Rendell: Obama Botched The Stimulus Sales Job

Gov. Ed Rendell said on Sunday that the Obama administration had botched the messaging wars when it came to selling its economic agenda and that it would be hard for the White House to regain the upper hand.

Appearing on ABC's This Week, the Pennsylvania Democrat said it was ironic that "the best communicator in the history of political campaigning turned out in his first year in office to not communicate very well." He was referring, specifically, to what went wrong when it came to selling the president's stimulus package.

"They let the Republicans take the spin right from the beginning," said Rendell. "The stimulus got beat up before one dollar was spent. What I would have done...I would have had him make a speech to the nation, break down what stimulus because a lot of the stimulus, it wasn't job creation, but was safety net. But not a safety net for people on welfare, a safety net for hardworking Americans who lost their jobs, extending unemployment benefit. Is there anybody in the Congress -- Republicans aren't going to raise their hands and vote against that, right? Everybody is in favor of that. That was an important component of the stimulus. COBRA, health care benefits, for people who lost their jobs. But we never explained it from the get go and we lost the spin war. The stimulus has done a great job for America, but we lost the spin war. And once you lose it, it's hard to get it back."

When reflecting on an unpopular policy, it's always easy to blame the message rather than the policy itself (often to the great lament of the press shop working on the issue). In regards to the stimulus, however, Rendell's point has been echoed by many others. Had the plan been pitched for what it was -- a lifeline for a drowning economy rather than catalyst for the jobs market -- the ability for the GOP to make political hay would be greatly diminished.

Comments

[bd7769]

02:46 PM on 02/23/2010

Maybe he lost the PR war because outside of giving feel good speeches there is no real change. He is just a Tax and Spend socialist and now the American people realize that after peel back the pretty boy wrapper all we have is another George McGovern.

[Balloon-Boy]

09:56 PM on 02/24/2010

Show me the evidence to back up your frivolous claim.

[amoment]

08:41 AM on 02/23/2010

Well, it looks like Ed is starting his presidential campaign for 2012.

[Balloon-Boy]

11:53 PM on 02/22/2010

Ed,

Obama and the democrats don't have spine. They F'ed up the public relation battle with republicans in nearly everything. Republicans can say and do anything without repercussion. They control the argument hands down. I may sit out the November election unless I see the dems pass the health insurance reform act with a robust public option.

I wasn't a HRC supporter during the primaries. Now I am thinking what would have happened had HRC won the nomination and presidency. One thing is for sure. Republicans would've been running for their lives. Bipartisanship my arse!

Go Ed!

[MyGuyO]

10:06 PM on 02/22/2010

Gov. Rendell never did really care for Obama as he originally was a big Hillary supporter. He had to come on board when Obama won the presidency...reluctenly.

[VSamuels]

04:58 PM on 02/22/2010

Rendell is a smart guy and what he is doing here is trying to hammer home that he believes the ole way of doing politics still works over the newer way that President Obama promised he wanted to bring into Washington. Here, Rendell is not necessarily attempting to stick it to Obama as much as he is trying to use the stimulus plan as a way of saying: see if you had listened to us---the ole ways---you would have gotten your messaging out and saved yourself the headache of believing you could change the system.

Rendell is really attempting to pat himself on the back for being a clever fellow who wants to remain relevant in an environment where the master players of the game, the Clintons, are no longer running the show. He is preening to get into an inner circle that he failed to get into earlier and is just trying another tactic to say, I told you so young fellow, now listen to me.

[Petey131]

04:45 PM on 02/22/2010

Edi your undying love for HRC blinds you.

[SFkid]

03:48 PM on 02/22/2010

Results are what counts in the end. The "Sell" in politics = people like Rendell "Fast Eddie" the used car salesman...

[mervr1]

02:52 PM on 02/22/2010

Ed you need to focus first on the problems you have here in PA, starting with the roads......start by renaming Philly the city of potholes.

[Realbrother]

10:10 AM on 02/22/2010

Real Brother here.

Again, people are going to second guess this President as long as he is Black and his enemies will use that criticism to insure that his Presidency fails so that they can steal his every idea and claim it as their own. If America determines that the ideas of a Black President are better if somehow attached to a White Racist or Supremacist President then I don't have a problem with that but at the very least we must force them to tell the truth about it.

TKCAL

[alumtrix]

01:39 PM on 02/22/2010

Stay angry, brother!

I believe the Constitution allows for any bi-racial elected to the presidency serve representing one race their first two years in office and then serve representing his other race their final two years. Trust me, all the whites will be on board with this pres in his final two years.

Hand in there.

[VSamuels]

05:00 PM on 02/22/2010

I'll take his anger over that of Stack I-got-to-ram the first IRS building I see.

[bd7769]

02:47 PM on 02/23/2010

I guess that George W Bush is black.

[USALES]

09:37 AM on 02/22/2010

This is crap. When will the liberals realize it's not the spin---it's what you're selling! Extending unemployment to a ludicrious 99 weeks and keeping thousands in mortgages they can't afford even with the help is NOT what Americans wanted out of their new leader.

[cam]

10:01 AM on 02/22/2010

We liberals know what spin is, and we know what you are selling.

[PNic]

10:53 PM on 02/23/2010

When will you realize it IS the spin. It's all spin. Spin is the only thing Republicans truly excel at. The incompetence of the last administration was herculean (Afagnistan, Iraq, Katrina, the great Recession). Yet when the current administration slowed and then reversed jobs losses in the first year, when independent economists say the stimulus created from 1.5 to 2.2 million jobs, they still lose the message war.

How??? Because Republicans are unbound by such encumbrances as FACTS or TRUTH.
The LIES and hypocrisy from the right is outrageous. The list of Republicans shrieking about how the stim failed and did not create a single job is too long to list.
I guess the administration made the mistake of thinking that simply putting in a place a successful program would be enough. They didn't think they'd have to justify success. The problem is that Republicans have been lying so long and so loudly about it, that most people don't get that the stimulus worked. When there's only one person in the room shouting about something, soon enough, even lies get traction...

[MJinCanada]

11:01 PM on 02/24/2010

Well said.

And may I add that the rest of the problem is the astonishing number of people who don't have critical listening or thinking skills (aka, a functioning BS detector). I mean, if so many people actually buy into the birther or Palin stuff....

[DanEboy]

09:35 AM on 02/22/2010

Ed go to comcast sports and stay there you do more work in the 16 weeks of the nfl then in the harrisburg.

[Realbrother]

09:43 AM on 02/22/2010

Real Brother here.

I wish these liars would go sit down somewhere if they refuse to tell the truth. Who here really anticipated that White Racists and Supremacists would so question President Obama's each and every move simply because he was Black and 99.9% of Whites don't value the Black Race and or Culture and think we are inferior?

How many people- Ed Randell- included would of anticipated that?

Obama won the election. No, he wasn't naive enough to think he could do ANYTHING but he had no idea the White Racism and Supremacy was that strong that when he did come up with good ideas they'd be questioned by everyone. Lets' see how the President plays it now that he knows that the White Supremacists in his own Party and plans he'd be second guessed by even White members of his own Party.
will be just as obstructionist as the White Racists in the other Party.

TKCAL

[DrRoberts99]

09:14 AM on 02/22/2010

He's managed to lose the pr wars on the Stim as well as Health Care Reform Bill, his Justice Dept. refuses to prosecute America's war criminals while fulfilling the Pentagon's wildest dreams in Afghanistan. The guy can give a speech but is incapable of leadership.

[demtotheend]

09:33 PM on 02/22/2010

The reason you keep hearing that The WH/Prez lost the message on the stimulus ...is because that is what the corp MSM was telling you 24/7...365...MSM allows Republicans to spew their lies even though they know that Repubs were taking credit at handing out massive checks and going to ribbon cuttings. If MSM made Politicians accountable - maybe the truth would finally come out...Republicans lie in public and say something different in private and behind close doors...but you never hear of any leaks on things Repubs say in private...but you do hear leaks about private conversions of Reid and Rahm....ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....there is something to how and why this happens....wouldn't you say?

[David Campbell]

09:04 AM on 02/22/2010

Strange, but I read the details many times and there was an extensive report in this Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with loads of stats. But you are correct in that the American public no longer reads much of anything but gossip and celebrity news. Lets talk about Obama's sex life and include the stimulus success with it. That should do the spin quite well.
Not a fan of me)

[MJinCanada]

11:03 PM on 02/24/2010

For example:
"We do it twice as often as the average American couple," says Michelle. "It's the success of the stimulus that does it." ;-)

[DanEboy]

08:55 AM on 02/22/2010

The stimulus has only helped smaller governments state issues and and thus...no jobs nothing for the people....noda zero....yeah obama should keep doing what he is doing ....now he has so many feet in his mouth he has to borrow some from china.......you go King Barry

[1Troubles]

10:23 AM on 02/22/2010

DanEboy-you were fine when King George got us in this mess

[SFkid]

03:52 PM on 02/22/2010

NOT TRUE. Only 1/3 of the Stimulus has been allocate thus far and what did it do?

It helped many states keep their Fire Dept. , Police Forces and a majority of their teachers. It has created jobs ask Gov. Christ, up to 87k of them in Florida and many more across the state. Ask the republicans that accepted the Stimulus cash that helped steam their pet projects.

[HekmagaJuximakLives]

08:33 AM on 02/22/2010

Obama should just do what he has to do, not try to justify, not try to "sell". Selling and campaigning wastes time and money.

Just do it.