PEOPLE

Up Close and Personal with Ari Fleischer

He has thrilled us. He has made us laugh. He has made us cry. For tens of millions of people throughout the world, his press briefings are a mandatory part of their daily routine. But what do we really know about the life of White House spokesman Ari Fleischer?

Perhaps not surprisingly, the charismatic figure we see on our television screens today is the product of a diverse and unconventional upbringing.

The son a traveling lion tamer and an acrobat, it was no doubt through his parents that Ari mastered his ability to grip and enthrall his audiences.

One day in 1975, while listening to the radio in the family's camper, a young Ari heard President Ford's press secretary Ron Nessen and said to himself: “That could be me!”

Friends and neighbors recall a teenage Ari standing outside the family's home where he would say the line “The President's position on this is clear” over and over again for hours at a time.

Because of his early talents, Ari was able to earn a scholarship to study press-secretarying at the prestigious University of Eastern West Virginia's Department of Spokespersonship.

Upon graduating with honors, Ari set out on his own, serving as a spokesperson for anyone who needed his services: bricklayers, longshoreman and taxi drivers.

Then in July 1999, while working as the spokesman for The Red Dragon Chinese restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, Ari's unique and uncanny press-speaking abilities were spotted by members of the Bush campaign team. And the rest, as they say, is history.

If there is one thing on which people on both sides of the political aisle can agree, then it is that there has never been a more dynamic, magnetic and energizing White House spokesperson than Ari Fleischer.

But how does Ari view his success?

“I see myself not just as a role model and entertainer, but as someone who is there to inform. The last thing I want to be is boring,” Ari responds, with typical modesty.

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