It's a presidential election year and William Safire was in his element June 9 as the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin guest lecturer in Bailey Hall. Safire, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times and renowned word maven, played up his role as political insider, wry-witted pundit and unabashed conservative.
|
| New York Times columnist William Safire addresses a Reunion weekend crowd in Bailey Hall June 9 as the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin lecturer. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography |
In his introduction to Safire's address, Cornell President Hunter Rawlings pointed out that it was Safire who, as speech writer for Richard Nixon, crafted the legendary alliteration "nattering nabobs of negativism" aimed at the media and delivered with spirited emphasis by the late Spiro T. Agnew.
Had Safire simply evolved into a cranky political columnist with a reactionary bent, his reception by the capacity crowd at Bailey might not have been so exuberant. But as a self-styled steward of the English lexicon, Safire has an appeal that transcends politics, and his "On Language" column is the vehicle through which he's endeared himself to educated readers of a more liberal stripe.
A Syracuse University graduate, Safire ingratiated himself with the Bailey audience by way of anecdote, saying that it was "the first time I have been back to Ithaca since I was a sophomore at Syracuse."
A gust of laughter followed and, with good comedic sense, Safire let it dissipate in the rafters before he explained: "We had heard there about a bacchanalian orgy (at Cornell) called House Party Weekend I came down here and sure enough it was, in those days, with those standards, bacchanalian. I mean, there was necking that went on. "
He then segued into a pitch for an upcoming On Language column about teen-age campus slang called "Hooking Up," that explores new "formulations about what we used to euphemize as 'sleeping together,' which is now referred to as 'parallel parking.'"
Safire savored the laughs, casually arriving at the substance of his talk: a political forecast -- steeped in his own observations and opinions, of course. He described presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore as "good candidates,"using personal experience with both men to sketch their strengths and weaknesses.
He said Bush emerged from the Republican primary as a more savvy, less cocky candidate, having gotten a healthy scare from his rival John McCain. Gore may not have cleared the primary hurdle so well, but he proved to be an intimidating presence in debates. Safire said Gore is counting on the upcoming presidential debates to right himself in the polls.
"In those debates, keep your eye on Gore, he knows how to go for the throat, he practices his asides: his ad libs are all planned and that's how he feels he will turn around the polls," Safire said. But he cautioned the audience about opinion polls: "Forget about the polls. The ups and downs of the polls now are totally meaningless. If the polls were true, we'd have a history of President Dewey and more recent history of President Dukakis." The polls, he said, will become more relevant after party conventions.
Safire said there will be three presidential debates and the top issue will be social security.
Gore contends that the Republican plan to invest a portion of social security in the market is risky; Bush and his supporters say it's a smart way to build the program. Who's right? Safire said it doesn't matter because "nothing is going to happen this year."
"Next year, no matter who gets in, both parties will agree to appoint a bipartisan social security commission," he said. "And the commission will look and say, 'Well we don't want to cut benefits and we don't want to raise rates, so we'll raise the retirement age to 70 or 72."
Safire said that's not such a terrible idea because people are living longer. He added that back in the 1930s, when social security began, the life expectancy was 63.
"Now it's 73. So why not up the retirement age? Not for those who are about to retire or who are retired " he said, perhaps after a glance at the Class of '35 who occupied the first few rows. "But for people who are 50 and under? That's fair, and, frankly, that's what's going to happen."
Safire reduced the upcoming Gore-Bush debate on social security to a matter of "greed vs. fear" -- Bush appealing to the idea of making a sound market investment and Gore imploring Americans not to let the Republicans gamble with their benefits.
Other topics for debate, Safire said, will focus on national defense -- in the form of a debate on how best to protect America from the threat of nuclear missile attack -- and the issue of privacy in a nation where mergers in banking, telecommunications and energy industries make Americans vulnerable to electronic snooping by employers, insurance companies, hackers and others.
It won't be the essence of the debates that will make the difference on election night, Safire said. It will be how well each man makes his case.
"People who don't understand the issues will have to bet on whom they most trust, and that will have an effect on the election," he said.
As for New York state politics, Safire said that if Hillary Clinton can survive yet another scandal, she will squeak by her lesser-known rival Rick Lazio in her U.S. Senate bid.
A question-and-answer session followed Safire's talk.
The Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture was established in 1986 and is a highlight of Reunion weekend activity. Each year, Cornell invites a person of international repute as the Olin lecturer to address a topic relevant to higher education and world affairs.
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |