Everyday PR

As President Obama’s job approval ratings continue to hover below 50%, and BP’s image is on life support, I asked my fellow public relations colleagues their thoughts on what to recommend.  Specifically, the question posed was “If you could offer Obama one or two suggestions to improve his job ratings, particularly in regard to the oil spill, what would they be?”  Here are some of the responses, and since it’s my blog, I get to go first:

Susan Hart - Meet with James Carville.  The Democratic strategist is beyond upset.  I recommend the President talk with Carville; solicit his input on how to better handle the oil spill in the eyes of coastal residents; put him in charge of recovery/rebuilding funds; tour the Louisiana coast with Carville and his wife.  Do something to both neutralize this vocal opinion leader and take advantage of his political influence and common sense.

Mary Beth West - The first recommendation is something that should have been done immediately, but better late than never:  clearly communicate roles and responsibilities re: BP’s role and the government’s role in the crisis response implementation.  A great deal of media/public confusion persists on who’s doing what (or rather, who’s supposed to be doing what), which not only feeds media criticism but also clouds the operational response; so it would have been a wise use of the President’s authority to cut through the roles/responsibilities question at a very early stage and firmly entrench his leadership to define the government’s appropriate oversight and enforcement roles.  Also, there are many elements of the crisis that the government cannot control directly, so it’s a mistake for the President to speak to those elements as if there is direct control to be had.  For example, the matter of overpromising re: the-Gulf-will-be-better-than-ever-once-this-is-all-over message that the President has put forward.  Definitely a credibility-buster for the long haul, and it’s completely puzzling to me why he chose to say that or was advised to say that, given the dire and extremely long-term nature of the damage inflicted. 

The second suggestion is that I find odd but also quite telling is this insistence by the Administration that they’re working with BP’s board chairman (as opposed to the CEO).  Yes, a CEO is answerable to his/her board of directors, but in terms of chain-of-command for actual crisis management and response, the whole repeated “we’re going over Hayward’s head” stance by the Administration seems to be a diversionary tactic to the fact that it never dawned on them to contact and coordinate with the company’s executive management in a direct capacity during the early crisis stages – and since the Matt Lauer interview, they’re having to come up with some excuse and/or contingency plan as to why.  I recognize Hayward is extremely unpopular in the media and that there is purposeful distancing going on, but to anyone who’s ever run a business or worked in a business environment, this scenario seems disconnected from practicality and a mere political maneuver to save face rather than lead toward real crisis resolution. (NOTE: Hayward’s role as daily spokesperson has since been minimized.)

The President is in a very difficult position.  It’s my hope that he will be successful in executing the government’s ability to manage its appropriate response roles rather than having that  response driven by efforts to exert authority, control or tough talk where it’s in fact unhelpful to the real tasks at hand.

Jeff Bradford - I hope Obama continues to plummet in popularity. His desire to turn America into a socialist state is killing our country. I hope he continues to demonstrate arrogance, to act like an academic with no understanding of “real people”, to be photographed with an angry or scared look on his face (have you seen  photo of this man smiling since he became president?), to openly pander to the labor movement, to openly abrogate property rights and the rule of law in general, to act like one of the looters from Atlas Shrugged (the resemblance is uncanny), to talk about prayer and blessings after having ridiculed people for clinging to guns and God (this president cannot convincingly talk about God, it is obvious he is trying to manipulate the populations addiction to “religious opium”), to use natural disasters to advance an unpopular political agenda (i.e., the oil spill and cap and tax legislation), to talk tough (a weak man looks particularly ridiculous when he tried to impersonate a strong one, i.e., Obama’s “kick ass” comments), to drop the “g” in gerunds (which he does in a very studied fashion and looks ridiculous), and to continue making it obvious how difficult it is for him to not betray his hatred for this country.

Clay Morgan - Staying away from policy and politics, the communications/PR aspect alone is incredibly complicated.  However, in a crisis, people need to know that someone is in charge, and what is being done.  The President, in any crisis, should very clearly, authoritatively and decisively state “Here’s the problem.  Here’s what we are going to do about it.  And this is what I need from you to help.”  And then engage the plan.  Afterward, just as clearly and decisively, the President needs to say “Here’s what we did wrong.  Here’s why.  And this is how we’re going to fix the problem in the future.”  I believe people, regardless of their status in an organization (constituents, employees, volunteers, customers or observers) need to know that something is being done, that someone is in charge, and what their role in helping is. And I think they respect and value people who take responsibility and try to learn from mistakes.

Pat Nolan -  Unfortunately, there appears to be very little President Obama can do directly to stop the leak. His tougher actions against BP could continue to help him as a rear guard effort and buy some time until the oil leak is finally plugged. The $20 billion in BP money put into a new escrow account is the best thing the President has helped make happen so far. Now the funds needs to be signed into checks and circulated ASAP to those in need on the Gulf Coast. Convincing BP not to issue any dividends is also a good move for the President and BP.

Is this an opportunity, as the President suggested in his Oval Office speech, to have the nation approve a new long-overdue national energy strategy to end our reliance on oil, especially oil from foreign, and many times, hostile countries? It could be, but the oil leak has probably got to be plugged first. And if the plan is merely perceived as some kind of new tax (on carbon), it will likely be dead on arrival in Congress.

Interestingly, the President mentioned other environmental legislative proposals, and not a carbon tax in his speech. He says he still supports some kind of “cap and trade” type program, but maybe he knows that is a political bridge too far in a year when his Democratic Party already looks to be in big trouble in holding on to control of the Congress next year.

Despite his many challenges and difficulties over the past year or so, President Obama has proven to be politically resourceful in getting some major things done in Washington such as the new health care law and what appears to be a victory soon in passing financial reform. That is likely to continue to help him going forward.  (NOTE:  Excerpts reprinted with Pat’s permission from his weekly Capital View column.)

Wendy Schweiger, speaking as a veteran citizen who can’t bring herself to act as a PR counselor in response to the question – I wish people would leave him the hell alone. No one can know what the burden of his office must be like, especially inheriting so many horrific messes and new challenges on top of those. I don’t feel qualified to suggest what he do about anything, and I certainly don’t want to tell him how to emote or not emote in front of an audience. I cannot imagine how he keeps going day to day. I’ve now seen him up close twice – had two clients with whom he visited – and I simply believe he’s going to do the best he can given the let’s-tear-everyone-down world we now apparently live in. Whether that’s good enough only time will tell. 

Laura Ladd, speaking as an experienced PR practitioner, wife and soccer mom – Obama needs to start providing some simple, concrete details about what he is going to do, instead of wowing the public with puffy speeches that have no substance. The finger-pointing and sniping about the problems he inherited – and the continual showboating about the perceived ‘progress’ he’s made..’despite the lack of participation across the aisle,’ is getting old and makes him look small. I see frequent reports in the news questioning the choice of/validity of figures used to support proposed legislation or to demonstrate economic progress, and I think this is a problem for him — it gives the impression, rightly or wrongly, that he is blowing smoke. A recent editorial by Peggy Noonan on Obama’s predicament offers an insight into the situation - maybe he’s a snakebit president.