T
his is all wrong!"
The President of the United
States was not happy—and he was
staring right at me.
It was June 27, 2005, and I was in the
White House family theater with George
W. Bush, as he practiced the nationally
televised Address to the Nation that he
would deliver from Fort Bragg, N.C., the
next night. This was my first time as the
lead writer on a prime time presidential
address—and now I was in the command-
er in chief 's crosshairs.
Not good.
The day before in the Oval Office, the
president had been happy with the text.
But now, as he read it aloud for the first
time, he was decidedly unhappy with a
speech he would have to give in less than
24 hours.
W H I T E H O U S E
B Y M A R C A . T H I E S S E N
H o w h o c k e y p r e p a r e d m e f o r t h e
32
// SEPTEMBER 2017 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTO BY Official White House Photo; Catherine Bogart
"
