Sometimes You Need More Than a Narrative

John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progress, wants President Obama to “regain the narrative”:

Barack Obama, US president, has lost control of the political narrative and needs to make more use of his cabinet in order to regain it, says John Podesta, the man who headed the president’s transition team.

“My friends in the White House would agree with this, that they lost the narrative,” Mr Podesta said in an interview for View from DC, the Financial Times’ video series from Washington. “Clearly that needs not one speech once in a while: it needs, I think, to be constantly reinforced. And not just by the president, but by his entire team . . . He’s got a terrific cabinet. Use it. Get out into the country and use it.”

Is it really true that we haven’t seen enough of President Obama over the last year? Good grief. Or his cabinet? They haven’t exactly been invisible for the last year. I’ve seen or heard cabinet members on everything from news programs to game shows over the course of the last year. The one thing I haven’t seen them on is milk cartons.

Sometimes you need more than a narrative. Leadership, for example. Or the willingness to say “No” to core constituents. Or to those upon whom you might be looking as future employers or donors.

6 comments… add one
  • Maybe Obama can get a spot on Conan O’Brien’s next show, although I hear it will be on Fox.

    Anyone reminded of The Running Man, the scene where Richard Dawson’s character, Damon Killian, gets on the phone when he wants Arnold to be on his game show, “Get me the President…no, instead get me his agent!”

    Or maybe this one,

    “Hello, this is Killian. Give me the Justice Department, Entertainment Division.”

  • The one thing I haven’t seen them on is milk cartons.

    Yeah, Dave..and that’s a pity..

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