Bush Aims Low-Key Speech Abroad : Media: President eschews the theatrics of TV age. He conveys control but gives Americans little insight into his military goals.

President Bush’s nationally televised speech Wednesday was a classic example of rhetoric from the pre-television age--one low on theatrics and emotional appeals to the public, one aimed at sending diplomatic signals abroad.

Indeed, the address explaining his decision to send U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia came much closer to prime time in the Middle East than in America. The delivery at 6 a.m. PDT, when much of the western United States was asleep, was probably in large part timed to preempt a speech by a spokesman for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that came about two hours later.

By the dictates of televised politics, the President even stepped on the message of his own speech by appearing at a press conference three hours later. A briefing by Pentagon officials followed. Taken together, the overall impression the Administration’s image makers leave is deliberate--an Administration in control, managing the crisis.

Rather than go to lengthy explanations to justify and inspire, the President in effect turned to the American people to say, after days of personal private diplomacy: “It became necessary to take this action.”

Much of this approach is probably Bush playing to his strengths, recognizing that he lacks Winston Churchill’s or Ronald Reagan’s rhetorical power to persuade, using his speech instead to address in a businesslike way several constituencies at once.

Yet some analysts have concerns with this approach.

“He did the minimum necessary when you are committing a large number of troops,” said William Schneider, The Times’ political consultant. “If there is serious loss of life, if the Arab world turns against us, or if it doesn’t work quickly, people may be left wondering what the hell we are doing there exactly.”

For domestic purposes, the President did engage in the classic technique of casting the commitment of troops in moral terms far more than in strategic ones. It was time, he said, “to stand up for what’s right and condemn what’s wrong, all in the cause of peace.” He concluded by repeatedly using the phrase “standing up for our principles.”

Three times he described American military action as strictly taking “defensive positions,” assisting Saudi Arabia in the “defense of its homeland.” He added: “America does not seek conflict.”

The President also made repeated efforts to vilify the Iraqi leader, making two analogies between Hussein and Adolf Hitler, twice describing him as a liar whose word could not be trusted, and saying that it had to be assumed that Hussein might “attack again.”

But the body of Bush’s speech was filled with more subtle diplomatic allusions aimed at massaging delicate international negotiations, including his efforts to have Arab nations join American military forces. He stressed repeatedly, for instance, “the unparalleled international consultation” involved in the decision, and he said that the United States “does not seek to chart the destiny of other nations.”

Bush sent signals, too, to specific countries. He referred, for instance, to sending Secretary of State James A. Baker III to Europe to consult with Turkish President Turgut Ozal, “our staunch ally.” Both remarks seemed to be overt appeals for support of the American action by Turkey, which wants to consider itself European and is interested in being admitted to the European Community.