Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992 TAG: 9201300242
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THEY WANTED A LEADER; SOME SAW A SALESMAN
They came Tuesday seeking leadership from their president, and left wondering if they had seen any.For some, Bush's ballyhooed State of the Union - the "defining moment" of his presidency - proved little more than "a pep talk that should have come the first year he was elected."
Others appreciated the apparent strength and resolve, carried by rhetoric reminiscent of the run-up to last year's Persian Gulf War. The 16 Roanokers gathered at the newspaper - including a stockbroker and an unemployed social worker, a car dealer and a housekeeper - all seemed to yearn for one thing: leadership.
Few saw it.
Sure, they liked his tax proposals; they liked his focus on the family, and nodded agreement when he blamed the breakup of the family for many social ills. The Realtor scribbled on his pad when Bush proposed allowing first-time home buyers to use Individual Retirement Account money to buy a home. They whooped when he suggested making interest on college loans tax deductible.
But the 51-minute speech, for all its soaring adjectives and declarations of American greatness and resolve, appeared to most to be a thinly veiled campaign speech.
"I know at my age I take a lot of things for granted," said 17-year-old Candace Dunn, "but this speech has really been an eye-opener for me. I think it was a political campaign [speech] . . . because in the beginning he was concentrating on his accomplishments . . . as president."
It was a remarkable town meeting: A car dealer who some might have expected to defend a pro-business president instead called it "a lousy speech. We've heard it all before," said Bill Pinkerton, owner of Pinkerton Chevrolet Inc. in Salem. "The man has been in office for 11 years. A leader leads by example and he has led the country on . . . crisis after crisis. That's when decisions are made."
Folks tried to voice support for their president; even the harsher critics - with one or two exceptions - liked the speech. A few just weren't buying Bush's line. Period.
Still, the meeting seemed suffused with a search for national renewal. "I believe we have a responsibility and we sort of dump it on the politicians and the president," said Kay Minter, an unemployed social worker.
Lindsey Quesinberry thought it is "incumbent upon each of us to behave and do the right thing, look at the positives, do what we can do to change ourselves in our environment . . .."
A bank customer-service manager derided the "promises, promises" salting the president's speech, and wondered "why all these great ideas came about now? All of a sudden in a political year . . . you have all these great ideas."
A teacher's aide agreed with Bush that "patience is a virtue and I'm just going to wait and see." Harold Mills, a machinist for Norfolk Southern Corp., thinks he already sees: "Talking about hard times, I don't think he looks through the same eyes as some of the rest of us do."
Conspicuously absent were calls for more government handouts. "It's not that I want the president to do anything personally for me," said Will Claytor, a real estate agent, "but I want him to get some leadership and lead us out of this recession."
Jeff Graybill seemed too nervous to voice his opinion at first. Then something snapped: "People have got to realize that they're going to have to start taking jobs . . . like the Carol Burnett you see at the end of the show where she's mopping floors."