Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Great Communicator?

    by Will Bunch | Columnist
    Published 

He hasn't been sworn in yet, but Barack Obama has already surpassed Ronald Reagan in one measure: Transition news conferences, In fact, it's a rout. Because

» READ MORE: there's been something of an, ahem, myth shrouding the 40th president

, it's easy to forget this fact about Reagan: The Great Communicator gave more televised speeches than his predecessors, and of course literally invented the White House photo op -- but he also gave fewer news conferences than the presidents who came before him (and most who came after, at least until Bush 43). Answering questions off the cuff as not his forte.

Clearly, the era of unscripted television had not yet arrived in the 1980s. But

» READ MORE: this anecdote from Reagan's 1980-81 transition is pretty amazing

:

Can you imagine the howling today if Obama sent Robert Gibbs out there to announce his Cabinet. Rush Limbaugh would be still talking about it in 2011! I wouldn't exactly call Obama a great communicator -- his answers could be a lot more revealing sometimes -- but at least he's communicating, period, with an understanding that's what the American people need right now.

.