Barack Obama may be one of the best communicators of this generation, but he is not measuring his rhetoric to so-called experts’ expectations. In a year of disasters, he’s not sweating the memes; he’s working the problems that years of past administrations’ taking chances with disaster have handed him.
Many persons, perhaps people whose livelihoods depend on their chat-first approach to governance catching on, would prefer that the moment any new crisis emerges, that the President have something definitive to say about it. Something like, oh "The Sky is Falling." "The Flood is Coming." "The World Ends in 2012" "Buy Gold Now!"
One imagines that the onset of a major oil spill communicates its magnitude and urgency all by itself. Granted, it might not hurt to get a quote on camera, to give historians and media consultants some material to play with as they write their dissertations and pad their resumes. Because, in the world of the so-called experts, giving BP enough rope to either save itself or hang itself is bad politics.
More below the break...
According to so-called experts, the result was visible in the press conference yesterday – " He was on the defensive. He needed to be on the offensive!"
Maybe it’s just me but remind me: Who is on the hook for this ecological disaster, BP or the government?
Last I looked, most Americans set the blame squarely at BP’s doorstep. The images of the ‘plume of doom’ said it all.
Amazing, what pictures can do that word-smithing simply cannot.
Ah, but the so-called experts aren’t done yet.
When you are good at word-smithing, you get to put words in people’s mouths. Just as any so-called expert!
Why, apparently, having mind-reading powers goes with the territory when you are smarter in language matters than pedestrians like Noam Chomsky.
Why, you can label anyone defensive and weak...and it sticks, because you have awesome mind-reading powers!!!!.
Of course, there is that outside chance that .. sorry..no. You don’t in fact have awesome mind-reading powers. In that case, everything you claim to know about the thought process and work habits of President Obama might be.. .what is that word I am looking for, Mr. Wordsmith?... WRONG. Oh, yes. That’s the word.
So what is the actual Obama narrative? Let me give it a go. Granted, I am just an amateur and lack awesome mind-reading powers but you never know. I might get lucky here:
This is a tough, unprecedented situation, one of many facing the country today. You might have noticed with have two major wars in Asia and a third could be on the way. Then there is that whole "we just updated the national security doctrine" thing. Did I mention the stock and credit markets were flaking out over debt issues in Greece and elsewhere in Europe? Just an FYI. Oh – and the entire Gulf and perhaps East Coast of the United States of America is now threatened by the BP Oil Spill. Alright, I’m on that , too.
Now, some so-called communications experts just happen to be self-declared experts on energy policy as well. Apparently, an administration making significant curtailments to offshore drilling and fortifying long-neglected safety regulations is just not up to specs. The same so-called poly-experts do not offer alternatives of any kind. Perhaps we should not adjust offshore drilling policy? Not beef up regulations and inspections? Nothing is better than not nearly good enough?
Okay, at this point, capping on so-called experts is like shooting fish in a barrel, so I’m going to wrap this up with one more shot at the tank:
"Crises are opportunities...and the President missed them." I was not aware that the country was wrecked by:
- the Stimulus Package...
- the passing of Health Care Reform...
- the new START treaty...
- the administration’s strategic focus on Pakistan all last summer..
- ongoing contact exchanges at all levels of government between the United States and China, for the select purpose of gearing up for a North Korea endgame...
- and oh looky here! the endgame might well be nigh!...
- loan assistance for underwater houses...
- sending 1,200 National Guard troops to both shut up the extreme right in Arizona AND provide some insurance that the civil rights of Hispanic Americans are not goosestepped on....
- and other issues of substance to be named later.
Just a couple of days ago, President Obama.. sorry, Barack Hussein Obama (let’s rub salt in this particular wound, you will see why it’s funny in a moment) went to have a meeting with Republicans. The GOP’s high and mighty had lots of terse comments to say afterward.
But you know what? He’s President of the United States. And all those self-selected so-called powers that be hand to stand up when he entered the room... applaud when he took the podium.. applaud again (and stand!) when he left.
They might have wanted to call him nasty names to his face. Boy, did they, I bet.
But as long as he was in the same room they called him something else entirely.
They called him "Mr. President."
Or, better yet – they called him "Sir."
Sure, it’s all well and good to say – in the capacity of the so-called communications expert with awesome mind-reading powers – "Obama needs to be on the offensive! He needs to be strong! He missed every opportunity!"
But.. he’s the President.
And all he had to do, to be assertive and strong in the face of his worst rivals, was show up for the meeting.
Just sayin’.