Press Corps Treated To Bull Session With Clinton

By Bernard Kalb/CNN

WASHINGTON (March 21) -- It made its debut aboard Air Force One, sprung on the White House press corps without a word of warning.

"Psych background" was what White House press secretary Mike McCurry called it -- p, like in psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis -- and it created a bit of a stir among reporters who must keep tabs on every word uttered by the president. (80K AIFF or WAV sound)

"We're the ones who are the professionals," commented CBS Radio correspondent Mark Knoller. "We have to conduct ourselves in such a way so that we are not being manipulated more so than we ordinarily are." (188K AIFF or WAV sound)

Reuters reporter Laurence McQuillan called it "fascinating. It was the closest the president of the United States can have to a barroom conversation with anybody." (70K AIFF or WAV sound)

"What I was trying to get at was, here's an opportunity for some working journalist to spend time with the president of the United States in an informal, relaxed setting, get a better idea of what he thinks," McCurry explained. (103K AIFF or WAV sound)

The last time anyone bothered to count, there were already 764 different ways for the president to meet the press: jog along with Clinton; the photo op; the one-on-one interview; and of course, the full dress TV news conference in prime time.

But now, on the eve of the 21st century, along comes McCurry with variation number 765, on the flight back from the Middle East, just a few days ago. The president spoke to a pool of about ten journalists, including a camera crew, for about three hours in two installments.

Some of the ways President Clintion has met with the press

Here's what came out of it officially: nothing.

That's right. Nothing, after three hours of presidential ruminations. It was absolutely perfect from the White House point of view. There were no quotes, no tapes, no flickering images on the TV screen.

"For a reporter sitting on Air Force One, you're representing the entire White House press corps and it's difficult to accept information off the record," said Reuters reporter Gene Gibbons. The dean of the press corps, UPI's Helen Thomas, found the new approach a mixed blessing. "The massive catharthis on the part of the president when he's really unloading is really a treat...If I had been there, I would have urged the president to put some of it on the record."

The pool reporters prepared a five-page report on the president's ruminations, but they could not attribute it to him. So they attributed it to a supernatural force they called "the highest authority." Nothing earthshaking was reported.

In the final analysis, it's all kind of a word game. No one is fooled about who does the heavy talking on Air Force One and they know that if "the highest authority" is not divine, well then it has to be highest American.

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