WP: Birth of a Salesman: Pitching Social Security

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The president is also pushing loftier products. He is touting "courage" (to act), "responsibility" (to our young people) and "freedom" (whether from tyrants or government-imposed financial burdens). Social Security is Bush's signature product rollout this year. It is a tough sale, even to the rent-a-choir audiences of ticketed supporters the president addressed last week. The issues are complex and the here-and-now is comfortable.

But some of the country's most celebrated hawkers marvel at Bush's gift for selling. They rave about how he connects and inspires. With exclamation points!

"You can tell he has God within him!" says Zig Ziglar, the sales guru and motivational speaker, in a phone interview from Montgomery, Ala., where he is hosting a seminar.

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Bush's fast-moving manner can make his listening skills appear suspect, Lahkani says. This point is bolstered during Bush's onstage "conversations."

In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, "I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters."

"Fantastic," the president exclaims, and he tells her she has "the hardest job in America, being a single mom."

Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems "uniquely American" and "fantastic." He asks her if she gets any sleep.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1548-2005Feb5.html