We’re All Dangerous Now

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 17, 2009 – 3:16 pm

One of the incontrovertible rules of government PR is that if you want to say something unpopular, say it on a Friday.

Latest example: today’s EPA announcement of a proposed finding “that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.”

This isn’t a shock to anyone who’s ever listened to a Democratic politician talk about the environment. But the unpopular subtext is that the federal government is preparing to heavily regulate carbon emissions regardless of whether members of Congress (AKA “elected officials”) act.

And then there’s the small matter of breathing. Since humans produce carbon dioxide through normal respiration, and carbon dioxide is a “greenhouse gas,” EPA suggests we’re all endangering each other’s health just by breathing. Finally, an excuse not to exercise!

I don’t like to be alarmist about these things. I prefer to think that globally cooler heads will prevail. But regulating individual use of carbon is, unfortunately, not confined to the realm of crackpot ideas.

David Miliband, the UK’s foreign secretary, once proposed that his government issue individuals a “carbon credit card” from which their usage could be deducted. (No word on whether you’d have to hold your breath if you surpass your annual balance.)

Closer to home, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, President Obama’s rhetorical muse, has toyed with the idea of equipping cars with GPS mileage monitors so people could be taxed for their carbon usage depending on how far they drive. (He’s apparently forgotten that gas taxes already do that, without the civil liberties headaches.)

Transportation secretary Ray LaHood also floated the idea, which was quickly shot down by the White House.

So far, the White House is laying low on EPA’s announcement, indicating that they’d prefer a Congressional solution to the carbon issue. But either way, we should expect to pay more for … well, doing just about everything.

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“A Dark and Painful Chapter”

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 17, 2009 – 2:27 pm

Sorry for the long post, but I had some thoughts on the Obama Administration’s release of previously classified Justice Department memos on the treatment of detainees, a move that resulted from a lawsuit by the ACLU.

On balance, I think it may be a good thing. As the president said in his statement accompanying the release, “withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States.”

The only value a potential terrorist might find in them is to know that, were he subjected to “enhanced interrogation” techniques by the CIA, he’d be very unlikely to actually be hurt.

The memo from May 30, 2005, for instance, states that medical personnel evaluate and monitor detainees before, during, and after the application of any such technique to ensure that the detainee “is not likely to suffer any severe physical or mental pain or suffering as a result of interrogation.”

And beyond that, President Obama has already said – and reiterated yesterday – that he has “taken steps to ensure that the actions described within [the memos] never take place again.”

It could be helpful for Americans to know what the techniques are. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “torture” I think of some pretty awful stuff. Stuff that might have been used in ancient Rome, or by Saddam Hussein.

The memos paint a different picture. Read More »

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Roe, Roe, Roe Your Hijacked Boat

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 15, 2009 – 1:56 pm

File this under “never allow a crisis to go to waste.”

Mike Allen includes a remarkable tidbit in today’s Playbook:

FROM THE RIGHT — CREATIVITY IN E-MAILING — Family Research Council, for “Victory at Sea”: “As you know, I don’t agree with the majority of the President’s policies, but I believe he deserves credit for doing the right thing off the African coast.… Despite what some say, Captain Phillips is alive today because his government acted in the interest of preserving life.… At FRC, we remind the president that every life–whether in the belly of a life raft or the womb of its mother–deserves this same level of protection from their government.”

Astounding. What’s most remarkable is that the email doesn’t just mix messages, it blends terms: notice how “belly” — a word that conjures thoughts of pregnancy — is used to refer to the pirate saga! Meanwhile “belly of a life raft” and “womb of its mother” both convey protection and shelter in a precarious situation. (Read the whole email here.)

It’s so well done that you almost lose sight of the fact that it’s ridiculous.

Whatever your thoughts on the subject of abortion, the folks at FRC seem to have a knack for bending headline news to fit their messaging.

New challenge for the FRC: Craft a memo linking Hugo Chavez and gay marriage.

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The Fed Gets Chatty

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 14, 2009 – 10:35 pm

The Wall Street Journal examines Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent “PR push,” including a well-received “60 Minutes” interview last month, a full-on press conference with reporters, and Tuesday’s appearance at Morehouse College, during which Bernanke took questions at a roundtable with students.

Bernanke’s larger mission is to make the Fed more transparent, which has proven helpful as the institution fights the financial crisis alongside the Treasury, White House, Congress, and central banks around the world.

But there are a couple of questions the Fed should consider as it determines whether to continue chatting up the public.

First, to whom is the Fed speaking? Traditionally, the Fed chief has a few audiences: Congress, the global trading community, academic economists, and other central bankers. Because these audiences are fairly sophisticated, the language used to communicate with them tends to be technical, unvarnished, and specific.

Appearing on “60 Minutes” and at campus events suggests an effort to reach a wider audience. Is the Fed prepared to make its language more accessible to less financially sophisticated listeners? Can it do so without abandoning the precision necessary of such an influential institution? If not, Bernanke could end up confusing more people than he’s enlightening and potentially causing heartburn in markets.

Second, what is the Fed’s role in the government’s economic messaging? Read More »

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Barack Obama And The Return of Eloquence

By Jeff Nussbaum (WWW)
April 13, 2009 – 11:28 am

Has Barack Obama brought eloquence back to 21st-century politics for good?

That’s the question  (hagiographical as it may be) that animates the BBC’s new documentary, Yes We Can! The Lost Art of Oratory.

Full disclosure:  I was interviewed for this series, although I haven’t yet figured out if I outmuscled — our out-talked — the likes of Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Bob Geldof, Neil Kinnock, Ted Sorenson, and Alastair Campbell for screen time.

My posture, for what it’s worth, is that eloquence never left American politics — it’s just that modern media has made more attractive those candidates who can master both the art of conversation and oration.

It’ll be interesting to see what other participants in this project had to say.

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Video Killed the Spontaneous Star?

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 12, 2009 – 8:26 am

Interesting commentary from Virginia Heffernan in the April 12 New York Times Magazine on the paradox of YouTubery in our nation’s political arena.

On the one hand, video has been a gift to folks like yours truly who believe in the power of a great speech — extending the life of a speech well beyond the event itself, multiplying its audience, and amplifying its message.  President Obama’s speech on race last year was heard live by the guests at the Philadelphia Constitution Center; on YouTube, it”s been viewed more than 5 million times.

At the same time, when politicians and public figures know that anything they say or do may end up online, to be run in an endless loop or edited down to make them look bad, it has a chilling effect on spontaneity… and perhaps on revealing their true personality as well.  Here’s an excerpt from Heffernan’s article:

We tend to assume that the proliferation of digital media must be coarsening American speech and behavior. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. The threat posed by video parodists appears to have turned public figures watchful and cautious, like people who affect polite reserve in crowds for fear of being mocked or mugged. In the midst of so much digital chicanery, celebrity comportment may grow steadily more formal. Last month, Madonna, no stranger to rambunctious talk-show appearances, posted a promotional talking-head video on YouTube; her level-gaze, perfect-diction style resembled Madeleine Albright’s. This makes sense, as satirists handily exaggerate even the merest idiosyncrasies to grotesqueness.

While it’s hard to knock this comeback of poise, something is lost when politicians must be always ready for their close-up and when that close-up is required to be as unrevealing as possible. The spontaneity, irreverence and emotionalism that used to thrive on cable news — when Donald Rumsfeld, say, could be TV gold and Joe Biden regularly flaunted his bluntness — is harshly treated on the Web, where politicians do best when they stand on ceremony. Figures like Biden and Lawrence Summers have tamped down their extravagant personae or have been kept from cameras altogether, lest any sign of personality be read as a “gaffe” or an “outburst.” In the recent past, a feisty vice president or administration official might have been expected to let loose at live events or on cable showdowns. Now any imagined gain that comes with a display of passion or indignation is assumed to be rapidly offset by pointed YouTube interpretations like “Hillary Clinton: Liar” or “Has Dick Cheney Lost His Mind?”

Read the full article here.

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America’s Top Role Model

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 10, 2009 – 8:27 am

michelle-obama-460_1378070c1I really appreciated Ed’s post a few days back about the double standard women leaders face on the wardrobe issue.

It’s true that Michelle Obama’s clothes garnered a disproportionate amount of attention during this recent Europe trip.

And let’s be honest:  she looked fantastic.  Her clothes were gorgeous, and so is she.  It makes me proud that our nation’s First Family is so stunningly attractive.

And I don’t have a problem with the press being interested in this — or any other — First Lady’s style.

My problem is when the coverage focuses on style at the expense of substance.

Because Michelle Obama is a fabulous role model for girls and women around the world — from little girls growing up on the South Side of Chicago and wondering what their futures will hold… to young women who’ve made it to Ivy League schools and worry about how to combine a high-powered career with marriage and a family… to the hundreds of millions of girls and women around the world whose societies and cultures tell them every day that their lives are worth less than those of boys and men.

Where is the coverage of what she said in Europe, instead of simply how she looked?  Why do we know more about her designers than about anything she actually did while overseas? Read More »

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Yeah, President’s Cool; Got Anything Else?

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 10, 2009 – 1:17 am

Arizona State University apparently has the toughest standards ever for being awarded an honorary degree. So tough, in fact, that President Obama doesn’t qualify.

The Huffington Post writes:

Universities typically confer an honorary degree on commencement speakers, particularly those who have reached the pinnacle of their career or achieved the top of their field. Arizona State University (ASU), though, says it will not confer an honorary degree on this year’s commencement speaker, President Barack Obama, because “his body of work is yet to come.”

Seriously?

Quick question: How many ASU alums have been elected president of the United States? Is the answer somewhere in the zero range?

That’s what I thought.

Why don’t we just assume that conferring an honorary degree on the president won’t diminish the stature of other honorary degree recipients and may in fact make you look like you’re not from another planet.

Golly. If Barack Obama’s “body of work” isn’t up to ASU’s standards, I don’t think there’s hope for any of us.

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The King and He

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 10, 2009 – 12:57 am

President Obama may have bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the G20 meeting last week. Or maybe he didn’t. It’s not clear because the footage doesn’t indicate conclusively what happened.

Here’s White House press scold Robert Gibbs telling a reporter that he’s stupid for even asking the question.

But petty White House press secretaries aside, why don’t we just agree on a basic understanding: If President Obama accidentally bowed toward King Abdullah because Abdullah was looking all king-y, he probably knows by now that it wasn’t a good idea. I expect that the next time they meet, the president will just give him a noogie or something to let him know who’s boss.

This should affect Saudi-U.S. relations approximately 0.0 percent.

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Look at You, Ben Affleck

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 10, 2009 – 12:38 am

Ben Affleck, often considered the moon to Matt Damon’s sun, is out with a new movie, State of Play, in which he portrays a congressman.

In this interview with the Wall Street Journal, he demonstrates a more sober analysis of the banking mess confronting Wall Street and Washington than 93.7 percent of Congress:

WSJ: Do you think the government is being distracted by issues such as the bonuses being paid out to AIG executives?

Mr. Affleck: The issue is a minute fraction of the larger picture and for it to command all of our leader’s time…I only wish they had spent that much time and paid that much attention to our original bailout plan. My other concern is: We own AIG. They’re our company. We own 80% of it. I mean, if you loaned a businessman money, you wouldn’t immediately go around town badmouthing the guy, because you want him to stay in business so he can pay you back. We’re talking about a $170 billion loan. Maybe they can’t pay all of it back, but you want some of it back.

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Backwards and in High Heels

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 9, 2009 – 5:14 pm

Michelle Obama SleevegateOne of the strange curiosities of modern politics is the totally in-your-face double standard confronting political women: the wardrobe issue.

We’ve all heard that clothes make the man. But apparently they absolutely define the woman, as far as DC chatterers are concerned.

Whether it’s Hillary’s pantsuits or Condi’s knee-high boots or Sarah’s glasses or Laura and Michelle’s designers, women at the highest reaches of government face constant scrutiny of what they’re wearing — the kind of scrutiny that would wilt Washington’s men, most of whom are inclined toward a suit falling chromatically between dark blue and grey.

I had a conversation last week with two ordinarily sane human beings who were offended — offended! — that Mrs. Obama wore a sleeveless dress to the president’s joint-session speech in February. It defies decorum, they argued, as if she had shown up at Congress in a tank top rather than the very elegant dress she wore (pictured).

The Obamas’ recent trip to Europe brought more scrutiny of the first lady’s outfits, though I’m pretty sure no one checked the labels on POTUS’s suits.

My former boss, Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to Laura Bush, explains in this commentary that there’s a heck of a lot more that goes into planning a foreign trip for a first lady than simply clothes. Though even Anita admits that shoes and outfits and accessories get a lot of pre-trip thought because, quite literally, the world is watching — and judging.

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I Heart Hillary II

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 8, 2009 – 3:17 pm

As I noted in an earlier post, I’m a fan of Secretary Clinton.  This intel from a recent post on Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog helps explain why:

Clinton is drawing praise from some State Department officials for making a real effort to show her appreciation for staff.

The secretary is doing thank-yous to the people who worked on her recent trips, one senior State Department official told The Cable. “She invited the drafters and desk officers from [the South Asia] bureau, Holbrooke’s office and the European bureau up this morning to the Treaty Room to say thanks and shake everyone’s hand. Unprecedented. I understand she’s done this four or five times, including for her Mexico trip.”

She also came down to shake hands and thank people from the Near East Asia bureau after her Sharm el-Sheikh trip, Middle East hands noted.

“I do think the secretary has been a real good thing for morale in the building,” another senior State Department official said. “She goes out of her way to show appreciation.”

That’s leadership.

(And it reminds me of something Samuel Goldwyn once said:  “When someone does something good, applaud!  You will make two people happy.”)

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English Speakers

By Vinca LaFleur (WWW)
April 7, 2009 – 2:57 pm

A few PodPund-ish items to report from across the Atlantic.

First, a new reality TV show on BBC2, called “The Speaker”:

With Barack Obama having revived interest in the ancient art of oratory, it’s now time to take a group of awkward kids and teach them to speechify like the greats. But the idea of standing up and speaking in front of a crowd is many teenagers’ idea of unmitigated hell, and public speaking is not as much a part of the educational tradition in the UK as it is in areas of continental Europe and the US.

This new talent contest, however, finds enough 14- to 18-year-olds who are willing to give it their all to create an interesting exercise. Wisecracking outgoing types who love to be the centre of attention come up against quiet, sensitive types in a bid to wow the judges with their passion and eloquence.

Tony Blair’s former communications chief Alastair Campbell is among the show’s expert advisors.

Meanwhile, Hansard has offered up a collection of the greatest speeches delivered in the UK Parliament over the past 100 years.  For a heavily hyper-linked review, click here.

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Commander in Chief Visits Iraq

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 7, 2009 – 1:56 pm

Who knew President Obama had one more rockstar welcome up his sleeve? AP reports the president was “cheered wildly” today when he spoke to and met with U.S. forces in Iraq. Much better than being fawned over by Europeans, right?

About six weeks ago, the president delivered what I thought was a very impressive speech on the future of Iraq policy. His remarks were most notable for their tone of victory rather than the defeatist language that plagued so much Democratic rhetoric on Iraq for so long. The change was due to substantial improvements in Iraq as a result of the surge strategy, and also to Mr. Obama’s growth from candidate to president.

Today, in his unannounced visit to Iraq, President Obama reprised the themes of that February speech, thanking service members and lauding them not just for their sacrifice, but for their success — a success that makes future political achievements possible.

The president also reiterated that the job isn’t done. Read More »

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Obama Butters Up Europe, Sneaks in Criticism

By Ed Walsh (WHWG)
April 3, 2009 – 3:11 pm

The Awesomeness Tour continued today, with President Obama traveling to Germany and France, where, the Associated Press reports, he was “welcomed with thunderous cheers.”

I’m sure it’s fun for the president to be in a place where people just L-U-V luv him! But it’s painful for me to listen to his kow-towing to liberal European opinion. At a town hall event in Strasbourg, for instance, he reinforced the canard that Washington regularly dissed Europe over the last seven years:

I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there’s something more that has crept into our relationship. In America, there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

Really? Such as when we worked with NATO to build the mission in Afghanistan — a mission that continues even as Europeans grow tired of it? Or developed stronger procedures for sharing intelligence data to track down suspected terrorists in Europe? Or urged Europe to take the lead in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear ambitions (a strategy Senator Obama derided)?

No, the reality is that America has shown an openness to working with Europeans whenever our goals allow for mutual cooperation. Even in Iraq Read More »

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