It had the unmistakable if indefinable aura of virtuality. A virtual inauguration, a virtual parade, a virtual speech, and perhaps our first Virtual President. George W. Bush took office on a gray and rainy Washington day which the nation, like it or not, got to share through television.
All the trappings of Inauguration Day were there and yet, as viewed on TV, it had the aspect of the unreal, a mirage quality heightened by the fact that some shots of the capital were through rain-splashed camera lenses, making live news pictures look like impressionist watercolors.
At about a minute past noon, Bush took the oath of office and proceeded to deliver his little speech, a bland and unambitious speech heavy on biblical references. A man who has pledged to unite us had his speech bracketed by clergymen who spoke not in ecumenical generalities but specifically of "Jesus Christ."
Bush did make passing reference to synagogues and mosques in his address, however, and some commentators did see the speech as something of a reaching out to all those millions who did not vote for him. Dan Rather generously called the address "well-crafted," saying of his fellow Texan's speech that there were "moments where it soared and none, I can recall, where it dragged."
It didn't seem to get much response from the crowd on hand, however, perhaps because their spirits along with the rest of them were literally dampened by a persistent dismal drizzle. Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, on the Fox News Channel (FNC), conceded there was "less applause than usual" for this sort of thing but said she managed to divine "an almost palpable sense of the audience listening." Peggy's going psychic on us.
A great approving roar did greet Bush's pledge to "reduce taxes," however. "Yeah," said FNC anchor Brit Hume, "that brought cheering rather than mere applause." Hume seems to be mellowing and showing less pro-Bush partisanship even though he now works for blatantly biased Fox News. He even had a kind word or two to say about Al Gore.
Of course this was not only a day in which we ushered in a new president, it was a day for ushering out an old one -- an old one who didn't want to be ushered. With almost jubilant gall, Bill Clinton held onto that spotlight as long as he could and then maybe just a bit longer. Deprived of a departure into the heavens in a helicopter -- as Ronald and Nancy Reagan memorably left us at the end of Reagan's second term -- the Clintons were forced by weather to travel by motorcade to Andrews Air Force Base.
Once there, what to our wondering eyes should appear but a great big "Bye Bye, Billy" party in a hangar, with military bands and loyal cronies from the Clinton administration like Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright and former Virginia Sen. Chuck Robb.
Clinton drank in the applause and sucked up the love. Bush's big day had become another installment of what's being called the Clinton Farewell Tour. He's doing more encores than his friend Barbra Streisand. NBC's Tom Brokaw marveled at Clinton's telegenic prowess and his genius as a speechmaker. "He sometimes went on a tad too long, but the country never tired of it," Brokaw said.
"I left the White House, but I'm still here," Clinton said exultantly, like a character in George W. Bush's Worst Nightmare. He summoned a mantra he'd made up earlier in the day with a colleague: "We did a lot of good, we did a lot of good." Of course the crowd cheered wildly, more wildly than anybody had cheered Bush's speech. A sign held aloft said "Please Don't Go." (Might Bill have had that one commissioned himself?)
To the hangarful of supporters, Clinton said, "You gave me the ride of my life, and I tried to give as good as I got." Oh this guy's gonna go gentle into that good night. Surrrre he is.
He'll pop up on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" or "Who Wants to Marry an Ex-President" or, appropriately, "Survivor," but he'll definitely pop up.
What did Rather say about this gala Clinton performance (a command performance in that Clinton commanded himself to give it)? He said nothing about that because CBS, alone among the networks, had abruptly pulled up stakes and cut away from the Clinton farewell, which really was one of the most unusual and amusing events of the day. NBC was there, ABC was there, CNN was there, even C-SPAN was there, but CBS was not there. Insiders said the decision to cut away was another boneheaded move by Andrew Heyward, the CBS News president who last summer declared political conventions boring and cut CBS coverage back to a whisper.
But Al Ortiz, executive producer of special events, was willing to take the fall for Heyward. Reached in New York, Ortiz said CBS had a contractual agreement to carry an NCAA basketball game and that if the network had stayed at Andrews, its Inauguration Day coverage would have ended on a Clinton note instead of a Bush note.
CBS viewers missed virtually the whole amazing display, one that naturally included hug upon hug upon hug. One could scoff, and marvel at how Clintonesque Clinton was being right up to -- and after -- the end, but it was probably the second-most emotional moment of the day.
The most emotional moment was when NBC alertly zoomed in on the eyes of Bush after he took the oath of office and discovered tears there. "I may break down in tears," Bush had predicted in a "Today" show interview on NBC. He didn't really break down but the appearance of just a couple tears somehow made him seem more human, more promising -- and less virtual.
People waiting for Bush to misspeak or utter some Bushian malaprop were disappointed. But this being live TV, even the TV professionals had their little tussles with the English language. A local Washington reporter covering the parade declared America to have reached "the end of an area." Earlier, over a shot of Al Gore walking through a Capitol hallway on his way to the ceremony, CBS's John Roberts said, "This must be a bittersweet moment for him." Bittersweet? Where pray tell was the sweet part?
"It has to be more bitter than sweet," the alert Rather said soon after.
Reporting from Pennsylvania Avenue, part of the parade route, CBS's Phil Jones noted the presence of cops lined up within reach of one another on both sides of the street. "They are there for security purposes," he said. No, really?
Rather, who got into a very famous on-air imbroglio with George H.W. Bush during Bush's campaign against Clinton, must have gotten a certain satisfaction from now being able to refer to his cranky old nemesis as "George Bush the elder." During coverage of the ceremony itself, one camera fogged up, giving some shots a "Twilight Zone" kind of mistiness. Not much could be done to correct it, although FNC viewers much earlier saw a hand with a tissue reach in front of a lens to defog a camera on that network. With the Cable News Network in embarrassing disarray -- ratings wobbly and executives being tossed out onto the streets -- the folks at Fox have a great opportunity to seize the lead in all-news cable TV. Indeed, they have managed to score excellent ratings already even though available in far fewer homes than CNN is.
AOL's merger with Time Warner, which owns CNN, may give the struggling news network a new lease on life, however, even if its on-air product continues to be stodgy and bland compared to Fox's. Fox, owned by right-winger Rupert Murdoch, has been so friendly to the Bush campaign that it may find itself in the catbird seat when it comes to getting leaks and exclusives from the Bush administration once it starts making news -- and if the Clinton administration stops taking bows.
No, the Clintons weren't gone yet. When Bill, Chelsea and Sen. Hillary Clinton arrived at JFK Airport in New York, cameras were waiting and Hillary launched into another speech! This time, the networks did not carry it live, but some had a shot or two of Sen. Hillary ready to make her speech. Her husband gazed off into the distance as if terribly bored -- a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, except that it was happening for real.
On MSNBC, guest commentator Mike Deaver movingly recalled the day that his boss Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. He asked Deaver to escort him for a quick first trip into the Oval Office. They stood there in the room, still not completely furnished, and Deaver remembered Reagan saying, "Have you got goose bumps?" Reagan clearly did.
Who had goose bumps yesterday? Watching it all unfold on TV, it was hard to find the Bush inauguration emotionally involving, but the Clinton Exodus, in its hammy Hollywood way, may have put lumps in many a throat. Virtual lumps, perhaps, but the throats at least were actual.
