Obama's Prime Time Presser: A Learning Curve
By Kevin Robinson in News on Feb 10, 2009 3:20PM
President Obama held a prime time national press conference last night, addressing the American public about the state of the economy and the need for a recovery plan that is "big enough and bold enough to meet the size of the economic challenge we face right now." Speaking of the people he met in Elkhart, IN today, "a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America," and faces 15% unemployment, Obama urged swift action to bring the first piece of major legislation to his desk in days, not weeks.
Speaking to opponents of the bill, Obama said "the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs," and noted that in "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression, doing too little or nothing at all will result in an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes; and confidence. That is a deficit that could turn a crisis into a catastrophe."
The opening remarks that Obama made were exactly what one would expect from him - on point, direct and forceful, if not a little elegant. What was perhaps more telling, however, is what happened when he opened the floor to questions. Barack Obama is a great speaker when he's prepared - when he's been briefed and understands the issue, he can speak with a confidence and clarity unrivaled by many modern speakers. Unfortunately, when he speaks to issues that he has not studied, or hasn't made a decision on, he tends to be long on words and short on substance. In the first 40 minutes of his press conference, he responded to only eight questions. On topics that ranged from how he will handle his pledge to be bipartisan in the future, to dealing with Iran, from press access to military deaths to steriods in baseball (seriously - WTF?), he let one of his worst traits get the best of him.
In spite of his stumbles last night, Obama demonstrated one of the traits that helped him win the election: his ability to learn from his experiences as they are happening. After nearly two weeks of meeting with congressional leaders, working on legislative compromises and largely staying out of the limelight, hoping that Congress would deliver an acceptable economic recovery bill to his desk in a short time frame, Barack Obama has changed tactics, taking his case directly to the American public. After nearly two weeks of losing the public debate on which direction the government should take, (if any) on the economy, he's marked a decided shift in tactics going forward. From his visit to Elkhart to the totality of the press conference, Barack Obama drove much of the political conversation on the economy today, a victory in a legislative battle that the new president has struggled to manage for the first few weeks of his administration.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci