The last several posts on Robert Reich and Sarah Palin brought to mind one thought: sex appeal. But before anyone protests the direction of our family-friendly blog, it turns out www.whitehouse.gov is working blue, too. Speaking with Energy Secy Steven Chu about “new efficiency standards on fluorescent and incandescent lighting” in the federal government, President Obama […]
President Obama today issued some of his strongest words about the situation unfolding in Iran. Opening his 378th press conference, the president said: The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I […]
President Obama has been reserved in his comments about the situation unfolding in Iran, and politicians and commentators across the political spectrum are urging him to say more. The president’s low-volume strategy is undergirded by two assumptions: first, that public support from the US president will feed the Iranian regime’s efforts to pin the protests […]
One of the quirks of Republican speechmaking is that for all their bluster about small government, Republicans often define their achievements by how much money they spend. President Bush, for instance, touted the extra education funding he doled out alongside the reforms of No Child Left Behind. I’ve always thought it’s a bit of a […]
Over at NewMajority.com, a self-described PR professional named Crystal Wright reviews three problems she sees with President Obama’s PR record while in office. Here’s a sample: The president’s single biggest PR mistake is his over-exposure in the media. When anyone talks too much, president or celebrity, people just get tired of listening to that person. […]
Today’s Wall Street Journal takes a humorous look at the proliferation of acronyms in stimulus-era Washington. They include the ugly (RAT Board), odd (LUST Trust), and potentially profane (FCCCER). But the Commerce Department (AKA DOC) takes the cake: Some government departments have described their stimulus plans almost entirely in acronyms, such as the Department of Commerce, […]
Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson today asks a question vexing conservatives: “Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage [as President Obama has]?” His answer: no – and that’s not healthy. Samuelson points to a new Pew study that attaches some numbers to the sense of coziness between the Administration and the […]
Today, in nominating Circuit Court judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court, President Obama discussed a few qualities he seeks in a justice. The “first and foremost” — a rigorous intellect — is obvious. The third — “a common touch and sense of compassion” — has been a key messaging point […]
I had a seat in the audience yesterday for former Vice President Richard Cheney’s speech on the threat to the United States of terrorism, on methods used to interrogate captured terrorists during the Bush years and on the Obama Administration’s release of documents detailing those methods. It was at the American Enterprise Institute here in […]
You may recall that President Obama recently referred to certain Chrysler creditors as “speculators” because they expected more for their investment in the troubled automaker than the 29 cents on the dollar the Administration was offering. Most of those creditors have since given up their legitimate claims, rather than face continued tongue-lashings from the president. […]
Politico‘s speechwriter correspondent, Carol Lee, profiles one of the non-celebrity members of President Obama’s speechwriting staff, foreign policy wordsmith Ben Rhodes. For those of us looking to pin blame for the president’s European and Latin American remarks on Mr. Rhodes, not so fast: Some Republicans said the president’s Europe speeches showed he was there on […]
What’s with conservatives getting all bent out of shape over humor? Last week, after Wanda Sykes told a few Rush Limbaugh jokes at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, several commentators on the right tut-tutted. “He needs a good waterboarding,” she said, and she claimed “I think he was the twentieth hijacker. But he was […]
Maybe Veridian Dynamics was right after all. Last week President Obama verbally spanked Chrysler creditors who didn’t want to take the government’s offer of 29 cents for each dollar of debt they held. “Speculators,” the president called them, insisting that they were holding out for “an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout.” Despite the presidential tongue-lashing, the creditors initially […]
When President Obama requested prime network time yet again last week, it meant some TV shows got bumped. Among them, Better Off Ted, a new ABC comedy struggling for ratings. Better Off Ted is a funny look inside the fictional Veridian Dynamics, a mega-industrial company in the GE mold, but with highly questionable ethics. Each […]
