Bruce Benidt
Jon Austin
tcarideo
Ellen Mrja
Mike Keliher
Joe LovelandThe last question at President Obama’s town hall forum today in Costa Mesa, California, came from a black guy who said he’d been laid off and can’t find a job. He’d worked for 13 years, was laid off at Toyota, and has a felony on his record and says that’s making it harder to find a job. “What can I do?” he asked the president.
Obama gave a long answer. He said the guy had clearly made amends for his mistake, and that his record of being employed may make it easier for him to find a job than other felons, that Obama knows it’s hard not to be able to support your family, that he’s working on a program for ex-felons, that getting the economy going and growing is the best thing the president can do for individuals, blahblahblahblah. All true, all fine, lotsa words.
What if instead, or in addition, Obama had said, “You sound like you’re trying hard to support your family. 
Come visit me, I’ll get to know you, and if I think you’re a good bet for an employer, I’ll write you a letter of recommendation.”
Would it be a cheap trick? Would it show compassion? Would it have been a humane moment of inspiration?
There’s a West Wing episode where presidential aide Toby orders a full military funeral in the president’s name for a homeless vet who died wearing Toby’s overcoat, which Toby had given to Goodwill. The president chastises Toby, saying if we do this for this one homeless vet, the families of lots of other homeless vets will come out of the woodwork asking for the help they deserve. “We can only hope,” is Toby’s response.
Obama’s staff would freak, no doubt, if he said he’d write a letter for this guy in California. What if hundreds and thousands of people ask Obama for recommendations?
What if you were one of Obama’s advisors? What would you say to him as he came off the stage after offering to write this guy a letter?
–Bruce Benidt
Filed under: Communications, Crisis, Government, PR, Public relations
“Mr. President, with all due respect, that was a stupid thing to do.
“First of all, you’ve just set the poor guy up to be Wurzelbachered. Right now, 20 reporters and God knows how many bloggers, GOP operatives and others are tearing into his life, his record, his friends, neighbors, family. We’re going to have to do it, too, before we wrap our arms around him. God help him if he’s jaywalked since getting out or if there’s anything in his past he thought was safely buried.
“Second, you’ve just handed the GOP talking heads an issue that has already knocked us off message and overwhelmed what we were trying to accomplish with the town hall meeting. Right now, half of them are accusing you of exploiting an unemployed man for your own aggrandizement, the other half are using the offer as a way to club us about AIG and the lack of progress on the economy as in, “I’m not sure an endorsement from Barack Obama is going to carry a lot of weight with many employers who are still waiting for results from the Obama relief package…”
“Third, we now have set ourselves up to alienate some of the people who we’re trying to help. Thousands will write asking for a recommendation and we’re either going to have to deny them – pissing them off and sending them to the media with their complaints – or we’re going to have to create something (though what, frankly, escapes me) to accommodate these requests that will almost certainly be an object of ridicule before the ink’s dry on the document creating it.
“I know it’s tough being up there on a stage and being sandbagged by something like that; we should have done better staff work to make sure we prepped you for something like that. What we should have prepped you to respond with is something like,
“I know how hard it is to have a family to care for and bills to pay and to hear somebody like me tell you it’s going to take time to fix the problems the Bush administration spent eight years creating. I know it’s hard because it’s hard for me to say them to you. That’s why we’ve been working since before Day 1 to implement [INSERT LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FIRST 60 DAYS]. You and the millions of Americans like you are why we’re going to keep working on these problems until we’re through this difficult time.
“You sound like a good guy, someone who’s paid his debts to society and who’s made a decision to stay on the hard path, the straight-and-narrow path. I would hope that any prospective employers here in the Costa Mesa area – or anywhere – who are here today or watching on TV or the internet to get in contact with you and see if you’re not the person they’re looking for. I’m willing to bet that there are a number of those employers – or their friends or families or employees – sitting in with us today – and I can attest after 60 days in office that day-in, day-out that there are a lot of people who seem to do nothing but follow our every move – and that you will make the same great first impression on them that you’ve made on me.”
“That, Mr. President, is how you should have answered the question. Let’s all learn from this and move on.”
- Austin
Benidt–Great question. Austin–Great answer.
“That’s unfortunate. Hopefully the exposure you’ve received here today will provoke some shallow, attention-hungry employer to give you a job that will outlast your 15 minutes of pseudo-fame.”
The last time Obama was confronted with a hardship case, he promised to buy an elderly black woman a new house. He’s like the Oprah of Washington!
As usual, Brother Austin convinces me. The horror of creating another Joe the Bullshit Artist makes me crawl under my desk and quiver.
And THAT’S why the President said what he said in the town hall, even if it did sound like blah blah de blah. He’s a smart one, this Obama guy.
Austin shows here that being an effective PR guy is about much more than just coming up with the right response, important as that is. It’s also about having the guts and brains to persuade the client/employer to take the counsel.
Level headed, forward-thinking strategic counsel is a beautiful thing. Jon, please promise to only use your superpowers for only for good.
Benidt, thought-provoking communications hypothetical.