Stakes Are High for Both Bush and Interviewer

Will it be high theater or actual news when President Bush sits down with NBC’s Tim Russert for an interview that airs Sunday morning?

The president, who has been known to snap at journalists over questions he deems inappropriate, will face off in an hourlong taped session today in the Oval Office with one of television’s most dogged, yet polite, questioners.

And, in a coup for “Meet the Press,” it will be Bush’s first Sunday sit-down as president; his last TV interview was in December, when he talked to ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in a prime-time interview.

The stakes are high for both participants.

The president, facing dropping approval ratings and a drumbeat of criticism from the Democratic presidential candidates, could get a boost if he can hold his own against a journalist who is not easily intimidated. And Russert, who often has a subject’s past words put on screen to back up his questions, will be in the tricky position of trying to get his questions answered while displaying the respect expected to be shown to the office of the president.

“Half of Washington is going to be mad at Russert,” said Chuck Todd, editor of the Hotline, an online daily political briefing. “Either he’s not going to be able to satisfy the critics of the president ... or he’s going to make the administration mad by being too tough on Bush. Then again, he’s the best in the business; if anybody can handle this, it’s got to be him.”

Finding the right tone has proved tricky for those posing questions to the president on TV. At a March 6 news conference, shortly before the war with Iraq began, reporters were criticized for showing too much deference to Bush.

The president, meanwhile, has shown no compunction about pushing back if he doesn’t like the questions. During an October news conference from the White House’s Rose Garden, Bush joked with reporters about how they were dressed and their looks, but he wouldn’t answer a query about Iraq troop reductions, calling it a “trick,” and passed over another reporter who had interrupted him.

It’s never a given how viewers will react to high-profile interviews. When Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean appeared on Russert’s show in June, the media and political elite gave the performance by the former Vermont governor a thumbs down, noting his fumbling of some questions. But Dean supporters were more sympathetic, and contributions to his campaign surged.

Russert, who leads the Sunday pack with about 5 million viewers a week, is used to the balancing act. Clinton appeared on “Meet the Press” twice while in office; Vice President Dick Cheney has been on 10 times since taking office. Bush appeared twice while a candidate.

“He’d better be prepared,” said Gay Pirozzi, who worked with Russert on the staff of NBC News. “And I’m talking about the president. Tim Russert does his homework.”

Todd expects Bush to be ready with some policy announcement. “It’s very hard to take control of a Russert interview,” he said. “But I can’t imagine [the president] is going to go in there unarmed. You better have some news to make to delay the interrogation.”

Friday, there was no shortage of suggestions for Russert, who took the helm of the show in 1991. “Meet the Press” fielded between 2,000 and 3,000 e-mails with proposed questions, said Betsy Fischer, the show’s executive producer.

ABC News’ online daily political report, “The Note,” posted possible questions; a Salon.com columnist had others, as did CNN’s “Crossfire.”

“I’m sure Tim will take some into consideration, but he also doesn’t want to clutter up his head at this point,” said Fischer.

Russert, who has a law degree, said he is “fully prepared.”

“I wish I had 15 hours” for the interview, he said. “There are lots of questions the American people want answered on Iraq and the economy.

“Tone is everything,” he said, adding that “the guest usually sets the rhythm, sets the tone.”

Then again, Russert’s approach has always been deceptively straightforward, his mantra the words of wisdom passed along by “Meet the Press” founder Lawrence E. Spivak: “Learn as much as you can and then take the other side.”

Said Russert: “I’ll be civil and polite.”

Satirist and avid Democrat Al Franken was on a book tour a few years ago when he stopped at Russert’s CNBC studio for an interview. “It was one of the best television interviews I’ve ever done,” Franken said. “It’s such luxury to do a show with someone who was actually listening, asked provocative questions and had read my book. That almost never happens, certainly on television.”