Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Emotion v. Logic

Wednesday January 24, 2007

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Dear Mr. Mullings

Being an officially designated Talking Head in Washington, DC, I am charged with taking astonishingly complex issues and reducing them to 43 second sound bites.

Thus, I can reduce a seven hour, thirty seven minute, 19 second State of the Union address to the following:

These speeches are not about what a President says; they are about how the public perceives the President as he delivers it.

Every polling firm on the planet released its results on the current status of the President's Administration. For the polls which came out of the field on January 18th or later, the highest number was 36%. The lowest - CBS' poll - was 28%.

All those who are surprised that CBS arranged a poll which had the lowest approval rating for a Republican President, raise hands. No one? Hmmmm.

When I worked for Speaker Gingrich and watched a number of State of the Union addresses by President Clinton, I can remember sitting in the Speaker's suite and listening to the policy initiatives: "That's never going to pass;" or "That doesn't make any sense;" or "That will never fly," we would say.

But in our guts we knew he was nailing the speech. That his demeanor, his bearing, his � Presidentiality - a new word - was such that the people watching the speech understood that Bill Clinton had his hand on the tiller of the ship of state and, even if they faded out during the policy stuff, they were confident in his leadership.

I think President Bush reached the same point last night. I had read the policy points starting mid-afternoon. And, as I mentioned, sat through a live briefing late in the afternoon.

But it was the beginning of the speech, when he congratulated Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats and the end of the speech, when he talked about the people in the guest section and why they were important, that I thought he did his best.

At the beginning of his speech President Bush said, "Tonight, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own, as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: 'Madam Speaker'."

The President - in a section which was not included in the advance test - then pointed out that the late Congressman Thomas d'Alessandro Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland, had sat in the House chamber and listened to State of the Union addresses by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

"But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives," the President said. "Congratulations, Madam Speaker."

At the end of the speech, the introduction of the guest which made my eyes tear up was this:

Three weeks ago, Wesley Autrey was waiting at a Harlem subway station with his two little girls when he saw a man fall into the path of a train. With seconds to act, Wesley jumped onto the tracks ... pulled the man into a space between the rails ... and held him as the train passed right above their heads.
He insists he's not a hero. Wesley says: "We got guys and girls overseas dying for us to have our freedoms. We got to show each other some love." There is something wonderful about a country that produces a brave and humble man like Wesley Autrey.

Mr. Autrey stood up and waved to the Members of the House, Senators, Diplomatic Corps, Members of the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staffs and other guests - clearly enjoying the moment which we enjoyed along with him.

People who are interested in politics think it is an undertaking of logic: If I make my case well enough you will ultimately agree with my position and/or vote for my candidate.

Professionals understand that logic has little to do with it. Politics is an endeavor of emotions, not logic.

It is important that Americans liked what they saw in the President last night; not what they heard from the President last night.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the pre-game briefing package; a link to this week's "Dear Mr. Mullings"; a Mullfoto which I thought was amusing (and you probably will not) and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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