So today President Obama is visiting Columbus to recognize 25 new officers graduating from the police academy. It’s great news for the city…the 25 jobs that is. The jobs were made possible through federal stimulus money and in a state with 8+ % unemployment and rising, people with income are a good thing. (from what I’ve heard, by the way, unfortunately this job growth is not sustainable as the academy won’t have a class next year due to budget constraints)

What’s not good news for the city is the fact that we (Columbus - a city operating at a deficit and making cuts) have to foot the bill for logistics and security for this visit. And Oh, by the way, the president of the United States has one of the biggest carbon footprints on the planet. Any time he moves, he’s got an entourage to move. Any time he flies, he flies an Airliner. Any time he rides in a car, add 10+ because it’s a motorcade.

This president is championing change. He’s also got one helluva situation relating to the economy and a society/culture with a spending/lack-of-saving problem and entitlement complex.

He’s missing a HUGE opportunity today. You want to champion change?  Lead by example. Take advantage of technology and visit Columbus via teleconference! Hell, visit 4 cities today. Interact with the reporters, answer questions, give your speech uniquely to the audience, but do it remotely. Make a point of the fact that you are paying specific attention to the city and it’s residents, but that you are doing so through innovative technology and you’re saving money in the process. You’re not incurring security costs. You’re not fueling AF1 and the accompanying fighter escorts.

Create efficiencies, Mr. President. Show the American public that you’re not just leaning on businesses to rethink the way they do things, but that you are really changing the way DC does things. Take a half day to do this a couple of times with the cities who are being positively impacted by stimulus money, and then get some work done on Penn Ave. Then, do it again next week.

I understand politics are politics, but if we really REALLY want to change things, we can’t keep telling people that everything will be OK and continue to do things the way we’ve done them.

Here is a great question… Cost of President Visiting vs. Dollars we got for this 25 police recruits…

Spot on otherwise Nick! Sustainability and Lower Costs should always win out over the silliness of parading around the country.

well said; i completely agree. president obama needs to be as progressive as he has proclaimed himself to be. he has made huge strides by embracing technology (see: numerous informational .gov sites, all under creative commons licensing) but he needs to do more.

i have faith that he will continue to push us forward (read: make up for 8 years of traveling backwards in technology and science). but still, it’s understandable to think that someone with that much responsibility and with that much to accomplish during his term(s) might need a while to get some of these great ideas enacted. hopefully, for all our sakes, he can do it soon.

Nick, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I know it would’ve been a trick to market that decision as a “savings” (t=which of course it would be), but, well, let’s see… his campaign redefined the use of technology in politics. I think his camp could’ve figured that one out.

Looking forward to reading more thoughtful posts such as this.

So much carping about the cost of the visit. When Pres. Kennedy visited Columbus, he quipped, “I don’t know of another city where I get a warmer welcome and fewer votes than Columbus, Ohio.” I guess now the Democrats get a lot a votes and a poor welcome. Not a bad trade politically, but still, doesn’t reflect well on Columbus.

Joe -

You seem to have taken the post as a partisan comment, which it wasn’t intended to be. Had a republican taken up residence in the whitehouse end of January and been here in town today, I’d have written the same post substituting the name.

The point is - Obama ran on a platform of change. He’s talking about accountability, capping executive pay and trying to take a nation from a culture of spending to a culture of savings (of course we want spend to stimulate the economy, but I mean in general) but not making blatant and marketable changes in traditional functions of his office. This would have been a phenomenal opportunity to show the use of technology, a conscious decision to save and still interact with constituents on a personal level.

Nick,
Insightful commentary with a lot of good points.

I have to respectfully disagree on one point, though. From a public relations standpoint, a personal appearance carries much more weight than a teleconference. To touch on Greg’s comment re: marketing the strategy as cost savings: there’s no amount of words that can make a remote appearance equate to a personal appearance. (Which leaves the question, did he really need to come to the great state of Ohio in the first place?)

But you’re right to point out that maybe the President should look into curtailing the environmental impact he makes in his daily routine. As LeaderShape taught us, you must lead with integrity and lead by example.

Chris - Good to hear from you man! Hows KState? Life?

I hear you on the in-person thing, I do. I’m a huge believer of it and practice it in business. HOWEVER, I simply can’t justify the “benefits” when a city is running a deficit and he’s incurring further costs. I think he would have done more good in terms of public relations FOR THE CITY OF COLUMBUS (he’s the pres and approval rating is high, don’t need to boost that right now, we need action and approval rating will continue to be high).

PR for Columbus (I’m spinning this in 2 minutes and I think his people could probably dress it up further): Columbus was ranked #1 in the country for up and coming tech city by Forbes. You have 110,000 college students in the major metro area. You have the biggest and most important technical and scientific research firm in the country (close in world) Batelle. You have incubators, you have money flowing to technology, etc etc. You’re also running a deficit. I want to use you as an example - in a state where mft is (or at least was) a major employment vertical - you’re a city that is embracing the future, working hard in technology, creating jobs. Let’s leverage that technology, be aware of the economic situation, let’s set an example- you, a city, and me, a president and leader - are aware of our situation, aware of our resources, and choosing to do things differently. I’m there, my attention is on you. I can answer in real time, but we’re doing this together and making an impact.

Just sayin…