Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994                   TAG: 9404070330
SECTION: NATL/INT                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

IT'S A BUNCH OF BULL, A LOAD OF HOOEY AND OUT THE WAZOO

``This is a bunch of bull,'' President Clinton sputtered.

Well, it wasn't pretty, but it summed up his position.

Clinton has a knack for this sort of thing: Using slang, veiled profanity and homespun sayings to simplify complicated topics, disarm opponents and paint himself the populist.

He's not just in trouble. He's ``in a pickle.''

The point is not just wrong. It's ``a load of hooey.''

It's not just expensive. It ``costs out the wazoo.''

A person isn't just smart. He's ``as smart as a tree full of owls.''

There's a danger in this, however, some say. Clinton's informal manner could demystify his presidency, making it harder for him to reach rhetorical heights at the somber moments of state when a president is called on to speak for the country.

``At one level, it is charming; it suggests he's an outsider and suggests the ability to identify with real people. But the other side is we've always expected our presidents to be better than we are,'' said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the school of communications at the University of Pennsylvania and author of ``Eloquence in an Electronic Age.''

Lyndon Johnson, ever the Southerner, compared victory in Vietnam to ``nailing the coonskin to the wall.''

President Reagan's famous preface, ``Well ...,'' was a tactic that made his speech less formal, said Wayne Fields, an English professor at Washington University who studies presidential rhetoric.

Clinton's predecessor, George Bush, liked the old saying, ``Life goes on.'' And his famous ``read my lips'' challenge reminded some of actor Clint Eastwood's ``Make my day'' line. The most notable of Clinton's colloquialisms are his Southern expressions. As Arkansas governor, he used the expressions more often in rural areas than he did at home in Little Rock. As a presidential candidate, his language was more colorful during Southern swings. As president, the sayings almost always draw a laugh or applause. Arguing in November for the North American Free Trade Agreement, Clinton said Japan and Germany would move into the Mexican market if the U.S. didn't. ``I would jump on this like flies on a June bug,'' he said. Talking in October about the high cost of health care, he said, ``You don't have to be as bright as a tree full of owls to figure out that eventually there would be some adverse consequence to that.''

It's no accident that Clinton is at home sounding down-home.

``I think Clinton is an exceptionally eloquent speaker. He mixes indigenous Southern language and linguistic patterns with a command of the English language,'' said William Ferris, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.

Southerners value their language, and have a long tradition of strong oratory - a ``gift of the gab,'' as Ferris put it.

``Clinton is essentially an extension of that tradition. He loves to talk and is at his best in an informal town hall atmosphere when he is face to face with people - just as his ancestors would have been in the country store in Arkansas,'' Ferris said.