By Greg Hazley
In his third State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama Tuesday night challenged the country with a refrain to "win the future" through education, innovation and investment.
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In a section on education and students, "PR" even made a cameo:
"We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline," the president said to a standing ovation.
Lobbyist and image guru Jack Quinn, writing for Politico, said Obama "balanced openness and flexibility with core ideas and a dedication to a handful of essential objectives for the remainder of this term in office. While his rhetoric didn’t soar as it so often does, on balance, he hit his marks."
Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn praised several aspects of the speech but warned "if President Obama hopes to 'win the future' in 2012, his speech came up short Tuesday night. It was certainly a big and earnest move to the center, but it lacked the kind of specifics and innovative policies that the president needs to make America competitive in the 21st Century."
The New York Times said the speech "lacked the loft of the inspirational address he delivered ni Tucson ... but it seemed intended to elevate his presidency above the bare-knuckled legislative gamesmanship that has defined his first two years..."
The Washington Post noted Obama "struck notes of optimism and conciliation in an address that spanned 62 minutes and was interrupted at least 75 times for applause."
The Wall Street Journal analyzed: "Mr. Obama didn't detail the kind of efforts that would shrink government as much as Republicans have demanded. But he promised a reorganization of the federal government, including merging and consolidating agencies, and vowed to submit such a plan to Congress for a vote."
Politico saw a more partisan speech, reporting that "it sounded conciliatory, even friendly, brimming with the outward trappings of a shift to the center, but President Barack Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech was at, its core, an unmistakably partisan challenge to congressional Republicans."
The Hill has a breakdown of words mentioned in the address with jobs (31 times) easily topping the list.
For the speech, the White House pulled out its digital PR arsenal for the speech, producing a multimedia presentation of the speech at WhiteHouse.gov and answering questions on Twitter and Facebook after the event. As March Communications' Cheryl Gale noted, "TV is a one-way channel in which viewers are passive consumers of information. However, the online community that the Obama administration has created around the State of the Union Address is encouraging viewers to submit questions for Obama and senior officials to answer via live online events."
We welcome your thoughts below.
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