The Obama administration's biggest challenge this year is implementing the stimulus package to create jobs, get credit flowing and solve the mortgage crisis, political commentator David Gergen said last night in a speech at Wake Forest University.
Gergen a senior political analyst for CNN, told about 1,600 people at Wait Chapel that he expects Congress to push through the more than $800 billion stimulus package within 10 days.
"It is going to pass," he said. "The big question is, is it going to work? I don't know the answer to that."
Gergen's appearance was presented by the WFU's Voices of Our Time series and the university's political-science department. His speech will be aired on UNC-TV , starting on March 1. Excerpts of his speech will be broadcast tonight on UNC-TV's North Carolina Now.
For 30 years, Gergen has worked as a commentator, editor, teacher, author and adviser to four U.S. presidents.
A native of Durham, he served as director of communications for President Reagan and worked in the administrators of Presidents Nixon and Ford. For 18 months, he first served President Clinton as a counselor on foreign policy and domestic affairs, and then as a special international adviser to Clinton and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Gergen, 66, is a professor of public service and the director of the Center of Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is also editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report and a member of the board of trustees of Duke University and the Morehouse College Leadership Institute.
Gergen graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1963. He received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1967. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, and he served 3½ years in the Navy.
During his nearly one-hour speech, Gergen also discussed how Barack Obama won the presidency by appealing to many Hispanic and young voters. He compared Obama to Clinton and contrasted their personalities and styles of leadership.
Gergen also portrayed Obama as a president who is facing a deeply partisan political culture in Washington.
Gergen said that voters elected Obama because they wanted change, and that Obama "ran a superior campaign."
Obama and his "talented" political team will need to use their skills and intellect to lead the country out of the recession, Gergen said.
He suggested that Obama should appoint some chief executives to his administration to make sure that stimulus money is spent wisely and to avoid missteps that may allow it to be wasted or misspent.
Some economists, Gergen said, argue that the stimulus package may not be big enough to cure an ailing national economy that might need $1 trillion a year for the next three years.
"We may have more stimulus packages in the future," he said.
Selling Wall Street investors on the benefits of the stimulus package may be another challenge.
Yesterday, after the U.S. Senate voted 61-37 in favor of the stimulus package, the major stock indexes fell more than 4 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 382 points.
"It was a big blow," Gergen said. "It is a struggle."
He said that Americans, regardless if they are Democrats or Republicans, need to give the Obama administration patience and time to fix the nation's woes.
"It is time for us to lighten up a bit," Gergen said. "Americans should show some citizenship."
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or jhinton@wsjournal.com.
■ The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement