Sorensen and Safire take center stage at State of the Union forum

Volume One, Issue 17, January 19 - 25, 2007

Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel

A sell-out audience of more than 400 people listen attentively to Ted Sorensen and William Safire at Tuesday’s State-of-the-Union gathering sponsored by Generation Engage at Marble Collegiate Church, in Chelsea.

By Jefferson Siegel

Like most U.S. citizens, many young adults in their teens and 20s suffer political discourse with eye-glazing interest. Tomorrow’s potential leaders are more likely drawn to music, blogs and YouTube.

And while it is possible to spur democracy through an iPod with the advent of Podcasts and other distributed technology, a group of activists called Generation Engage is attempting to go one better by holding live public forums in which young people can actively participate.

On Tuesday night, Generation Engage made good on its mission by hosting a “State of Our Union” dialogue at Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Ave. and 29th St. in Chelsea.
The evening consisted of a 75-minute discussion with New York Times columnist William

Safire and former presidential speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, followed by a screening of President Bush’s State of the Union speech.

“Our target demographic is 18 to 29, young people who are disconnected from the political process,” said Jason Page, Generation Engage’s outreach coordinator, before the program. “Most of our events cater to a group that is sorely neglected by more mainstream media sources.”

The Church’s pews were filled with a large number of young faces, as well as a collage of old-line activists, policy wonks and those seeking an alternative to talk-show scream-fests.

In welcoming the crowd, Rev. David Lewicki, the associate Minister of Marble Church, said, “Young people want to know that the meaning of life is an open-ended conversation.”

Page, acting as moderator, expanded on that theme. “We believe young people don’t suffer from a lack of interest; they suffer from a lack of dialogue,” he offered.

A large projection screen that would later be used to show the president’s address first displayed views of simultaneous gatherings in Richmond, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., where smaller groups of young adults also waited to pose questions to the two famous participants.

Although Safire’s presence raised the potential not only for lively discourse but potential conflict, Tuesday’s audience remained mostly placid, sitting politely through a series of civics-class-level questions.

Safire had been a speechwriter for Richard Nixon before embarking on a career in journalism. In 1972, two years before Nixon’s resignation, the Times hired Safire as a columnist for its new Op-Ed pages. At the time, many blasted the development as a concession to far-right ideology and the death of reputable journalism.

Safire opened the room, invoking quotes from recent presidents as he searched for the key “word” commonly used to describe each State of the Union address. The crowd found humor in Gerald Ford’s assessment that “the State of the Union is not good,” and roared with laughter at George Bush’s recent declaration—recounted by Safire—that despite “terrible conditions, the State of the Union has never been stronger.”

Sorensen, who was special counsel to President John F. Kennedy in addition to being his speechwriter, admitted his differences with Safire and diplomatically quoted President Kennedy’s belief that “Civility is not a sign of weakness.” The two then fielded a series of questions that included: Could presidential advisers affect policy agendas? Is China a threat? How do you get young people excited about politics?

One of the few meaty queries concerned whether President Bush should address the growing anti-war sentiment.

“Of course he has to,” Safire replied before turning his focus to the Democrats, who he predicted would pass a non-binding resolution on the conduct of the war. “Continue the war, because it’s a war on terror,” Safire added, though he admitted he, like the Democrats, was “disappointed with the conduct of the war.”

Responding to Safire in a somewhat scholarly tone, Sorensen said, “Bush must not repeat words that are false on Iraq.” (The next day the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a non-binding resolution opposing the troop build-up; it goes before the full Senate next week.)

Questions on teen literacy, employment and South America came next.

By this point, audience reaction had been limited to laughter and applause until a benign question on the influence of the Internet on sound-bites prompted Safire to declare, “There is a Trumanesque quality to George W. Bush.”

A lady sitting near the front practically gasped out the words, “Oh, please!” Several in the audience attempted to restore decorum with an exhalation of “shushes,” but the critic had only begun to fight. Turning to those behind her, she retorted, “You know nothing about Truman!”

Page, who was moderating, suggested that the woman was welcome to register her views on the Generation Engage Web site, but she had other plans. “I’d rather confront Mr. Safire and his lies in person,” she retorted.

A burst of sympathy applause sounded for Safire’s tolerance of the interruption, ultimately suggesting the audience did indeed know little about Harry S. Truman’s penchant for frank talk.

The pair returned to questions on women in politics and partisanship on Capitol Hill. Sorensen offered his view on the differences between the parties, saying that “Republicans always cared more about property, and Democrats always cared more about people.”

Safire cordially shot back: “The Democrats have also cared about slogans.”

To a question on health care, Safire’s literal reply that a new health plan would soon cover many more uninsured people prompted Sorensen to reply, “New proposals aren’t helpful, and helpful proposals aren’t new.”

Many in the audience had come to hear a knowledgeable, measured palaver on politics, however, not bickering between luminaries.

Sorensen practically beamed when asked a substantive question on current events, but he shot back wryly, “Sure, I’ll take that question, but very quick, please. I don’t want to miss this important, eloquent address,” as the president’s face filled the large screen and the audience settled in for the speech.

“I’ve lived a long life,” he continued after the laughs died down, “and this is the most dangerous, incompetent, reckless president we’ve ever had during my lifetime.” He paused for effect, adding, “I didn’t live during Buchanan.”

Safire was then asked if his hiring by the Times inspired and legitimized the current flock of “fair and balanced” talk shows, blogs and even a cable news channel.

“When he hired me, Punch Sulzberger said, ‘I want to bring a different point of view to the Op-Ed page.’ That’s what I’ve brought and had the freedom to do that for three decades,” Safire replied.

Asked if the administration was likely to continue on its current path, Sorensen then said, “I’m very worried that they’re going to compound the Iraq mistakes in Iran. That will really be dangerous.”

Of 9/11 and the resultant attack on Iraq, Sorensen’s measured tone took on a bit of agitation. “As an expert on Osama bin Laden told me once, neither Osama nor Saddam Hussein celebrate Christmas. But the United States certainly gave Osama a great Christmas present in getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and they hated each other.”

As Bush began talking on the massive screen in the Church sanctuary, he seemed oblivious to the country’s overwhelming dissatisfaction with his job performance.

The President’s poll numbers are hovering around the level Safire’s former boss endured when Watergate took its toll on the nation and forced Nixon’s resignation.

Another number Bush seemed unaware of was 3,062—the number of American soldiers who have died in Iraq—as he quibbled to a joint session of Congress, “This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in.”

Marble Collegiate Church has attached thousands of fluttering ribbons on its exterior gates, each representing a life lost in Iraq and a prayer for peace. On Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. the Church will hold a memorial to coincide with the start of the war four years ago. To the sound of contemplative music, the names of the dead will scroll across the same screen Bush appeared on. A prayer vigil will follow the memorial.