mention that these "free-speach zones" are put so far from the visiting dignitary that they can't be seen, much less photographed for the nightly news.

[realistic2008]

And let US not forget his cherry picking words of wisdom when it comes to preaching fear and war mongering.

Here is a president that selects for us, enemies du jour and one who can't even walk on the streets of his own land because is despised here and everywhere with exception of of his corporate cheerleaders.

Gary I would like to know if you think sooner or later Bush and his blood thirsty compadres should be tried for crimes against the whole humanity.

Best regards most distinguished fellow American.

[campaignman]

Gary,

Right on! Your voice is invaluable. I urge everyone to read Naomi Wolf's new book, The End of America, which describes what it would take to change our nation from a democracy to a tyranny and how close we are right now. It's eye-opening!