January 25, 2012 – 1:21 am
It sounded like such a soft, even conservative speech.
But let me get this straight:
1) banks will be punished (do I understand this right, by a committee headed by Eric Holder?) if their lending is too risky,
2) and they will be required (by another special committee, I believe) to give more home [...]
January 23, 2012 – 11:18 pm
Listening to the candidates debate tonight, I come away with one overriding feeling, a result both of how they delivered their remarks and what they actually said: Romney has memorized a series of positions; Gingrich has thought every issue through and is fully and emotionalluy committed to it. Though not close to catching a [...]
January 21, 2012 – 10:03 pm
In his acceptance speech tonight, Newt Gingrich showed the power of the podium. He set the foundation for pulling his rivals behind him, should he win the nomination. He praised their speeches of the evening and said they are collectively representative of the nation. More, he began to define the fall campaign: [...]
January 19, 2012 – 10:28 pm
Gingrich’s handling of the question about ABC interview with his second wife was brilliant. Who would have thought in such a position that the accused emerge as the man of passionate principle? It probably won not just the debate but the South Carolina primary for him.
All the candidates were very strong, the [...]
January 16, 2012 – 11:26 pm
The GOP candidates have become hugely impressive in debate. Informed. Able to turn attacks around and give it back even better. Crisp and detailed in laying out their positions. But Gingrich stood out. He got a standing ovation just before a commercial break. Throughout, he projected authenticity of passion. [...]
Here is some advice to the White House about tonight’s presidential television address.
I take an interest in presidential speech giving. I wrote speeches in the White House for nearly two-thirds of the Reagan presidency, the first half of that time for the Vice President, second half for the President.
Presidential rhetoric is an instrument of [...]
January 26, 2011 – 12:03 am
OK, why was the SOU so flat?
Well, #1) the buddy system seating — Ds mixed with Rs — apparently kept the Ds from getting up a wave. They were too dispersed. So the applause was too. It often sounded as though only one or two would start, then look around, [...]
September 1, 2010 – 12:57 pm
The best thing that can be said about last night’s second Oval Office performance is that it wasn’t as bad as Mr. Obama’s first Gulf Oil spill address. Still, it was pretty bad.
The president announced that combat operations are over — but 50,000 troops (all combat trained, commentators said) are remaining, including 5,000 special [...]
April 18, 2010 – 12:34 pm
In 1909, as the federal government was first moving towards regulation of the financial industry, J.P. Morgan is said to have told friends, “The time is coming when all business will have to be done in glass pockets.” Goldman Sachs is about to find that, for the financial world today, glass pockets are no [...]
The Obama White House seems to have two answers for every big communications challenge. The first, a presidential speech. The second, a domestic summit.
We can debate later why the President’s speeches have stopped persuading the public. Here I want to say a word about all these domestic summits. The word is, [...]
February 11, 2010 – 12:35 am
If the embattled OBama Administration wants a lesson in how to handle public communications, they could do no better than to watch and copy the First Lady.
In a recent interview Mrs. Obama was asked to opine on former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. This came days after White House Press Secretary Robert [...]
January 31, 2010 – 1:30 pm
Roger Ailes and Arriana Huffington went head to head on today’s edition of ABC’s “This Week”. Ailes decked Huffington in Round One. She struggled back to her corner, went after him again for Round Two, and he decked her again. She didn’t come out for a third round.
Ailes was prepared. With [...]
January 31, 2010 – 12:31 pm
So I watched the president’s appearance before the GOP House caucus.
It came, of course, two days after Mr. Obama delivered his State of the Union address. Drafting an SOU is generally a team effort. I have been on one of those teams (1988), penning the best received, per the pulse polling, [...]
January 28, 2010 – 12:23 am
Mr. Obama’s first State of the Union Address: good speech — and not so good.
On one hand, the President can be extremely appealing. Numerous times in the evening, I found myself liking him — particularly when he seemed to break from text and, with a smile, remind both parties of their common [...]
January 28, 2010 – 12:08 am
One commenter — “Pedro” — suggested that Ed write under a pseudonym. I’m for it. I tried to persuade him to stay on as a contributor. I thought, well, some say WHWG is a kind of think tank as well as a communications and policy consulting firm — so why not create [...]
