It occurred to me last night while watching Ben Bernanke's interview on 60 Minutes that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is a much better communicator than I thought. He spoke honestly about decisions that were made --and it was particularly refreshing to hear a government official be candid about how our economy got into a recession and how the Administration, working with Congress, can get us out. (And it was very cool to see those robots move millions of dollars inside the Treasury Department).
That was followed by today's announcement by President Obama to boost small business lending, which was an excellent example of how to stage a public relations event to connect with mutliple audiences.
Treasury Timothy Geithner opened the event and was followed by the owner of a regional bank and a small business owner trying to expand his restaurants. In the audience, were small business owners while, at the podium, the President then railed at AIG for giving out bonuses with taxpayer dollars to employees who are partially responsible for creating the economic mess. He then outlined his plans to unlock SBA loans.
In a little more than 24 hours, starting with yesterday's Sunday morning news programs, the Administration has managed to communicate quite effectively across multiple critical audiences about the economic crisis: from Wall Street to small businesses to the consumers on Main Street.
In doing so, it has for now taken back control of the news cycle and should quiet Republican naysayers who doubt the President's ability to move so rapidly on many fronts to stop the credit freeze, mass layoffs and foreclosures.
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