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Morning News

Election 2000: How Effective Were Last Night's Speeches?

Aired December 14, 2000 - 11:49 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For more on the speeches, let's bring in our CNN senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: First, Al Gore: A lot of analysts saying this was Al Gore's best speech ever, and where was that Al Gore during the campaign?

SCHNEIDER: Well, that's the question: Which is the real Al Gore? During the campaign, Al Gore was tough, aggressive, partisan, a real fighter. Fairly or unfairly, a lot of Americans blamed him for the election impasse. They thought he was a sore loser. He just said he wanted to make sure all the votes were counted. But this was an Al Gore we saw last night -- we heard -- who was conciliatory, who was generous in spirit. The generosity in spirit that Bush talked about, I thought we saw in Al Gore -- maybe a man positioning himself for another run at the presidency.

KAGAN: Did you hear any hints about his future in there, a sense of: I will be back?

SCHNEIDER: Well, he did say "stay and fight." That was the theme of his campaign. I had the text here. And he did go down fighting. He said, that many, many times. He said: I am sorry I didn't get the chance to fight for the American people. But it's worth fighting for. And this is a fight I will never stop. Hint, hint.

KAGAN: Hint, hint.

As for George W. Bush, his task important last night, not quite as large as Al Gore's, but did he do what he had to do with his speech?

SCHNEIDER: I think he did. He had to offer unity and reconciliation. Most of the sentences in his speech started with the word "together." He said: "Our nation must rise above a house divided. We share hopes and goals and values more important than any political disagreements. There was a lot there to help heal and unify the nation. And that was very consistent with the kind of campaign he ran. The problem is, he is going to be in a lot of -- under a lot of pressure from conservatives in his party who were very patient during the campaign.

They didn't put pressure on him the way they did with his father and Bob Dole. There is going to be a lot of pressure on president- elect Bush to deliver.

KAGAN: And much has been made -- talking about reaching about -- about George W. Bush reaching out to the Democrats. But the truth is, he is going to be getting it from both sides. And he is going to have to reach out with two hands.

SCHNEIDER: That's right: reach out to Democrats. He's got to reach out to African-Americans, many of whom doubt the legitimacy of his president and who are deeply embittered by the post-election contest. He symbolically went into the Texas House of Representatives, and he said: This chamber is controlled by Democrats. I can work with Democrats. I'm afraid I have news for the Texas governor: Washington, D.C. isn't Austin, Texas. And the differences between Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C. are much bigger than they are in Texas.

So he is going to have a far bigger order to try to reconcile the parties here.

KAGAN: The education begins right now.

Bill Schneider, thanks for joining us.

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