David Gergen
David Gergen
David Richmond Gergenis an American political commentator and former presidential advisor who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a Senior Political Analyst for CNN and a Professor of Public Service and Co-Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen is also the former Editor-at-Large of U.S. News and World Report and a contributor to CNN.com and Parade Magazine. He has twice been a member...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Show Host
Date of Birth9 May 1942
CountryUnited States of America
Why a White House that was so adept in most of the first term has misjudged two or three big calls in its second term it's puzzling.
For a two-term president after the November elections in the middle of your second term, things start going downhill and you really do start quacking like a duck.
There's a tendency after you win your second term to think you're invulnerable. You're not just king of the mountain, you've mastered the mountain. That can often lead to mistakes of excessive pride.
Don't just listen to the lawyers. You know in your heart it's time to get this behind you, avoid the nightmare of more proceedings up on the Hill.
That would give you protection against Democratic attacks and restore bipartisan spirit.
I think he still has time to recover politically, and I think it's likely he will. He's good at this. You'll see a better Bush during the next few days, in charge and compassionate. But if he doesn't, there's going to be a serious political price to pay.
I think he has to calibrate it very carefully. The White House says it is going to be a very optimistic speech. But I think people are not feeling very optimistic at the moment.
You can agree or disagree with Ronald Reagan's policies, his conservatism. I was less conservative than he was, but if you add it all up, I believe he ranked as the best leader we've had in the White House since Franklin Roosevelt, and that's saying a lot.
You can agree or disagree with Ronald Reagan's policies, his conservatism.
Win or lose, he realized that it was going to be very difficult to govern and that the better part of valor was to step aside.
I still think this president would be served by having someone fresh come in. It would be a matter of making room at the table.
What you're seeing in the East Wing is normal turnover, and what you're seeing in the West Wing is abnormal. It's an aberration to have a team stay as long as this one has.
He (Rove) is the president's right arm, as we all know. And the president's in a deep hole and it's very hard to climb out of a hole without your right arm.
On 9/11, we were attacked by an enemy?. But there's no foreign enemy here. There's nobody to blame.