Politoco's Mike Allen gets a sneak peek at a column to appear Sunday in The Washington Post. The column, by Jim Hoaglund, concludes that when it comes to messaging and communication strategy on national security and foreign affairs, the current White House administration is doing a lot better job than the last one. Here's Politico quoting Hoaglund:
“I asked a visiting foreign minister how dealing with the United States has changed under Obama. His response: ‘Wherever we go — the White House, State or the Pentagon — we hear exactly the same message. That never happened with George W. Bush.’ This answer would no doubt please Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser, who coordinates the president's foreign policy positions. Jones himself is said to have chilled a Middle East leader, who had asked for separate meetings with a wide array of senior administration officials, by saying: ‘Why don't I just get them all together around one table for you? You are going to hear the same thing from all of them.’
“The fact is, this is a cohesive administration. Jones and [Secretary of State Hilary] Clinton respect each other and understand each other's roles. Even though they were obviously not part of Obama's campaign team, they have adapted quickly to his rigorous style of managed communication, which is policed by an inner circle of Obama intimates — Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and Denis McDonough, who are the most influential message commissars at the White House. That circle decides who gets interviewed on national television, when, and pretty much what they say (not very successfully in the case of Vice President Biden, but nobody's perfect). It was no accident that Clinton did not appear on a Sunday television talk show until June 7 — almost five months into the administration — when the secretary of state was finally interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's “This Week.”
“Convinced that Obama is a unique American communicator, the White House did not want anyone else diluting his aura as spokesman to the world. And, surprise, surprise, this approach maximizes the close-in advisers' clout. Their first-among-equals standing is also on display in quiet ways during the president's frequent overseas travels and leadership meetings, such as his trips to Russia and the G-8 summit in Italy last week. Officials abroad are struck by Obama's reflexive reliance on Emanuel, his chief of staff, even on foreign policy issues in these meetings. And one diplomat was surprised to learn that Axelrod, Obama's top political adviser, had been thoroughly briefed by Obama after a one-on-one meeting with the diplomat's president before Jones or Clinton were. [Read more at Politico]