JUDY WOODRUFF: And now
some perspective on the
run-up to tonight's big
address from opposite
sides of the American
political spectrum.
Karine Jean-Pierre is a
senior adviser for MoveOn.org.
And Chris Buskirk is the editor
of the conservative journal and
Web site American Greatness.
Hello to both of you.
CHRIS BUSKIRK,
AmericanGreatness.org: Hi.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Democratic
Strategist: Hi, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Great to have
you back on the program.
Chris, to you first,
Chris Buskirk.
What do you expect the
president to do tonight?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: I think what
the president is going to do
tonight is, he is going to
do what he's done I think pretty
well in some speeches before,
which is going back to promises
made, promises kept.
Here's what I have talked about
in my campaign, here's what I
have accomplished so far, here's
what I still need to do.
I think that here we are halfway
through first term, right?
This has got to be the pivot
to reelection, to try to start
to set the tone and set the
trajectory for a message
that's going to carry him
through November of 2020.
And I think that is -- I
think that needs to be one big
unifying theme that says, on
immigration, on trade, on
foreign policy, how are all
these things linked together?
What's that unifying theme?
And I think that that
theme has to be, how do you
rebuild the middle class?
That's number one.
And I think that that's what
he is going to try and do.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And if
that's what he does,
Karine Jean-Pierre,
how is that received by
Democrats?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: So, I know
that it's been reported that
-- from the administration,
from the White House, that the
president is going to give a
speech on unity, on greatness,
on bipartisanship.
And that would be great if he
was able to do that, but we
have not seen that from this
president in the past
now going on three years.
And I just don't see
this speech, only because
of his history, of
his record, being that
impactful.
So maybe, maybe he gets there
and he makes a unity speech,
but hours later, the moment
he gets on Twitter, it
all -- he steps on it.
So I just -- it's
hard to believe.
And let's not forget, a couple
of weeks ago, he gave -- he
addressed the country in the
Diplomatic Reception Room, where
he talked about immigration,
and that was filled with
division.
And then he did it weeks prior
to that in the Oval Office
behind the Resolute Desk.
And that was filled
with division and hate.
So I just don't see how
that's possible coming
from this president.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, in fact,
Chris Buskirk, I had a chance
today to spend a little bit
of -- a few minutes with
Speaker Pelosi and the Senate
minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
And Mr. Schumer made a point,
Senator Schumer made a point of
saying: We hope the president
is going to appeal the unity,
but in the past, when he's
spoken at a moment, whether it's
a State of the Union
address or another important
speech, he's made promises
or made declarations
that he then turned
around and didn't fulfill.
So what makes you
convinced that tonight is
going to be different?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Well, I think
part of that is in the eye
of the beholder, right?
What is unity.
But there's part of it that
is the art of persuasion,
which is to talk about it and
to use the rhetoric of unity and
to talk about, how do we be --
how are we Americans together?
What does that mean?
And how do we build
things together, make
this a better society?
How that translates into
practice, I think, is
where the president needs
to be very concrete.
He needs to use that rhetoric
and then say, look, these
are the policies we are going
to pursue in my administration
the try and make this a reality.
And that's what everybody
is really looking for.
It's nice to hear the good
speech, but then what are
you going to do about it?
JUDY WOODRUFF: But you have a
sense that now, Chris Buskirk,
the president is prepared to
do that?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: I think he has
to, and I think that's what
he's going to try and do.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But, Karine,
you're expressing doubt?
(LAUGHTER)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
He just doesn't have
a record of it, Judy.
We have not seen that.
A year ago, he
talked about unity.
What did we get months later?
We got this the zero -- policy
situation, where children
were being ripped away from
their parents, children of
undocumented immigrants coming
through the southern border.
And that was devastating to see.
And now we're hearing many of
them will never be reunited.
And the year before that,
in 2017, in the joint
address, the same thing.
And what did we see?
We heard about Charlottesville.
And what did he do there?
He said, very fine
people on both sides.
I just don't see it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: When you
hear this, Chris Buskirk,
what do you think?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: I think
that unity does not mean
agreement on everything.
And that's OK.
That's what politics is for.
I think what unity means is
not that Donald Trump says,
well, to Speaker Pelosi, well,
OK, whatever you
want, that's fine.
I think what it means is, how
do we identify the problems
that the country faces, and then
how do we work together
where there's agreement?
And then we can disagree on
other things too, but let's do
that in a way where we at least
try and set the table
on common goals.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I guess the
flip side of that question,
Karine Jean-Pierre, is, are
Democrats, are people like you
who work hard with organizations
that oppose so much of
the president's policies,
are you willing to
give the president the
benefit of the doubt?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: There are
things that we can work on
that's bipartisanship, which
is DACA, infrastructure,
improving...
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Which
is immigration.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Immigration,
right, right, for young
undocumented folks who came here
with their parents when
they were really young.
And there's also the
criminal justice, right?
That was done in
a bipartisan way.
It was a first step.
And there's more to be done.
The problem is, and what we
said earlier, he declares
things in his speech, but then
he doesn't stick to them.
And I think Democrats are
ready to work on those things I
just mentioned, but he doesn't
stick to it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to come
-- I want to look at this,
step back a little bit, Chris
Buskirk, because part of what's
going on here is that some
of the -- many of the people
who support the president
don't seem to want him to
cooperate with the other side.
And, Karine, I think you could
say that about a number of
progressive liberal Democrats
who don't want to see
their party cooperate.
What about that, Chris?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Well, let me
give -- the best way, for me
at least, to think about it is
to use a concrete illustration.
So you think about
the immigration issue.
I mean, this is a place where
people like Speaker Pelosi
and Minority Leader Schumer,
10 years ago, 12 years ago, they
were talking, yes, we need a
wall, we need border security.
I think what the president
needs to do is explain why
that's important and how that
is something that
protects -- how border
security protects working
families, American working
families.
Why?
Because it protects their
most valuable asset,
which is their asymmetric
access to the American
labor market.
Make that argument,
maybe in a more...
JUDY WOODRUFF: In other
words, immigrants take
jobs away from you?
Is that -- I mean...
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Take
jobs away, lower wages.
I mean, more supply equals
-- more supply lowers prices.
That's basic.
You explain that to people
and say, look, this is why
-- this is why immigration is
important to me or this is why
trade policy is important to
me, because I want middle-income
families to be secure
economically and to
be able to prosper.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Karine,
the flip side of that, liberal
Democrats don't want their
party leaders to work
together with the president.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, they
want Democrats, in particular
in the House, now that it's
the majority, to hold this
president accountable.
And that's one of the reasons
that we took back the House.
And so that's really important.
And that looks in very
different ways, right?
That's looking at
this Mueller report.
That's also looking at, as I
mentioned, the children being
separated at the border, Puerto
Rico, 3,000 people dying.
But they also want to
see Democrats moving
the country forward.
Right?
And they have done that
with voting rights and
dealing with corruption.
And so those are things that
they actually want to see.
But we need Republicans on
the other side to do -- to
also be in there with us too.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, we're
going to have a chance to talk
about all of this again later
tonight, when we have heard
what the president has to say.
Thank you so much, Karine
Jean-Pierre, Chris Buskirk.
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Thank you.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you.