Word: gergen
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Moving to shore up his shaky White House staff, Clinton hired former Reagan communications chief David Gergen and transferred George Stephanopoulos to a new post. Gergen, a Republican, is expected to become Clinton's new spokesman. The shift came at the end of a week in which the White House tried to recover from a string of political gaffes. After dismissing seven travel-office workers for alleged mismanagement and then inappropriately calling in the FBI, the White House reinstated five of them within days. The President also denied charges that his Administration has "gone Hollywood" and apologized for tying...
Three months ago, Bill Clinton was being compared to Ronald Reagan as a master of political communications. Now with all his troubles in Congress and the nation, Clinton has called in the Great Communicator's communicator to help. Journalist David Gergen, who served Reagan as communications director and helped sell Reaganomics to the voters, will soon be trying to do the same thing for Clintonomics. Gergen replaces George Stephanopoulos, who, along with press secretary Dee Dee Myers, has seen life turn decidedly sour...
...need the press anymore." That feeling was apparently shared by others. Practically the first thing Stephanopoulos did after occupying his West Wing office was to order reporters kept out of it unless they had an appointment. No presidential spokesperson had ever tried such a thing before, and last weekend Gergen said he would consider reversing the order. The Clinton White House also had its end-run press strategy, whereby Clinton used talk shows and electronic town meetings, rather than dreary old press conferences with the dreary old national press corps, to commune with the people. To aggravate things further, Stephanopoulos...
After a week of desperately seeking advice on how best to right his troubled Administration, Clinton turned to an unexpected source for help: a Republican. On Saturday he tapped David Gergen, a veteran of the Nixon and Reagan White Houses, to join his staff. Gergen, a commentator, replaces communications director George Stephanopoulos as Clinton's top spokesman, and is expected to help Clinton emphasize the moderate, centrist themes on which he campaigned. Even this decision was made in typical Clinton fashion: without much warning, late at night, and with a last-minute O.K. from Hillary Rodham Clinton. In an interview...
That has been painfully apparent in the past two weeks. To build on the House victory, say senior Democrats and many Cabinet officials, Clinton must quickly reshuffle his White House. Gergen's arrival is a curious first step in that direction. Whether a Reagan Republican, even one moderated by years on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, can effectively lead a band of young, fiercely partisan White House communications operatives is far from certain. Gergen says he is "convinced" Clinton wants to "run a bipartisan government." But other than Gergen's appointment itself, there has been scant evidence of any commitment...