Bush Takes Command of Media in Gulf : Television: A carefully orchestrated outing in the sands of Saudi Arabia shows the President learned well at the foot of his predecessor. Ronald Reagan could not have managed it better.

This year the Thanksgiving Day parade had human floats.

Those top bananas Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings along with “Good Morning America” were already in the Persian Gulf region cheering up the troops, and Willard Scott himself had only recently gotten back.

“In the main, the guys are holding up real well,” Rather of Arabia reported on “CBS This Morning” earlier this week.

So watching second banana George Bush chow down in Saudi Arabia early Thursday morning amid a sea of sand and camouflage seemed almost anticlimactic.

But there he was in his shirt sleeves, accompanied by First Lady Barbara Bush wearing her own desert camouflage and congressional leaders wearing their biggest smiles. Bush first delivered pep talks at Army and Air Force installations. However, it was his “centerpiece” speech to Marines at about 4:45 a.m. and his subsequent Thanksgiving meal with them that got live coverage on ABC and CNN and extensive tape coverage later that morning on all the networks.

NBC’s Jim Miklazewski noted at one point: “This is about messages.” And symbols.

There was nothing more symbolic, in fact, than CNN’s intercutting live coverage that morning of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher en route by limo to deliver her resignation to the Queen with pictures of Bush en route by military vehicle to that Marine encampment said to be about two hours from the Kuwait border.

Two leaders, two rituals: Thatcher stepping down, Bush stepping it up.

His Thanksgiving visit showed anew how a President, through careful orchestration, can command media attention and make it virtually impossible for the camera to ignore him. This event also showed how growing skepticism about the U.S. military buildup in the gulf region can be reduced to barely audible Muzak by dramatic pictures of the commander-in-chief breaking bread with his troops in a distant land. Ronald Reagan could not have managed it better.

The setting--sand and guns in the background--was perfect. The speaker, sprinkling his talk with emotional buzz words calculated to whip up support while boosting morale, echoed a politician on the stump: “Let me just say how pleased Barbara and I are to be here. . . . And let me say this. . . .”

There were rousing cheers from the troops.

You could spot the sound bites and sight bites that later would follow on all the newscasts: Bush waving, shaking hands, smiling, giving autographs, issuing a horseshoes challenge, posing for pictures and chatting.

Between mouthfuls of food--and hardly oblivious to the minicam in his face--Bush carried on a continual conversation with troops closing in on him. About Iraqi President Saddam Hussein: “The problem is he talks about all this negotiation, but he won’t get out of Kuwait.” About possible war with Iraq: “I guarantee you there won’t be any more Vietnams. . . . We’ll fight to win!”

Today the holiday season, tomorrow the dying season.

TV seemed to be hopping on this tank Thursday, with the emphasis far less on the philosophy of war than on the process of war.

As the gulf dilemma drones on and on, TV has been especially brilliant in conveying the emotional and human side of the story. The impact of military mobilization on the home front, particularly the strain on families, has been reported with great sensitivity and insight. And satellite technology has made it possible to reunite loved ones by electronically reaching across the seas.

Except for brief comments from the father of a Marine on “CBS This Morning,” however, voices of dissidents opposing Bush’s gulf policy were all but excluded from Thursday morning’s coverage. The symbolism and emotion of the moment were just too powerful.

As the pictures showed Bush greeting troops, Middle East expert and ABC consultant Judith Kipper questioned Bush’s anti-Hussein rhetoric, saying it personalized the conflict and that the President should “slow down.” But she was cut off by Peter Jennings:

“Let’s get away from politics now. . . . For any U.S. servicemen here to be able to spend a moment with his or her President is clearly a moment to be remembered.”

Later on NBC, correspondents Miklazewski and Katherine Couric sat side by side in Saudi Arabia and commented on the Bush visit during the “Today” program as if they were co-hosting the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade telecast that Willard Scott and Deborah Norville would co-host later.

Before leaving the air, “Today” managed to squeeze in one last guest, and just like that, Miklazewski was gone and Couric was joined by O. J. Simpson of NBC’s “NFL Live.” It seemed that Simpson had been in Saudi Arabia preparing a feature for Thursday’s Detroit-Denver telecast that was about to follow on NBC. He was ebullient.

“Morale is up, everyone is very positive,” Commander Simpson said. “The big question is, ‘When are we gonna go home?,’ not ‘Why are we here?’ Let’s get it on or get out.”

It was that sort of holiday.

“So that is Thanksgiving Day for President and Mrs. Bush,” Peter Jennings had said earlier, wrapping up ABC’s live coverage. It had been a feast in the desert, turkey, roast beef and ham.

Lots and lots of ham.