100 Day Watch: When Will Obama Let His Aides Do the Talking?

The Gaggle

RSS

Author

Katie Connolly

Ben Adler

Jonathan Alter

Columnist Page

Eleanor Clift

Columnist Page |
Email

Eve Conant

Howard Fineman

Columnist Page

Sarah Kliff

Email |
Twitter

Andrew Romano

Daniel Stone

Featured Postings

A GOP Plan for Deficit Reduction

9:00 AM, February 9, 2010 | Comments (6)

I've been hard on congressional Republicans recently for pandering to voters' ignorance by offering politically appealing but irresponsible slogans instead of a credible conservative vision of how to meet America's challenges, even those they harp on...

The Press Evinces Soft Bigotry Against Republicans─By Not Expecting Them to Govern

1:05 PM, February 1, 2010 | Comments (21)

Conservatives React to State of the Union With Sneers and Jeers

11:50 PM, January 27, 2010 | Comments (18)

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

Holly Bailey

Barack Obama is nearing a big milestone: 100 days in office! You’ve almost made it, Mr. President! One thing your Gaggler is looking for as we near the 100 day mark: When will Obama start to let his cabinet members take on some of his PR responsibilities? Over the last three months, the president has gone before cameras at least two (and sometimes three or four) times a day to announce new policy or talk about what his administration is up to. That’s why reporters have been buzzing about Obama’s use of the teleprompter: There have been days recently where Obama has used the device several times a day to deliver mini-speeches.

All of this has been a calculated move on the part of the White House. Obama aides have wanted the president front and center to show that he was busy doing something on behalf of the American people. After all, Obama himself is his administration’s greatest PR asset, given his huge approval ratings with the public, and everything he says is guaranteed to get press coverage. Plus, Obama aides view it as a good contrast to his critics on Capitol Hill: The White House is busy trying to get stuff done. What is Congress doing?

But the act of going before cameras so many times a day has been grueling not just for Obama but for his aides, who have had to plan out all of these events. In other administrations, presidents have allowed the vice president or other top aides to take on some of the PR workload or have even relied on the magic of the press release to get word out, but not Obama. Twice last week, Obama went before cameras to tout transportation projects—the first time, to talk about how road projects were faring under his stimulus plan, and the second, to tout funding for high speed rail projects. At both events, he was joined by Vice President Biden and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, both of whom would be entirely capable of delivering word of what’s happening on their own. But it wouldn’t have gotten nearly the coverage that Obama got.

But it’s not just the home front. To no one’s surprise, Obama has also taken the lead on foreign policy, leading to some grumbling echoed over the weekend by Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland, who offered the president a little unsolicited advice in a piece called “Look Homeward.” “Stay focused on fixing the American economy. Avoid pleasant distractions created by dealing with foreign leaders and crises without congressional interference. Stay out of the honey-tree trap of commander in chiefism,” Hoagland writes. “Be economical with your personal investment in volatile situations. You have a capable secretary of state in Hillary Clinton. She probably still yearns for the 3 a.m. crisis calls. Give her more of the spotlight and the authority while you help Tim Geithner, your overwhelmed Treasury secretary. Help him help us.” Easy for him to say: Your Gaggler suspects that if Obama had been any less publicly engaged in his foreign policy these early months, his critics, both at home and abroad, would be having a field day. But perhaps the circumstances change a little bit past the big 100-day mark: Will Obama let go on the reins a little bit and allow the people he’s hired to take more of a public role?

Tag(s): Barack Obama, 100 Days

You must be a registered user to comment. Click here to register. Already a user? Click here to login.

Member Comments

No Comments