Leadership, Messaging, Speeches, Views on News • February 25th, 2009

Fact-checking

by Chris Lato

One thing that you can count on is that when given a big stage to speak from, most politicians find it mighty hard to avoid using some creativity in their facts, figures and versions of history.  So, while President Obama knows how to deliver a speech, and every reasonable American should be pulling for him to succeed, it’s always good to do a bit of fact-checking.  

Bottom line: last night’s address to Congress and the nation not detail-heavy. In fact, some may have been disappointed by the lack of detail, but all that comes later. Obama was doing nothing new in that sense. And these deep economic problems won’t be solved overnight, no matter how much some want to believe that all our president has to do is wave a magic wand and our national nightmare is over.

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Views on News • December 15th, 2008

A tale of two Bushes

by Chris Lato

A few thoughts sprang to mind when I saw this clip.

1.       President Bush has quick reflexes.

2.       Why wasn’t the Secret Service reaction quicker?

3.       W. isn’t the first Bush to have an embarrassing moment on camera. Remember Bush 41 in Japan?

Granted, these two events were ‘official’ so cameras were present. But in a time when just about everyone has a cell-phone camera, politicians always have to watch what they say and do, lest some enterprising audience member catches them in the act.

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Strategic Blueprints, Views on News • December 8th, 2008

The game changer

by Chris Lato

It didn’t take long for some on the left to become disillusioned with President-elect Obama’s early policy shifts and Cabinet appointments (and for Team Obama to start pushing back).

A certain degree of this is to be expected. With Democrats making a clean sweep at the federal (and, in Wisconsin, state levels), plenty of Dems think now is the time to make the big, bold moves that couldn’t be done until now. Universal health care, pulling out of Iraq ASAP, and higher taxes, particularly aimed at businesses, to cite three examples.

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2008 Primaries, Messaging • June 6th, 2008

The air war begins

by Chris Lato

Wisconsin is about to see a new round of presidential campaign ads, courtesy of John McCain. If you needed a sign that Wisconsin will be a battleground state this year, this is as sure a sign as any – TV ads in June signaling the general election campaign is here in earnest.

It’s a character piece, intended to remind people of McCain’s bona fides on issues related to war. It offers no specifics but sets the tone of seriousness with which McCain would presumably approach Iraq, while subtly distancing him from the cavalier ‘cowboy’ image President Bush’s opponents have tagged our current president with. Iraq, the word and the war, is never mentioned directly in the spot.

The unmistakable undercurrent: John McCain is seasoned and tested by experiences the vast majority of us are lucky we will never have to face…and Barack Obama is not.

We’ll see the messages Obama chooses to focus on. The economy? The war? Fuel prices? There are plenty of issues on the table in this summer of discontent.

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Branding Politix, Messaging, Speeches, public relations • May 1st, 2008

Mission accomplished?

by Chris Lato

I bring this up not to argue about Iraq – plenty of bloggers across the political spectrum do that daily.

This is a question of communications, public relations, and event management – an example of a colossal misfire that really could have been avoided had cooler heads prevailed.

I’m talking about one of the less illustrious anniversaries for the Bush administration. Remember the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner flown five years ago today on the USS Abraham Lincoln? President Bush made his dramatic entrance on the aircraft carrier and declared that “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

Oops.

Again, I’m not arguing Iraq here. But let’s break down the communications missteps.

#1 - That damn banner. The administration’s opponents have embraced it as a sign of arrogance and hubris, and rammed it down their collective throat for five years now. It’s hard to argue the point. It was an overreaching PR blunder on an occasion that called for restraint.

Was it a bad decision? You betcha. An administration that generally understands and adheres to message discipline really stepped in it, with the perception being that the war was over way, WAY before it really was. It was politically tone-deaf.

#2-The post-banner mangling. The White House offered a string of reasons for the banner, none of which rang true. The more excuses and contradictory reasons you offer, well, the less truthful and forthcoming you appear - especially if you can’t offer a definitive response ASAP and be done with it.

That won’t stop your enemies from frothing at the mouth, but at least you have put your response out there, quickly and on the record, and can point to that every time the issue comes up again. You have the force and clarity of your argument on your side.

#3-The speech. What can I say? I’m sure President Bush didn’t write it, but clearly his staff was all charged up over what they saw as a big victory and overreached wildly.

Again, considering the setting and what should have been a fairly solemn occasion, it was treated as a rah-rah moment that, to this day, we’re still talking about in a less-than-favorable light.

One poorly conceived press event that resonates for years. You could make the argument that no one could have predicted where things would be five years later, but good PR consultation offers a sense of where things may go, the positives and negatives behind what you do to engage the press. For whatever reason, that apparently didn’t happen here, but the price for that shortsightedness is still being paid.

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Messaging, Strategic Blueprints, public relations • March 28th, 2008

Spreading the Big Lie

by Chris Lato

Charles Krauthammer has a great piece about how a fairly straightforward statement made by John McCain on the campaign trail will be used to bludgeon McCain on foreign policy over the next several months.

This is an excellent illustration of how Big Lies take root and blossom. You’ve probably heard this already, the idea that McCain wants us at war in Iraq for the next 100 years. Well, it ain’t true, but that’s not going to stop his opponents from twisting it around.

Now, this is nothing new. Candidates at all levels take statements out of context, give it their own twist and try to turn it into gospel.

What are the lessons to be learned? For starters, candidates are ALWAYS on. Whether it’s a phone call, an email, a public appearance, or just shaking hands in a crowd, there is never a moment that can’t be captured and used against the candidate. Proceed cautiously at all times. You are never off the record.

Which leads to my next point, which I hammer on regularly: message discipline. By extension, how is that message conveyed? When a small fraction of an answer can be taken and turned into the linchpin of an opposition campaign, what does that tell you? Minimize your exposure by carefully considering your answers. Don’t be afraid to think before speaking. Your opponents hope you don’t … so do everything in your power to not give them the ammunition to take you down.

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