[HCCN] Helen Thomas offers advice for the President

[Judith Robbins]



Published on Sunday, October 25, 2009 by CNN
Veteran Reporter's 5 Lessons for Obama

by Helen Thomas and Craig Crawford
We've been watching presidents come and go for years and have come up  
with five key lessons for President Obama to keep in mind as he copes  
with the world's toughest job.

Brace yourself: The worst is yet to come

Mr. President, you've probably already realized that your  
inauguration is likely to be the happiest day of your presidency. If  
only you could make that feeling last forever. The White House can be  
one of the loneliest places in the world. Just look at the physical  
deterioration some have suffered during their years in office.

If you do not want more gray hair, be prepared for a dye job.

Most presidents leave Washington with, at best, mixed feelings toward  
the place and many with whom they've worked -- especially the press.  
Perhaps that is why they choose never to live there again after  
leaving office and visit infrequently.

John F. Kennedy once called Washington a city of "Southern efficiency  
and Northern charm."

Harry Truman famously said that if you want a friend in Washington,  
"Get a dog."

Forget your privacy: You are a public servant

Sorry, Mr. President, but when you go into the White House, you had  
better know that you live in a fishbowl with few hiding places. You  
are public property. Don't go into public life if you want a private  
life.

And never forget you are not the boss. You work for the people.  
Lyndon Johnson might have been joking, but one day on the South Lawn  
his outsized ego got away from him. As a phalanx of helicopters  
assembled to transport his entourage, someone asked, "Mr. President,  
which helicopter is yours?"

"Son, they're all mine," Johnson replied.

Presidents are so shielded from the normal routines of life that they  
might be forgiven for thinking they are somehow protected from  
everything. The psychological impact of isolation, despite constant  
scrutiny, is one for the medical experts to figure out. But it is  
often humorous to watch them wrestle with their surreal circumstances.

Living in their protective bubble as they do, presidents can be  
forgiven for losing touch with how normal people live. But often  
their zeal for personal privacy contributes to their own isolation.

You are not perfect, Mr. President. So don't pretend that you are and  
hide the bad stuff.If you are still smoking, say so directly, and  
openly share your struggle with the public.

Protecting your privacy can come at a greater cost than simply  
revealing what you don't want the public to know. If it is found out  
-- and it probably will be -- you not only have the fallout from the  
exposure to deal with, but you will also be accused of deceit.

Open up: The people have a right to know

Presidents usually come into office vowing to conduct the most open  
administration in history. In the White House pressroom, we tend to  
snicker at such promises. They are not kept.

The openness or secrecy of an administration depends on the  
president. It is your job, Mr. President, to set the tone and lay  
down the rules for how your White House staff views the public's  
right to the truth.

There are many avenues for a president to get the message out --  
through the news media, addresses to the nation and going on the  
stump. You will regret using those methods to avoid tough questions,  
distort the truth or try to spin away your problems. It might take a  
while, but the public will one day catch on.

Although most presidential press secretaries would like to shut the  
door on reporters, only one, George Stephanopoulos, literally did so.  
Early in Bill Clinton's administration, he had the door to his staff  
area closed, apparently not understanding how important this access  
was to us.

After much griping from the press corps, Stephanopoulos relented. He  
explained why in his book, "All Too Human."

"Helen Thomas led the charge," Stephanopoulos wrote. "For more than  
30 years she had started her day a little before 7 a.m. by planting  
herself outside the press secretary's office and asking him a  
question as he walked through the door.

"Now she couldn't do that anymore. With a voice that sounded then  
like the Wicked Witch of the West's, she went on the attack. ...  
Helen was letting me know who was really in charge. I may have been  
working for the new president, but she was part of the institutional  
presidency. She could wait us out, and she intended to win."

Have courage: Even if it hurts

The theme of your campaign was summed up by the title of one of your  
books, "The Audacity of Hope." You've given us hope, Mr. President.  
Now show us the audacity.

In Afghanistan, Mr. President, you risk repeating Lyndon Johnson's  
disastrous escalation of the Vietnam War after listening too much to  
the generals. Again, the Pentagon wants more troops for a tricky war,  
vowing success in Afghanistan if you only agree. That's what the  
British and the Russians thought before they utterly failed to subdue  
their foes in Afghanistan's difficult terrain.

Have courage to resist such pleas if your instincts say otherwise,  
Mr. President. That is why the founders of our nation put a civil  
servant in charge of the military. You are the decision-maker, not  
the follower.

Remember, the generals work for you. Think about how Harry Truman  
once proved the point. He had just fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur for  
publicly disagreeing with his policy against expanding the Korean War  
into China.

Truman elaborated on the decision for reporters in his typically  
blunt fashion:

"I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the  
president. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son-of-a-bitch,  
although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it  
was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."

Give us vision: It's your legacy

A good president, wrote 19th century historian Henry Adams,  
"resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to  
grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek."

The port you seek, Mr. President, is your vision. Those who take this  
lightly do so at their peril.

But even the most inspirational vision is just talk if not combined  
with action.

Now is the time to fill in the blanks, Mr. President. The excitement  
and newness of your presidency has worn off. Turn your vision into  
reality. Show us that you can deliver results.

© 2009 Cable News Network.
Columnist and author Helen Thomas, 89, was a United Press  
International correspondent for 57 years and covered every U.S.  
president since John F. Kennedy. Craig Crawford is a TV commentator  
and political writer. They are the authors of "Listen Up, Mr.  
President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do."


Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/25-3
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