Express the Grays, Mr. President

President Obama must trust the American people to see the gray areas of the challenge ahead.

The three weeks since Barack Obama became President of the United States have been a roller coaster for the President and the American people.

On Monday evening he will address the American people in a televised news conference, the next in an ongoing series of "most important addresses" that the President faces.

Understandably, the pundits are all in the "what he needs to say" mode. So here's my take on this: 1. Be strong, be calm and be optimistic but frank, 2. Express the urgency of immediate action; 3. restate the goals of that action; and, 4. most important, speak directly to the American people in a manner that recognizes the grays - not just the black and white's upon which the partisans and the media seemed to have focused.

As he did with his remarkable speech on race. President Obama should trust the good judgement of the American people to see the problem in all its complexity and ask for their prayers and support as he works to get both sides to be both more humble in their approach and more bold in their implementation. In short - to paraphrase Lincoln - to ask both sides to stop acting as if God were on their side and quickly craft a humble concensus, hoping and praying that we are on God's side.

In an interesting piece on Politico.com yesterday, Elizabeth Sherman, of the Tractenburg School of Public Policy at GW University gave a simple, but compelling, response to the question of "what to say" by reminding the President to stay on message with a restatement of the need to move beyond partisanship and the specific goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 package.

In other words, remind them that we are not red states and blue states but the United States and then speak frankly about the goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

1. Targeted tax cuts and investment spending to get the private sector working again and renewing confidence in the system;
2. Strategic short and longer-term investments to fund infrastructure and to invest in our competitiveness in the new green economy as we emerge from the recession;
3. Proving a safety net for those hardest hit by, (and often least responsible for) the economic meltdown.

Sherman is right on target with this advice, but it will fall short if the President does not then use it to do an end run around the Congress and the media straight to the American people with a plea for their help in setting a new tone with expanded expectations.

He can start by reminding the American people that changing the landscape in Washington is not going to be easy - that it will only happen with their support. One only need look at the actions of the major players in the past few weeks to see how difficult it will be.

With some wordsmithing, he can both highlight the problem and secure the support of the American people. He can - for example - demonstrate how he tried to reach across the aisle during the past week only to have the Republicans seek unfair advantage by insisting on their package and crying partisanship when they got less than 100% of their demands. He can show strength by taking a Reaganesque approach to the Republicans, a "trust but verify" approach that expects cooperation and hits back when cooperation is not given or disingenuous. Just as Reagan firmly held the Soviets to his expectations, so too will Obama hold the Republicans to his - rewarding them when they live up to their promises and pushing back when they don't -
always vowing to continue to press for a post partisan approach.

Obama can start by forgiving the partisans and the press for their transgressions of the past two weeks:

Forgive the Democrats who, heady from their victory on election day, have failed to see that the election results were not an endorsement of the Democratic party, but a clarion call for a new way.

Forgive the Republicans for their transgressions by pointing out that they are understandably confused and without direction. Their ideas have suffered from the rejection of the American people after eight years of national experimentation and they are struggling to find a voice that makes them relevant in an era of diversity and global competitiveness.

Forgive the media for finding conflict more newsworthy (and profitable) than concensus and for the understandable difficulty of finding simple ways to report on complex problems.

Ask for the help of the American people in the immediate problem of taking action on the recession and in the longer-term challenge of creating higher expectations for a post-partisan future.


"Lincoln Memorial at Night"


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