Stephanopoulos spins at Irvine

The former Clinton aide spoke on the upcoming presidential election. Last night at Irvine Auditorium, George Stephanopoulos livened up the crowd with an opening one-liner. "The two students [that introduced me] left out my most important qualification," he quipped. "I directed the intern program at the White House." With this statement, Stephanopoulos, the Connaissance spring speaker, had the approximately 1,000 attendees applauding and laughing with a mixture of shock and amusement. Unlike previous Connaissance speakers like Conan O'Brien or Binyamin Netanyahu, Stephanopoulos did not attract a full house. Irvine Auditorium was about three-quarters full. Still, although the audience was smaller than expected, the listeners were definitely receptive to the former White House aide's 90-minute talk. Noting that almost exactly eight years ago this week, he accompanied then-Gov. Bill Clinton to Philadelphia to campaign before the Pennsylvania primaries, Stephanopoulos said it was far from a guarantee in the spring of 1992 that Clinton would be elected to even one term. "Though on the road to a nomination, it didn't look like Clinton had a good chance [in the overall election]," he said. Talk soon shifted to the current presidential election, and the seasoned political analyst shared his thoughts on campaign strategy, candidate views and partisan positioning. "This is not only the largest, but also the most expensive race in American history," Stephanopoulos said of the campaign. "Never has so much money been spent so quickly to ratify the status quo." His prediction was that the race would be an exceptionally close one, perhaps the closest since 1976 when Jimmy Carter beat out incumbent Gerald Ford. Stephanopoulos, who now works as a political analyst for ABC News and teaches a course on the presidency at Columbia University, said this election would have ramifications for all branches of government. He predicted that the next president will likely sweep his party into control of the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate, and would be in the position to appoint two or three justices to the Supreme Court. With talk of the impact the independent vote would play in the impending election, Stephanopoulos journeyed back to the election of 1992, when, "despite the fact that he is stone crazy, Ross Perot got 19 percent of the vote." Stephanopoulos spoke of independent voters as "the free-floating political enforcers of this decade" and said he expects them to play a significant role in the election. In the end, however, Stephanopoulos saw the race coming down to "the center of the country," with states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan deciding who will be the next president of the United States. On the subject of apathy among younger voters, Stephanopoulos had one suggestion: "Go vote." "Its hard to remind people of the importance of civic participation," he said. "People have to feel that it matters in their bones." Also important, he said, is bringing attention to the fact that topics like the future of Social Security really should mean more to 18-year-olds than to 65-year-olds. Stephanopoulos ended his speech with advice and a touch of inspiration. "We will succeed as a nation, as a people, only as long as we practice the art of the impossible," he said. After his formal presentation, Stephanopoulos opened himself to questions from the audience, among them a question about potential vice-presidential running mates. Ticking off a list of possibilities, women included, Stephanopoulos had the crowd laughing when he suggested the possibility of University President Judith Rodin, but could not recall her name. Reactions to Stephanopoulos' speech were largely positive, though students were a bit surprised as to the content. "I expected him to speak more on a personal level, his experiences and how he got to where he is today," said College and Engineering junior Ron Lin, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist. "Though I thought he would speak on a more personal level, I was not disappointed," College junior Cam Winton said. "I thought he gave a great overview of the presidential election." Connaissance co-chairman Theo LeCompte, an Engineering junior, was very pleased at the end of the evening. LeCompte especially enjoyed the dinner at the White Dog Cafe that he and members of Connaissance shared with Stephanopoulos before the speech. "It was great to be able to talk to him on a more personal level," LeCompte said.

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