Why Can't President Obama Communicate?

Dear Friends,

I have been struggling with why President Obama does not go to the American people and gain their support for his policies and programs.  I came across an interesting poll today which when placed next to some factual information shows that President Obama has failed to communicate with the American people and probably also shows what a difficult job it is to communicate with the American people.

First, the poll (here):  It is a CBS/New York Times poll taken in the first part of February 2010.  It has lots of very interesting results so you should read it all, but here is the part that I am referring to:

When it comes to job creation, just 6% say the stimulus package has created jobs, but another 41% expect it will do so. 48% think it won’t. These views have not changed much in recent months, but optimism about the impact of the stimulus package was much higher last summer.

So only 6% of the American public thinks that the stimulus package has created jobs.  Here is what the experts think from an article in the New York Times today by David Leonhardt entitled "Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success":

Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus. Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.

How can you reconcile the unbelievable difference between reality and the perception of the American people? 

It would be easy to say that the Republicans continue to lie (in addition to be hypocritical) about the results of the stimulus.  For example this statement from Representative Cantor's office today:

the fact remains that your stimulus program has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on pork, passed on tremendous debt to young Americans who will be forced to pay your tab, and has utterly failed to get Americans back to work in any meaningful way. 

Or this quote via CBS News (here):

And Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price's (R-Ga.) statement pretty much summed up most Republicans' take on the package that did not garner a single House Republican vote: "At age one, stimulus still struggles to crawl: Experiment Officially Failed."

But the lies and hypocrisy from the Republicans do not excuse the lack of communication from the Obama Administration to the American people.  Apparently, they were waiting for the one year anniversary of the passage of the stimulus package and now claim that they will be in 35 States this week talking about how many jobs the stimulus package has created. 

President Obama seems to feel that he can every now and then go out to the American people and drum up support.  That is not the correct approach.  He needs to be out there every day telling the American people what his administration has accomplished and what new policies and programs he supports and why.  He has failed to do that and the result is the constant sound bites and spin from the Republican party is carrying the day.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal