Though College Democrats brought George Stephanopoulos to Northwestern, his prediction of Republican victory in the 2004 presidential election appealed mostly to their opposition.
Speaking to a nearly packed crowd at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Stephanopoulos, President Clinton’s senior adviser, was pessimistic about the Democratic party’s chances of retaking the White House in 2004.
“It looks like we are coming out of the recession,” Stephanopoulos said. “Wages are starting to go up. Productivity is starting to go up. Generally if you look at polls across the country people respect President Bush even when people don’t agree with his policies. He has an amazingly strong hold on the Republican party. He’s not going to have a primary opponent. I think when you add all that up it puts President Bush in a very strong position going into the next election.”
Stephanopoulos said he expects the campaign will occur during a good economy and that national security will be the biggest campaign issue, something Democrats classically have had a hard time with. He was especially discouraged by front-runner Howard Dean’s campaign based on antiwar outrage, believing Americans will prefer Republican optimism.
“I was meeting with Bush officials today, ” Stephanopoulos said, “and they were salivating to run against Howard Dean so they can accuse him of raising taxes.”
Despite his doubts about Dean, Stephanopoulos did not express confidence in any other primary candidates.
He said Gen. Wesley Clark has lost support because he lacks a defined platform, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was hurt by waffling on the war issue; Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is seen as too old; and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., is too young. He added that Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., originally polled high but hasn’t been able to excite Democrats or raise money.
Stephanopoulos stressed that circumstances could still change in the next year, giving the example of the elder Bush’s extreme popularity in 1991, a year before he was defeated by Clinton. He also was hesitant to commit to the idea that America was undergoing a conservative realignment.
During the question and answer period, Stephanopoulos discussed his experience as a journalist covering Sept. 11, 2001, which he called the scariest moment in his life.
“I got on the subway and we got within one stop of the station and it stopped and went black,” Stephanopoulos said. “We had no idea what was going on. What was happening was the towers were falling. They finally moved us one station west and we all got out. It looked like nuclear winter. You couldn’t see five feet in front of your face.”
Audience members at Stephanopoulos’ speech were divided about its impact.
Weinberg junior Christian Hung said he appreciated the speech as a summary of current political issues.
“I thought it was great in the sense that it’s easy not to watch the news in college,” Hung said. “I didn’t know so much about the upcoming election until hearing this speech.”
But Malena Amusa, a Medill sophomore, said she was disappointed by the lack of complex analysis.
“I felt as though he logged online and gave us some facts without drawing the connection,” said Amusa, a former Daily reporter. “He didn’t give us any facts that I hadn’t heard before.”
