Like the passing love affairs that Donald Trump has with each new wife, cracks seem to be appearing in the I-Heart-Obama campaign by American media. Today’s article by marketing columnist Denny Hatch is a fair criticism of PR gaffes by the current administration. And this critique is from a man who was an unabashed supporter of the current president. Regardless of your political bent, his comments are right on the mark when it comes to perception vs. reality. It’s an interesting read: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/barack-obama-ceos-dont-understand-art-science-public-relations/2. What’s more, among the many links in the article regarding possible replacements for his presidential press secretary (both Democrats & Republicans), I found this particular video clip
from an interview with George Will on the Charlie Rose show circa 2008. Note this juicy quote: “The three great love affairs in world history were Romeo & Juliet, Abelard and Heloise and the American Media and Barack Obama. And we’ll see how long this one lasts.”
Piggyback PR 
Hatch makes some good points about the lack of good PR skills in White House, at least pertaining to recent issues. He adds the section on a possible “Presidential Conspiracy” which I found to be entertaining and a very repetitive story line, usually occuring around the issue of a president’s lack of response or “right response” usually based upon public opinion. I do agree that Obama overlooked the importance of the oil spill maybe because of other, more pressing matters, but partially because it’s an issue that is not easy to resolve. It almost seems that every president needs to have at least one “black mark” during his service. It’s almost become part of their sworn “duty”.
There does seem to be a “herding” effect lately with people’s love for our current President. This article touches on a key point and that is that there do seem to be some “gaps” in information in the handling of some key issues. As we have learned, if you don’t feed the media or people wanting information, they will conclude things on their own anyway!
In terms of the press secretary, I feel he is doing a fine job and the challenges he faces everyday are truly larger than life.
I agree that closing the doors will not benefit the administration in anyway and not only will they conclude things on their on way, but sooner or later they will found out. The down side would be that media will present and state the information instead of the office.
President Obama doesn’t seem to be handling the BP oil spill very well at all but Emma made a really good point about how every president needs to have at least “one black mark” during their service, and I haven’t lost my faith in him. It’s definitely not a problem that can be solved easily, but when the public continues to see the destruction that is continually unfolding from it and the failed attempts to neutralize it – people are going to make their assumptions.
Every president has their own set of problems they must deal with during the term they are serving. It is unpredictable as to what they might have to deal with, you want to give them a break since it is such a hard job, but at the same time they were confident enough to run for the job. I like Obama also and I haven’t lost any faith in him, but I think he needs to make up some ground here, his ratings really aren’t reflecting what the people had in mind when they voted for him.
I would have to agree with the above comment about our “love” and “hate” for our current president. It seems people are so back and forth with him. Even though he is president people make mistakes. The press secretary is doing well with handling everything I feel though as if we should be more informed so that the media doesn’t keep adding on to stories and making things look worse
I think you’ve brought up a great point that the public’s need to be more informed so we aren’t misled by stories from the media. Sadly I think that there’s a large amount of the public that don’t put the effort necessary to really see what’s happening and so they’ll watch their television shows and see these repetitive stories. Which in turn ingrain into their heads as truth, and then it seems like it stops there. So how can we be more informed? That leads me to my next thing about the article. I watched some of the videos and couldn’t even finish watching the David Axelrod video because of all the “um’s” and I wonder if that’s the same for other people. So maybe it’s possible that we just need a spokesperson that we can listen to without losing the whole message because we started to count how many times they’ve stammered.
I agree that people go back and forth with Obama all the time. When he got in everyone loved him but since then the excitement has died down. Whether it was this or something else people will find a reason to not like him. I do think that he could have handled the BP ordeal better but just like everyone else he cant come up with a solution
I agree that there is a love hate relationship with President Obama, but he isn’t the first and won’t be the last. It seems like anybody in the public eye can be hated one day and loved the next. Its the job of that person and their PR rep to make sure they are loved more than hated. Especially for a person in a political postion.
I feel like there was a very strong love relationship with Obama during his campaign, and over the past few months, more and more people are not really loving him as much.
The same thing went with Bush and Clinton, too. Not to mention anyone in Hollywood is adored one day and is involved in some scandal the next. Seems like the media cares more about negativity than it does any positive news, too. That’s exactly why PR people are essential to any organization, ESPECIALLY the US Government.
I definitely agree. The American publics are like sheep sometimes and the right media outlet with the right spin on something can change opinions on just about everything. Obama might be lacking in certain social and environmental action, but at least he hasn’t raised “terror levels” and enacted vigilante justice upon his so-called enemies. Coming from the last 8 years, I’d say we have it pretty damn good in comparison so people should stop complaining and let the man do his difficult job.
Obama’s problem is that Americans have looked at this fiasco and concluded that we should not allow such disasters to occur. If a problem with a well occurs it should be fixed quickly. If it can’t be addressed quickly, then the operation should not be permitted in the first place. The President is forced to either admit that the official policy of his administration is to allow deep-water drilling operations that cannot be conducted safely or he is forced to admit that he let British Petroleum jerk his administration’s chain for weeks on end. Either way, there is no alternative that does not reflect poorly on Obama.
Great response Nejla! You were very right in your statement that “if an issue can’t be fixed quickly (or at least have a plan) it shouldn’t be allowed in the first place.” Unfortunately, people/tycoons in a hurry to make big money don’t usually approach plans with this mindset, which is the same reason for America’s large and growing deficit. At this point, the damage has been done, and yes, there probably is no alternative that won’t negatively affect Obama’s image along with BP’s and the others involved.
I too agree with you Nejla and Emma, if a possible issue could arise from something and there isn’t a back up plan then it shouldn’t be allowed. But who is the one too prevent this from happening? The government by setting the laws and regulations for business practices? Or the business it self by being more conscious of possible problems arising from their actions? You would hope that both of these actions would take place, but it appears that neither one had stepped up in the beginning, considering our current situation in the Gulf. It is just too bad that nobody was willing to really step up and take claim to what had happened in the beginning and I think that is why these people in the spot light now look even more foolish.
I agree with Emma that the procedure should not have been allowed to take place in the first place. The President and current administration can press BP to find a way to stop the spill, but no one seems to have an answer to the problem. BP should never have been allowed to continue when they first found out that there was a problem, but I don’t think the administration and the President are responsible for that, BP is. The media and the President’s relationship may currently look to be souring a bit, but that’s due to an economy that was inherited in very terrible shape. It’s gonna take time to fix it, and unfortunately we all may be responsible for that in one way or another.
We see a back and forth when agreeing and disagreeing with our presidents. I think a lot of this comes from technology today. The public has so many resources at there finger tips at all times which reveals the time decisions take at the white house. Obama can’t just push the issue off on BP and back and forth, this will only delay the problem. Obama is the president and this is a Major Crisis and most be on Obamas plate of issues to tackle.
George Will brought up a good point in stating that the President in in the living rooms of America 24/7. This is true and troublesome. This fact could sway the American public to vote for the person who is sociable, warm, and cuddly, instead of the candidate that would best run the country. I am not saying that this is what has happened, just that the potential for something like this to occur is great.
If anyone is foolish enough to upload info that is of such a personal nature that it can be used against you to social networking sites then they probably deserve to be targeted. Privacy is not what it used to be but it still remains people’s own choice as to what they upload in terms of pictures and info. If something is sensitive and potentially damaging, don’t be ignorant enough to put it on the internet!
Whoops…I meant to put my last post on the “Facebook Dilemma” blog.