BP - Absolute Worst Public Relations Savvy in History of Human Enterprise

I understand it's not the same thing.

Where did I say it was?

Why is everyone so defensive?

Did you really expect your President to go eight years and receive no criticism?

It was a couple of simple questions. There's no reason to act like I accused him of kidnapping and murder or like I asked anything tougher than was it a good PR move for Rahm to pile on and for Obama to play a round of golf.

You answer that it's not the same thing. I know that.

Now try to actually answer my question. Was it good PR for Obama? It's not hard.

 

It's utterly meaningless, indifferent PR to 98% of the country. He's the president. No one reasonably expects him to sit at his desk in the Oval Office, wringing his hands over the inequities of the world 20 hours a day every single day of his term. He gets to golf now and then. He gets to go to ball games. We get that.

The other two percent of the country is desperate to score points by "proving" that BP is Obama's Katrina and will scream about everything he does. To them, it's bad PR... and anything else he close to do would be bad PR with that group, too.

 

You should apply to be a moderator. You always so helpful.

And we're not discussing politics. We're discussing the PR savvy of BP and the President.

It's not the same thing.

I haven't commented on or criticized his politics or any political decision.

 

YF: We all know your leanings, so to be fair, your own questions don't exactly spring from a foundation of intellectual honesty. Admit it. Your interests here lie in painting Obama in a bad light.

As to your questions:

1. I'm not sure there are any hard and fast standards for situations like this. Like Harry Blackmun (I believe) once famously said of pornography, you know it when you see it. And good PR certainly doesn't include jetting off to nice clean waters to enjoy a boat race, when your company has fouled thousands of square miles of beaches and water, depriving millions of others of both their livelihood and the chance to enjoy similar receational opportunities. And yeah, as head of the company that caused the problem, the standards certainly apply to Heyward.

2 and 3. Good PR move for Emanuel to attack Heyward? Absolutely. Pretty much a can't-miss situation when tone-deaf dolts like Heyward and his cohorts keep lobbing hanging sliders at you. And as for Obama's leisure activity: I think most Americans are intelligent enough to separate the two. We realize that even when he's on the golf course or at a Nats game, the President is still on duty. I don't think reasonable folks are going to begrudge the President his personal time, unless it's seen to be extreme.

 

I disagree with you and I think time will tell.

Criticism is certainly mounting & I think it will get worse -- especially since it doesn't look like the oil spill will end any time soon.

And I don't think you want to give your opponents ammunition.

But at least you answered the question(s) honestly.

Thank you.

 

I think questions 1 & 3 are fairly up to debate.

On question 2, I think it's an unmitigated error by Rahm to criticize Hayward. He should have known better, but he just couldn't help himself.

His criticism didn't help things and it only opened Obama up to similar criticism.

This is really a cardinal rule.

 

It opened Obama up to criticism mainly from the people who criticize him all day every day, anyway. Not much to be lost among that crowd.

 

Ragu & Dave, did you watch the Stewart clip?

Have you seen some of the jokes the late night talk show hosts have been telling?

How Obama is spending his time is already an issue -- and not just on FoxNews.

It's crossed over into the public consciousness when Comedy Central & the Tonight Show are making fun of him.

And this was all before this weekend.

Now, it will be an issue every time he plays golf or hosts some celebrity or team at the WH.

I'm not saying that one ball game or one round of golf is a crime, but they're adding up and people are paying attention.

And Rahm might not matter to most people, but when they play his clip next week on Meet the Press and ask some prominent Dem to comment on Obama's activities, the Dem is going to squirm.

And it's Rahm who will have contributed to the press going after Obama in this vein because of his comments. It doesn't matter if 99% of the public doesn't know who he is.

The press knows who he is and he's given the press fuel for their fire.

 

With all due respect, YF, I think you're putting just a bit too much hopin'/wishin' into this.

Late-night talk show hosts and the Jon Stewarts of the world get much of their material from the president - whether it's a Democrat or Republican. Clinton got beat up by the Lettermans and Lenos for most of the second half of his second term. And when all was said and done, Clinton left office with pretty darn high approval ratings.

Obama's turn was going to come eventually.

Frankly, YF, this is a tempest in a teapot, despite your best efforts to make more out of it. The only folks who really care about this are the foaming-at-the-mouth, hate-Obama right and the chattering class in Washington, who can't exist without ginning up phony inside-the-Beltway controversies on a regular basis.

 

Just saw video of Obama on the driving range and, no, he shouldn't be golfing. It has nothing to do with the oil spill, though. His swing is awful.