I guess that pretty soon there will be an all out war on conservative talk radio hosts. We've already seen Obama childishly call out Limbaugh and a bunch of lib's (who have no problem whatsoever with people like Olberman) go off about Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh.
I never intended to read this entire article; the lets bring up talk radio hosts when playing the blame game caught my eye while checking out what was going on out there. The article is a bit long, but I couldnt help
as I kept reading. So, Im posting it (if anyone is bored enough for a read) and decided to throw in my own commentary along with it.
Obama losing the stimulus message war
At this crucial juncture in the push to pass an economic recovery package, President Obama finds himself in the most unlikely of places: He is losing the message war.
Despite Obamas sky-high personal approval ratings, polls show support has declined for his stimulus bill since Republicans and their conservative talk-radio allies began railing against what they labeled as pork barrel spending within it.
Newsflash: It
is pork barrel spending that will not help the economy (despite what some hard core lib's on this message board and elsewhere seem to think...)
The sheer size of it hovering at about $900 billion has prompted more protests that are now causing some moderate and conservative Democrats to flinch and, worse, hesitate.
The anxiety over lost momentum seemed almost palpable this week as the president in television interviews voiced frustration
Wait a minute! The President couldn't have voiced frustration. All liberal's 100% agree that this man is as cool as a cucumber. Voicing frustration shows that he's not so calm and collected - now doesn't it?
with his White Houses progress and the way his recovery program was being demonized as a Democratic spending frenzy.
So, the President didn't like that it was called for what it really is? That's what his "frustration" is all about? Some people saw through his game of words and were smart enough to realize that it is a Democratic spending frenzy and nothing to help out the economy? Awwww..... poor Obama.
In Obamas own words in an NBC interview, its his job to get this thing back on track.
Already, hes trying rolling out Michelle Obama
...Whoa. Why Michelle Obama? 1) Why is he sending her out - like he's still on the campaign trail campaigning for the election? 2) Does he still have her listed as part of his administration? Since when is the First Lady part of a Presidential administration? First Ladies don't know enough; don't have enough experience. Remember Hillary Clinton? She, as a former First Lady, didn't have enough "experience" to run as President. Remember? Thats what Obama said. Thats what his supporters said. Thats what the media pundits said. All she knew how to do was throw a tea party. Is Michelle throwing a lot of tea parties this week?
to talk stimulus Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden
Anyone care to take bets on how many gaffs he makes over this?
on Thursday (at a train station, no less) and sitting down with key senators one-on-one.
But this is unfamiliar turf for a team that achieved near epic status for its communication skills during the presidential campaign. It has rarely ever had to play catch-up.
With the presidents gifted oratory and a technologically savvy team, the Obama camp was able to seize control of the national conversation as early as April and never fully relinquish it right through his inaugural address two weeks ago.
To be sure, some of Obamas headaches stem from the normal dysfunction that occurs when a White House is in transition. Phones dont work, chains of command are fuzzy, and there are formalities that need tending to.
But the Obama team also made its own mistakes. The presidents troubled cabinet nominees added to the cacophony that at times drowned out the White House economic messages in the past two weeks.
And it seems more apparent each day that the nascent Obama administration isnt fully prepared for the task at hand.
The presidents decision to push through a massive stimulus bill, while perhaps unavoidable, is forcing the much-vaunted Chicago crowd to adapt at lightning speed to its more skillful adversaries on Capitol Hill, while at the same time taking a crash course on harnessing the full power of the bully pulpit. If he doesnt figure it out soon, Obama is likely to find out that his stimulus package looks very different than he had in mind indeed.
The Jetsons versus the Flinstones
Obamas campaign was lauded for its visionary use of modern tools for old-fashioned politics. Through the Internet, it recruited supporters, collected dollars, rallied supporters and organized get-out-the vote operations.
But when these modern heroes arrived at the White House, it was like the lights all went out.
Their contact with their millions-fold supporters was cut off, literally, as e-mail systems broke down and The List of political supporters was blocked at the iron gate.
To meet government ethics rules,
So, Obama, as a campaigner didn't meet government ethic rules?
Does Obama meet any ethic rules?
the campaign operation and its grass-roots army were forced to de-camp to the Democratic National Committee, robbing the president of one of his most potent political weapons just as the stimulus bill was under consideration in the House.
But while the White House team struggled to adapt, it was business as usual on Capitol Hill for Republicans.
They could practically sleep-walk through their attack plan
Yeah.. because thats the
only reason theyre voting against the package. It couldnt have
anything to do with that its not a true stimulus package and will do nothing but put our country further into debt as we
continue to spiral down into a recession. It
has to because they just want to attack the Dems. uh-huh. Right.
once House Democrats began to fill in Obamas broad outlines for a stimulus with a few pet projects of their own.
It required two simple steps: Scream pork, call Rush Limbaugh.
1) there was pork
2) Havent the actually added a few things that would
truly help the economy should this thing pass unlike the Dems?
3) The left gives Rush waaaaay to much credit. Why does this one man frighten them so?
They even could have used a rotary phone.
The result: Every House Republican saw a free pass and voted against the first version of the bill.
The outcome is not surprising. Obama had roughly 90 people working at his headquarters on Internet outreach and new technology projects, observes Joe Trippi, a Democratic operative who broke new ground on modern campaigning during Howard Deans 2004 Democratic primary bid.
Even with closet-size spaces, the White House can accommodate only about 200 or so people for jobs ranging from national security to health care reform to Internet guru.
The Obama team built this incredible campaign and now they have these ridiculously primitive tools. The communication tools they mastered dont exist in the White House. Its like they are in a cave, said Trippi.
And now we have the full cop-out excuse for why Obamas stimulus plan is failing; why he is failing at his first big plan. Ladies and gentleman, it has nothing to do with pork. It has nothing to do with government controlled programs that will cause our tax dollar to rise in order to pay for it, cause the value of our dollar to go down in inflation and will still do absolutely nothing for our tanking economy.
Its because Obamas former method of getting things done didnt meet the US Governments ethic regulations so he had to forgo those and his team doesnt know how to pick-up a rotary phone like the Republicans apparently do.
Then there are the masters of the Stone Age, and they are doing a good job, he added.
Learning to play well with others
During the campaign, Obama had complete control over his message. Now, he doesnt, and thats not an easy adjustment for any president.
Yup, now he has to deal with reality and not his Obama-world skewed vision.
Obama must suddenly yield turf to both Capitol Hill and outside interest groups who are trying to help. The results in both cases can be messy.
Wait a minute! Outside interest groups Arent those lobbyists? Didnt Obama say that he would have
nothing to do with them? If so why are they a hang-up?
Obamas decision to provide broad guidelines for the stimulus targeted, timely and temporary rather than issuing specific legislation, was done in deference to Hill lawmakers, especially the Democratic leaders that lord over the legislative branch.
Hey! Hey! An admission that it is the Democratic leaders that lord over the legislative branch. When things (continue) to go wrong remember that, Libs.
But its hardly a secret that the president found unhelpful the House Democrats decision to slip funding for special groups into its version of his stimulus bill.
Oh. The special interest groups have nothing to do with Obama (except for the dozen or so he appointed to his administration) Its the House Dems that deal with special interest groups.
Got it.
Funding to allow Medicaid programs to provide contraceptives as part of its family planning services to low-income recipients was the Republicans first easy mark for attacking the legislation.
How you can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives how does that stimulate the economy? House Minority Leader John A. Boehner asked.
With a phone call from the White House, Obama had that provision stripped from the legislation, but the damage was done, and Republicans soon moved to the next so-called pork project to launch a new attack.
Senate Democrats have vowed to strip those measures from the bill. But now moderate senators, including some Democrats, uneasy with the size of the package are considering trimming one of Obamas top priorities: providing seed money for doctors and hospitals to begin computerizing patient records, a first step in broader reforms he plans to offer on health care.
Similar disconnects are evident in the public campaign for the legislation.
A host of unions and liberal advocacy groups have stepped up to try to help Obama move the legislation through Congress. Their intentions are all good, but its an untested alliance given the Obamas decision to shun such independent support in the campaign. The effort also lacks the dramatic punch and deep pockets that became the signature of his campaign.
According to Evan Tracey, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, about $65,000 has been spent on pro-stimulus ads in a handful of states.
$65000 to promote a bill that will do nothing? Why dont you use that money to help out the economy, Obama? I mean, you're all for Gov hand-outs vs. free enterprise. You blew 65k of Gov hand-out money that you could have used on the people without jobs.
In the last week of the presidential campaign, Obama was spending an average of $250,000 a day on commercials in the Philadelphia market, alone.
The pro-stimulus television ads aired by the outside coalitions echo Obamas message about helping working families survive the worst economic conditions since World War II.
I think that the economist are still in a debate on how bad this is if it is to that level yet. I thought that the liberals werent for fear-mongering? Yet we have one lib on this message board thats eating up the fear daily and is blinded to how back this package is because of it.
But the legally required lack of coordination between the White House and its newest allies has led to other inefficiencies.
Among the targets of the television ad campaign was New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg. Just days later, Obama nominated Gregg to become his new commerce secretary.
More discordant, however, was the impact of a radio ad by Americans United for Change.
Are you with Rush or with Obama? the commentator asked.
The commercial ran in only three states, but it wound up capturing national headlines, elevating a mere radio talk show host to presidential status and sending the White House efforts to recruit moderate Republican support wildly off message.
Owning the bully pulpit
During the presidential campaign, Obamas team used big events to elevate the candidates big ideas or respond to emerging, divisive issues. Remember Philadelphia and the big speech on race relations?
Thats not so easy to do in the White House, which thrives on its own rhythms and traditions.
Thank goodness since Obamas big ideas or whatever were never anything more than hype and propaganda throughout the election.
Obama has certainly tried to exploit those opportunities, offering radio addresses and using what seem to be such routine administration events as announcing a new cabinet pick to pitch the recovery package.
In addition, he has fallen back on the time-honored White House photo-op/meet-and-greet to drive the news of the day.
But the Obama team hasnt mastered the less-is-more formula that isolates a presidential appearance for maximum impact.
Thats a fact. We dont need to see a picture of him on television just to sign a bill. Daily! Mr. President, you are the leader of the free-world (at least until you change that); not a Hollywood celebrity that needs to be on television daily.
Simply put, the way to exploit a White House moment is not to compete with it.
That kind of PR self-control can drive the coverage from the relentless and omnipresent cable outlets back again and again to that singular event.
But the new White House sometimes runs over its own, central economic message.
For instance, Obama hosted at the White House nearly a dozen corporate executives who support his recovery package on the same day the House passed its version of the legislation on a party line vote.
As a consequence, the support for the legislation from a host of cutting-edge technology CEOs was buried amid coverage of the lack of a single House Republican vote in favor of it.
On Monday, the White House tried again.
Obama had sought to illustrate the support he has among governors for the stimulus package by inviting Republican Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas for remarks.
But that news was quickly overtaken by Secretary of State Hillary Clintons swearing-in ceremony.
Obama
finally getting one-upped in the media.
Im sure that he was less than thrilled about that used to being the sole center of attention that hes been.
Especially since the second time was by Hillary Clinton!
Indeed, the Obama team has yet to fully exploit the open and enthusiastic support it has received from such higher profile Republican governors as Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California for his stimulus program.
Eric Eikenberg, Crists chief of staff, said in an interview this week that his boss is hoping federal aid can help the Sunshine State avoid significant layoffs and that the governor is burning the phone lines to turn Republican opposition on Capitol Hill into support.
This can help Florida, Eikenberg said.
But when White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs had a chance to highlight that support on Wednesday, he referred reporters to television interviews of Crist on cable networks rather than an Oval Office moment.
To make matter worse, the White Houses failure to space out events took another toll on its economic public relations campaign.
Just hours after Obama issued new rules on corporate compensation aimed at renewing public support for his recovery package, he signed a major bill expanding health care for children.
To me, each one of those is a stand-alone event, said Tad Devine, a Democratic political consultant. There is a risk of overwhelming things.
I can't stomach the sickening game of the lefties pretending that google-map site is anything more than an intimidation tactic. I'm so darn aggravated at some of them!
Would you mind sharing the link of that article you posted? Where did you find it?
I'm off to see the mouse!
No one should be intimidated because they voted a certain way. 
