Obama Advisers To Public: Temper Expectations
Ladies and gents.......... Let the backpedaling begin!!!!!!!
What’s up.. I thought the cure all savior of our society was going to swoop down from the heavens immediately after being elected. :confused:
Its funny how Barak Almighty and his wise men allowed that thought envelop during his candidacy... I mean after Jan 20th, 2009 was not my paycheck supposed to get bigger, my mortgage forgiven, gas .50 cents per gallon, no wars, no crime.....ect.
After all, Barak and his campaign allowed the whole "Hope and Change" theme to boost the expectations that he could immediately save us...
While allot of us could smell the B.S. long ago, I just thought that maybe we would get a little further than 2.5 weeks from the election before the backpedaling started flying.
I have no doubt the media will do their best help him with his backpedaling as well.....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President-elect Barack Obama and his inner circle fear that some voters expect him to turn around the economy, wind down the war in Iraq and, perhaps, cure cancer -- all by the Fourth of July.
They know they must manage and lower those expectations, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports.
A top economic advisor to Obama had a glum warning for the rest of us Thursday morning: Neither the job market nor the stock market will be turning around any time soon.
"This might be a long haul," said Robert Reich, who was President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. "2009 is going to be a very hard year. Some economists say we won't be out of this for two years, others are saying it may be three, or four, maybe five years."
Now on Obama's transition team, Reich worries about what happens after the new president is sworn in Jan. 20.
"We all have to be very careful about the expectations that we are putting on this man, our president-elect," Reich said. "If we all assume it's going to be the first 100 days, we're going to be disappointed."
The man who was Obama's chief campaign strategist is moving to lower expectations, too.
"We are inheriting an array problems unlike any president has faced, maybe since Franklin Roosevelt in 1932," David Axelrod said. "It's not going to be easy, not going to be quick."
Rick Jasculca worked for President Jimmy Carter, President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton. He said Obama will need every bit of his skill as a communicator.
"If people see you reaching across the aisle and they see you making progress -- going forward rather than going backward -- I think people will give you the benefit of the doubt," Jasculca said.
Added Axelrod: "One of his great strengths is he is never too high, he's never too low -- he's very focused."
That's why some called him "No-Drama Obama." That has changed a bit, since the president-elect and his Chicago-based team of political operatives have begun to bring on board veteran Washington politicos.
Now there are stories quoting unnamed sources who claim, for example, that Obama's team is frustrated with Hillary Clinton's delay in taking the job of secretary of state. They're not happy with those stories.
"This is a great example of when there's a vacuum, the vacuum gets filled with a lot of speculation and hyperbole," Axelrod said. "No one is frustrated. No one is anguished. She's obviously a talented public servant and someone who'd enhance any team."
