We are comm. - Fall 2008

Press Secretaries Talk Debate, Strategy and Politics
by Claire Sojda

Since Hofstra students arrived on campus for the start of their classes this fall there has been a feeling of excitement and chaos all around. This was of course due to the once in a life time opportunity that Hofstra University was given when they were chosen as the site for the third and final Presidential Debate. Students on campus were given a variety of ways to become included in the debate. Some of these opportunities were comprised of becoming a student volunteer, becoming an advocate for one of the candidates, or just becoming involved in the assortment of events and activities that took place on campus throughout the semester as part of Educate ’08: Dialogue, Democracy, and the ’08 Debates.

One of the most popular events held as part of Educate ‘08 was the speaking event with Ari Fleisher and Dee Dee Myers. Fleisher was the press secretary for President George W. Bush from January 2001 to July 2003. Myers was the press secretary for President Bill Clinton from January 1993 to December 1994. The event gave the University a chance to hear the opinions, predictions and views of two political figures only a week before the election was to take place. At the beginning both Fleisher and Myers were given time to speak separately. They then sat down opposite each other to answer questions that were asked by audience members. Since Fleisher prides himself on being a republican and Myers prides herself on being a democrat a lot of what they expressed were contrary to each other. There was one prediction that they both agreed on; that Barack Obama was going to win the election and become the next President of the United States. As we know now they were both correct. But of course just because they agreed on that point, did not mean that they both supported him.

Both speakers tried to balance their speeches by including humor and their honest opinions about the election and the government right now. Fleisher started his speech by jokingly admitting to the audience that he was raised a liberal democrat to which the audience responded with a lot of laughter and even some clapping. He went on to add that his father once said that “its better that he became a republican than a drug dealer… but not by much.” He went on to talk about his views regarding the election that was about to take place between Barack Obama and John McCain. In humor he declared to the audience that “if the democrats don’t win in 2008 they need to stop trying”. Some of his reasons for his view included that as of right now the current president, George W. Bush who is a republican only has a 27% approval rating, and that a record breaking 85% say that right now the country is on the wrong track. As a result the number of people in the United States who consider themselves to be republicans has dropped while the number who consider themselves to be democrats has risen.

Myers started her speech with a joke as well. She explained to the audience that she lived the opposite life of Fleisher, “I had a republican father who sent me to a Jesuit University and I came out a raging liberal!” She went on to talk about the ways that this presidential election was different from previous ones. The primary point that she made was the length of this election. This election has been going on longer than any other in history. Candidates started declaring their intentions to run almost two whole years before the election was going to take place. She compared the election to a ballgame in its 18th inning. For a laugh Myers added “but its 1:30 in the morning, they stopped selling beer three hours ago and we just want to go home!” She went on to admit that although this election has been particularly long we have discovered that candidates like Barak Obama who get involved early can gain the advantage.