Month: September 2013

AT&T Can’t Help Itself

Trish

Social media was awash in messages of remembrance of 9/11 on the 12th anniversary of one of the saddest days of loss in America. Many of the tributes were heartfelt but a bunch had a “just phoning it in” quality.* Condescending Corporate Brand Page, for example, found a horse groomer posting a picture of a horse with the New York skyline clipped into its coat.

But AT&T’s tweet of a man’s hand holding up a smart phone to take a picture of the beams of light that mark Ground Zero was the popular winner for Worst 9/11 Tie-In Tweet or Facebook Post. One Twitter user noted, “Not an occasion for product placement, AT&T.”

As is almost always the case, the original sin could have been forgiven; the ones that follow are harder to overlook. In this instance, that sin would be AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s apology tweet, which included this line:

I consider that date a solemn occasion each year, a time when I reach out to those I was with on that awful day, share a moment of reflection for the lives lost and express my love of country.

Really Randall? It’s a day you “reach out?” Like to maybe, “reach out and touch someone?” Oh wait, that was AT&T’s long-running advertising slogan. Doh!

We agree with marketing and technology consultant David Berkowitz when it comes to companies trying to “engage” with us in social media.

“Unless you’re bringing something of value, the easy thing is just to keep your mouth shut.”

* Pun intended.

Most Say Obama’s Handling of Foreign Policy No Better — and Maybe Worse — Than Bush’s

Buck Banks

64%

Of Americans — including 68% of independents and 41% of Democrats — believe President Obama’s handling of foreign policy is worse than, or the same as, former President George W. Bush’s handling of foreign policy, a new Reason-Rupe poll finds. Just 32% of Americans say President Obama is handling foreign policy better than Bush did.

Children’s Book By Limbaugh a Frightening Notion Indeed

Buck Banks

The release date for Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims is set for October 29, two days before Halloween, which seems entirely appropriate. After all, it’s tough to think of a cultural development more frightening than one of conservatism’s most age-inappropriate personalities peddling his ideas specifically to young kids. … Except maybe for Rush’s on-air musing that, if the book sells well, he plans to expand it into a series.

— Michelle Cottle, writing on the Daily Beast.

Sullivan: Enough with the Eye-Rolling Already!

Buck Banks

I’m tired of the eye-rolling and the easy nit-picking of the president’s leadership on this over the last few weeks. The truth is: his threat of war galvanized the world and America, raised the profile of the issue of chemical weapons more powerfully than ever before, ensured that this atrocity would not be easily ignored and fostered a diplomatic initiative to resolve the issue without use of arms.

— Andrew Sullivan, writing on his Dish blog.

If Obama Loses Syria Vote, So What?

Buck Banks

Presidents suffer defeats all the time. Obama lost on cap-and-trade. He’s lost on plenty of judicial and executive branch nominations. He couldn’t get agreement for a grand bargain. He lost on gun control. What’s more, Republicans have been opposing him on virtually everything from the day he took office. In what concrete way would a defeat on Syria change this dynamic in even the slightest way?

— Kevin Drum, writing in Mother Jones.

If Obama Loses Syria Vote, There Goes His Credibility

Buck Banks

It is to President Obama’s great discredit that he has staked this credibility on a vote whose outcome he failed to game out in advance. But if he loses that vote, the national interest as well as his political interests will take a tangible hit: for the next three years, American foreign policy will be in the hands of a president whose promises will ring consistently hollow, and whose ability to make good on his strategic commitments will be very much in doubt.

— Ross Douthat, writing in the New York Times.