Controlling the Narrative

The cable-TV blabbermouths are all over the Obama administration over the Christmas Day terrorist scare.
 
The know-it-alls proclaim that this is a PR disaster for the White House. The message machine was asleep. Obama was slow on the uptake. Janet Napolitano blew it.
 
Napolitano did blow it. But I’m not so sure Obama has.
 
By coincidence, I’ve been reading the book Renegade, Richard Wolffe’s account of the Obama campaign.
 
Wolffe notes that Obama’s campaign was never as good as McCain’s at winning the daily and weekly news cycles.
 
In the end, it didn’t matter. Obama won the overall message battle – party by seeming to be above what voters saw as petty partisan bickering.
 
The national media, naturally, believes that the most important test of a politician is his or her ability to play the national media’s game.
 
Obama has always played a different game – taking a longer view of how the public takes in information and reaches conclusions.
 
So far it has worked. I’m not betting against him this time.
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Gary Pearce

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Controlling the Narrative

The cable-TV blabbermouths are all over the Obama administration over the Christmas Day terrorist scare.
 
The know-it-alls proclaim that this is a PR disaster for the White House. The message machine was asleep. Obama was slow on the uptake. Janet Napolitano blew it.
 
Napolitano did blow it. But I’m not so sure Obama has.
 
By coincidence, I’ve been reading the book Renegade, Richard Wolffe’s account of the Obama campaign.
 
Wolffe notes that Obama’s campaign was never as good as McCain’s at winning the daily and weekly news cycles.
 
In the end, it didn’t matter. Obama won the overall message battle – party by seeming to be above what voters saw as petty partisan bickering.
 
The national media, naturally, believes that the most important test of a politician is his or her ability to play the national media’s game.
 
Obama has always played a different game – taking a longer view of how the public takes in information and reaches conclusions.
 
So far it has worked. I’m not betting against him this time.
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Gary Pearce

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