I am sure that this past Wednesday at lunchtime, President Obama was thinking about what he was going to say during his press conference that evening. I am sure he had a number of key points he was going to address and even had a few gems in there that he was sure would be all over the newscasts the next morning. However, the next morning very little of what he had to say about health care was in the news.
Instead, it was the the one time, in fact the very last question when he decided to veer off topic and address a topic he had no information on that he entire enterprise of his press conference basically collapsed. The president made a mistake that a lot of spokespeople made and that is he spoke with an authoritative tone about a topic he knew nothing about. By this of course I mean the arrest of the Harvard professor by the Cambridge police.
Now the first clue he was on thin ice is when he said, "I don't have all the facts." That right there is a perfect time to shut up. If you do not have all the facts on a subject you do not speak to the news media about it. The news media turns to spokespeople because you are supposed to have all of the facts! So the answer the President gave was wrong headed and to use his own term he "acted stupidly."
The downside is no one really can remember what he was saying about health care now. A press event devoted to a very important topic has now been pushed to the back burner by one really dumb statement. You do not wander away from the talking points unless you want to open up just a massive can of hurt on yourself. As the old saying goes, you are asking for trouble!
This all ties back to the world of organizational public and media relations where the PR person needs to make sure the spokesperson is fully educated on the talking points. More succinctly, good training in speaking with the news media is required so that spokespeople know to give enough information to give the media what they need but at the same time not set off a firestorm by offering information that is basically inconsequential to the purpose of the meeting or interview.
Whomever let President Obama take this question on did him a very great disservice. He has a daily press briefing and the issue can be handled there. And the president was wrong not only in what he said but in how he said it!
Thankfully the storm clouds, literal ones here in Boston, are starting to clear and it looks like a nice weekend. The Price Center Red Sox game is tonight so if we can dry off that would be wonderful!
Have a great weekend readers!
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