Posted on 02/24/2009 10:12:45 AM PST by pissant
President Barack Obama won’t speak until prime-time, but his aides fanned out to the morning shows Tuesday morning to talk up his first speech before a joint session of Congress. And the word they used to preview it: “Reaganesque.”
“The president believes very clearly that we have to be honest with the American people about where we are,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“He will,” Gibbs said, “tell the country that we’ve faced … greater challenges than the ones we face now, but we as Americans always meet those challenges. But in the Reaganesque words, there are always better days ahead.”
It was a full-on rollout, befitting a State-of-the-Union-style speech to Congress, at a moment of economic peril for the nation.
Gibbs appeared on all six morning shows. Senior adviser David Axelrod is scheduled to do more interviews later today. And a slew of other administration officials are scheduled to make the cable rounds as the speech nears: Duncan again, Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer, and Vice President Biden’s chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein.
Their goal? To quell suggestions that Obama is taking on too much just a month into his presidency, and to insist that he’s not down on hope.
“He still believes deeply in the ultimate success of this country,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “But it’s important that people know where we are today and how we get out of the situation we’re in so it is a balance that he has to strike.”
Axelrod strode just a few yards from his West Wing office for the appearance on Morning Joe, which was taping on the North Lawn of the White House Tuesday. Gibbs made the trek before him to sit in 11-degree wind chill for a segment. Education Secretary Arne Duncan went out to tout education.
Obama’s speech comes as a trio of polls show he’s still enjoying the very favorable opinion of Americans.
His job approval ratings range from 63 percent to 68 percent, according to surveys by CNN, Washington Post/ABC and a New York Times/CBS. The Washington Post/ABC poll found that nearly seven in 10 Americans believe Obama is making good on his promise to bring change to Washington.
Having Morning Joe air from the White House was akin to another public relations boon. The hosts praised the administration’s willingness to engage in debate. For his second segment on the three-hour show, Gibbs got to highlight a White House that offers casual, everyman hospitality.
He gave hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski a tour of his West Wing office.
“This is where it all gets done,” Gibbs said, entering the “lower press” area where aides were at their desks. “I’ve never seen them all on the phone at the same time,” he noted.
In his office, Gibbs had a collection of his now-signature festive ties on his desk and even opened up his closet to show a selection of extra shirts - “in case I spill my lunch on myself” – and the press secretary hand-me-down flak jacket.
He chatted about not seeing his family as often as he’d like and getting to the office by 6 a.m. When talk turned to Obama, Gibbs said, “I have a great relationship with him. I talk to him often.”
Obummer couldn’t spell “Reaganesque.”
That would be way above the ones paygrade
Chutzpah ping.
More like the sermon on the mount . . . Blessed are the poor.
does Gibbs mean that Obama is going to crack on Nancy Reagan again?
LOL! Yeah, sure. *rolls eyes*
I don't think so.
“Yeah, right.”
You can say that again. They don’t get it. It’s not about looking “presidential” and mimicking Reagan’s style. It’s about the content. Reagan is spinning at being compared to an empty suit. Bad policies and bad ideas delivered regally are still BAD POLICIES AND BAD IDEAS!
"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." - Ronald Reagan.
Unfortunately that's not what Gibbs is referring to.
President Obama will wax on eloquently about how great he thinks the American people are and how great he thinks this country is.
Slowly he will bring it around to how ONLY government is big enough to protect the American people from big business and the mean'ol Wall Street crowd...and then we're off to the races.
While I don’t really think Obama understands the term ‘Reaganesque’ it is a testament to Reagan’s legacy that even his ideological opposite is forced to acknowledge his greatness.
[cue “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas]
The Stimulus has worked amazingly fast, we've already turned the corner, things are looking up, economic numbers coming in look great, everything is all better now.
That's my prediction.
You know, one of the knocks against President Obama was his “tabula rosa” background and personality.
First, Pres. Obama is compared President Kennedy. Next, he compares himself to President Lincoln. Now, President Obama is trying to be compared to President Reagan?
It looks to me like President Obama needs some lessons on being his own man.
Barack, I lived during Ronald Reagan’s administration, and you are no Ronald Reagan.
Ears is not even a John McCain, much less a RWR.
If anybody should be made a ‘Not ready for prime time player’ it’s this guy.
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