Obama’s press conference

OK, so I usually don’t like to talk politics on here, but in this instance I have to point out a subtlety that, to me, seems very important. Did any of you watch President Obama’s talk with the American people on Monday night? My wife Dawn and I watched it and I was very impressed with the President. What specifically impressed me was that he answered questions thoughtfully, specifically and at length. It is the “at length” part that is most impressive. As a culture we have become used to those in the media giving short, quote-worthy answers to very important questions; the notorious “sound bite.” When I received media-training back in the day when I was a paid Portfolio Manager, I was strongly discouraged from giving long answers. In fact, I was trained to give little quips that were interesting and worthy of publication. Any interview was not really an effort to communicate valuable information, it was an opportunity for me and my firm to promote ourselves. Unfortunately, this communicable disease of Madison Avenue was passed on to our political leaders. So Obama rambling on for 5 minutes when giving an answer about an important topic was, quite friggin‘ frankly, SHOCKING! You just don’t see that sort of engagement from public figures any longer. Remarkable! I personally feel that this alone could begin to change everything. How?

We are all rightfully skeptical of our political leaders. First of all, most of them are doofuses. Second of all, most of them put their personal concerns before our concerns. So enter Barack Obama and his heady, educated and thoughtful answers. How can an honest dialogue whose intent is to communicate the reasons for his choices not change all of us? Spectacular.

Not for the first time on this blog I will say: GObama!

‘nuff said!

Jason