First Tate lecture series features decorated journalsits

By Rachael Morgan
SMU Daily Update Political Reporter

The Tate Lecture Series kicked off last night with news analyst and former White House advisor David Gergen moderating for George Stephanopoulos from ABC's "This Week with George Stehpanopoulos" and Jim Lehrer from PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

The focus during the Turner Student Forum and Tate Lecture was on the 2008 campaign and the current state of politics.

Stephanopoulos used history to predict a democratic win for the presidential race and the improvement made on Hillary Clinton’s image.

Before the student forum, Stephanopoulos commented that Clinton’s campaign has been “flawless” for the past eight or nine months. He also admits that despite any past conflicts he and Clinton have shared he has become a "close student" of her campaign.

In the student forum, he openly admits to being a Democrat. Yet he strives to keep himself in check and makes sure both sides are treated fairly.

When asked if the perception of media bias is true, Jim Lehrer said, “It comes with the territory, because if you report a negative news story of a Republican they will think you're biased and the same would happen if you report a negative story of a Democrat.”

Lehrer said that most of the reporters he has worked with are honest and unbiased, and when they don't get a story right, it is because "it's hard to get it right" and not usually because of their biases.

Gergen and Stephanopoulos were both former White House advisors and worked together for a year and a half. They spoke on having to deal with the political "spin" that comes from the White House.

Stephanopoulos views his work in the White House and on Capitol Hill as great training ground for his interviews. He says he is able to “push past the spin” and it enables him to know the tricks politicians will use in their discussions. He sees this as a great advantage.

Gergen also commented on the interesting irony of the “spin.”

“You resent the spin when you are on the outside,” Gergen said. “But it can make you fall into the trap of doing more than you would have liked to when you are on the inside.”

The political spin is not the only problem between the White House and the press. Lehrer has covered many elections and presidencies, and gave some insight into the relationship between the press and the White House.

"All press-presidential White House relationships are difficult," Lehrer said. "When you have bad news, the people who report that news are the enemy. And there's been a lot of bad news in the Bush Administration the last few years."

Some recent bad news has been long-term aides leaving the White House. In less than six months Joshua Bolton has replaced former Chief of Staff Andy Card, former federal justice Michael Mukasey has been nominated to replace former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and both Karl Rove and Tony Snow have resigned.

"I think it's been unfortunate for the president to lose so many people in this last year, because he still has some important work to do," said Gergen.

Gergen says the success of a presidency depends on more than one person. It is in the mix of people and the team that you get great advice and “the magic happens.”

Stephanopoulos also commented that every president needs advisors who "can speak straight to them, and make sure that the president hears all sides of an argument."

"The great presidents are those that can tolerate that kind of diversity, that kind of disagreement and make good judgments after they hear all sides," said Stephanopoulos.


Mitch and Linda Hart sponsored the first of eight Tate lecture series for the 2007-2008 academic year. The next lecture will be with business analyst Marcus Buckingham on October 16th.