President Obama’s remarks on stem cell policy today were disappointing. Not because of the policy change – that was expected – but because the president missed an opportunity to have a serious discussion about the issue, instead opting for tired, dogmatic attacks. Serious people understand that many Americans appreciate the enormous healing potential of stem […]
As Vinca mentioned below, Robert Schlesinger offered his opinion about President Obama’s use of the teleprompter – and given Schlesinger’s thorough knowledge of White House speech history, his opinion should be given weight. But I don’t think he’s entirely right. The crux of Schlesinger’s argument is that there’s no difference between delivering a speech using […]
The Chicago Tribune offers some insight into the Obama-Favreau speechwriting team, which emphasizes crafting speeches as stories. “You and I always tell a story pretty well,” the president reportedly told Favreau, and I think that’s a nice way to look at the process. Also, I nominate David Axelrod for head of the speechwriters’ union: “I’ve […]
President Obama’s interview with the New York Times the other day covered a lot of ground, including four things that struck me: 1) The president offered some reassuring words on the economy, which needed to be said: What I don’t think people should do is suddenly stuff money in their mattresses and pull back completely from spending. I […]
The President’s Weekly Radio Address was a somewhat outmoded custom that President Obama refreshed by ditching the “Radio,” setting up cameras, and putting “Your Weekly Address” on YouTube. This week’s address is a strong pitch in favor of the pretty radical changes the president proposed in his budget. As an opportunity for the president to […]
February 27, 2009 – 4:23 pm
President Obama’s speech today announcing the future withdrawal of US forces from Iraq was outstanding. The president struck exactly the right tone – congratulating the assembled Marines on their success while recognizing that we haven’t quite put a ribbon on the whole project just yet. While Democrats (I’m looking at you, Harry Reid) have too often […]
February 26, 2009 – 3:17 pm
In case you missed it, Barack Obama had absolutely nothing to do with the budget deficit weighing like a rock on his efforts to lead America out of darkness. President Obama’s favorite word these days is “inherited.” It modifies the word “deficit” almost every time the president utters it. In this week’s address to a […]
February 25, 2009 – 5:50 pm
Today, President Obama nominated his third candidate for Commerce Secretary, former Washington governor Gary Locke. Recognizing the “three strikes” pressure weighing on the nomination, the president smartly joked: “I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone that we’ve tried this a couple of times, but I’m a big believer in keeping at something until you get it […]
February 25, 2009 – 3:08 am
President Obama’s address in Congress last night was fine, if a little repetitive. Not repetitive of itself, but of the same messages we’ve been hearing for months (and from both Administrations, really). Economy’s rough, bad loans, losing jobs, taking action, improving credit, preventing foreclosures, holding scoundrels accountable. And of course there was the laundry list […]
February 24, 2009 – 4:20 pm
This evening President Obama will address a joint session of Congress, the speech which is usually a State of the Union address, except when it’s the president’s first year in office. No one wants to saddle the new guy with having to report on the state of a union he’s just taken charge of. This […]
February 23, 2009 – 4:32 pm
I’ve noted before that President Obama suffers from a bit of message schizophrenia when it comes to government spending. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. Sometimes we’ve had too much, sometimes we haven’t had enough. This was on display again this morning as the president made opening remarks at his Fiscal Responsibility Summit. The topline […]
February 19, 2009 – 5:08 pm
Heart-tugging anecdotes are the mother’s milk of political speechwriting. If you’re a Democrat, you love talking about Susan, who can’t get health care and had to give up shoeing her children to buy groceries. (Preferably she lives in the Rust Belt and her husband, Jack, had an assembly-line job until an OSHA-worthy accident left him permanently […]
February 18, 2009 – 12:56 pm
President Obama is unveiling his housing rescue plan at a high school in Mesa, Arizona. (Not sure about that venue. If you’re a high-school homeowner you are either very successful or very deceptive. But anyway…) The details of the plan are complicated and the impact likely won’t be known for some time. But the messages […]
February 17, 2009 – 3:23 pm
In today’s Politico Playbook, Mike Allen mentions a new White House slideshow of behind-the-scenes photos from the stimulus negotiating process. The general theme of the pics is of a president vigorously doing the public’s work. Then there’s slide #4, which is a picture of the president meeting with Republican members of Congress. The caption notes this, then says: […]
February 16, 2009 – 9:25 am
Happy Presidents Day to presidents old and new. It seems unfair that the president always ends up working on Presidents Day. You’d think he’d qualify for a day off if millions of people around America who have nothing to do with the presidency get to spend the day catching up on “Law and Order” reruns […]
