Sarcastic but friendly, former speechwriter David Frum reminisced about his time in the White House while defending the Bush administration in Copley Formal Lounge Tuesday.
Formally dressed in a suit and a blue tie, Frum began by taking a vote on what the small audience wanted him to discuss. They chose to hear the former Special Assistant for Economic Speechwriting to President George W. Bush, and author of the highly publicized “axis of evil” phrase, discuss Washington politics.
Frum entertained the audience, composed mostly of College Republicans, with stories of his exploits in the Executive Office. “It was a remarkable time, and a lot of very odd things happened,” he said.
He recalled an accidental encounter with the nuclear football on his first trip with the president. He was a last-minute addition to the trip, and not enough rooms had been reserved. He was told to share a room with a mid-rank naval officer.
When he knocked on the door of the room, the briefcase containing codes for the United States’ nuclear weapons sat exposed on the bed. He said he was quickly relocated.
He was quick to downplay his importance, however. “Special Assistant to the President is to Assistant to the President as Special Olympics is to Olympics,” he joked.
He only briefly addressed the “axis of evil”phrase he added to Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address, when Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as specific enemies of the United States.
He noted that when the president took the stage, he had no idea whether the line would be in the speech or not. However, he said that he was well aware of its importance: It marked Bush’s decision that the war on terror would be not a police action, but a large scale military war.
The talk was not all fun. A life-long journalist and current editor at the National Review, Frum made it a point to discuss internal domestic security.
He defended the Patriot Act, saying that privacy was protected to an unreasonable extent during the Clinton years. The Patriot Act, passed in November 2001, has drawn criticism for alleged infringements on civil liberties.
He noted, for example, that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation can open mail and wire-tap phones, until the Patriot Act they could not track e-mails.
“These are the types of moderate, sensible reforms that have become so controversial,” he said.
He presented a unique view of Bush’s power in the Republican party. “I would argue that President Bush’s position in the party is as strong as anybody’s ever,” he said. However, he attributed most of Bush’s popularity to solidarity following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
He also supported last spring’s war in Iraq. He suggested that those protesting the war were largely Vietnam-generation adults trying to relive their youth.
“It’s amazing and kind of pathetic,” he said. “That is a very expensive kind of rejuvenation.”
