Obama’s Vacation Optics

Kristinn Taylor’s piece at Big Government is attracting a lot of attention and quite a few comments since it was posted at 5:37 pm ET this afternoon.

Obama’s Vacation Optics – Axelrod & Co. Fail to Protect President’s Image

“Richard Nixon had advertising executive H.R. Haldeman; Ronald Reagan had image master Mike Deaver; Barack Obama has public relations guru David Axelrod.

All three men understood the power of visuals in communicating the strengths of the presidents they served on the campaign trail and in the office of the presidency.

I don’t know where David Axelrod has been since President Obama began his ten-day Christmas vacation in Hawaii, but it is safe to say he is goofing off as much as his boss.

Since the Christmas Day terror attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on approach to Detroit, Axelrod and Team Obama have failed in their most basic duty of reassuring the American public that the president is on the job. It took four days, from when the attack occurred Friday morning Hawaii time to Monday afternoon Washington time, for Obama to be seen ‘on the job’ when he made a statement before the media about the terror attack.

Over that time span, the administration failed to update the White House web site with any mention of the attack.

In Obama’s absence, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were sent out on the Sunday talk shows (except for Fox) to spin the administration line that “the system worked.”

That PR strategy was mocked across the boards, forcing the administration to put Obama in front of the cameras for the first time since he went on vacation.

Obama’s presentation Monday was emotionless in delivery and casual in its presentation. Wearing an open collar shirt, Obama looked like a man who showed up at a formal club without the required attire and was forced to don the club jacket hanging in the closet to get in.

Obama also seemed painfully uncomfortable without his TelePrompter security blanket. He struggled with the text at times and reflexively swiveled his head from side-to-side even as he stared down at the the printed remarks laid out on the podium before him.

That Obama went golfing right after he told the American people he “will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable” undermined whatever seriousness of purpose the administration was trying to convey.

Read the complete article here.

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