I'm genuinely curious to know what steps the President took to "sell" this deal to the American people.
Regardless of communication skills of the individuals, it is not a level playing field for comparison, making your 'Reagan did fine' an unfair assessment.
(Personally, I think the PR in this particular situation was bad, but I think the main problem is that, since the media lies about everything he says anyway, he just doesn't bother trying to communicate through the media. If you want to hear what he has to say, listen to his speeches. He communicates very well there).
Well, you see, he THOUGHT he had 45 days to make the case. Silly him, he banked on the word of congress and we all know what their word is worth, but President Bush figured, because they were mostly his OWN party that chances are they would honor their word this time. He really should have known they couldn't be trusted.
"I'm genuinely curious to know what steps the President took to "sell" this deal to the American people."
So, now we live in a worold we're no one is obligated to inform themselves about an issue as important and far reaching as this?
He (and DPW) didn't get a chance to defend the deal....the public investigation was squelched by Congress.
Leftists are happy that terrorists, our enemy, get their day in court, and Leftists are happy that Dubai, our ally, did not get its day in court.
Leftists are also happy that the Red Chinese government controls a terminal in the Port of Long Beach.
It's a win-win situation for the Lefties, especially the Clintons.