The Impact on a President of Reading Citizens’ Letters
EmailFollowing up on our story about how President Obama reads 10 letters a day from citizens so as to stay in better touch with the concerns of the American people, historian Robert S. McElvaine writes at the Huffington Post that President "Obama is adopting a practice that served President Franklin D. Roosevelt well during the Great Depression….A look at FDR’s experience with letters from the public suggests that President Obama — and the nation — may benefit substantially from the adoption of the practice by the new president…
"Letters from the public were very important to Roosevelt, who saw the mail as a way to gauge fluctuations in public sentiment. According to his aide Louis Howe, FDR ‘always maintained that a personal letter from a farmer or a miner or little shopkeeper or clerk who honestly expresses his conviction, is the most perfect index to the state of the public mind.’ The president therefore had the mail analyzed on a regular basis and sometimes read a random sampling of letters himself ‘to renew his sense of contact with raw opinion.’"
- jpt
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Good Lord, the propaganda machine’s pulling out ALL the stops: Obama-as-FDR again.
Well, it won’t wash. Nobody writes “letters” any more in any case — better he should read Comments HERE.
(In case He does: decree single-payer NOW, bring in Howard Dean and Paul Krugman and John Edwards, lose Geithner TODAY, and STOP the bailouts.)
Posted by: Human Intelligence | February 24, 2009, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
Reagan and Bush Sr have books out on their citizen correspondence.
Bush Sr.’s sort of stinks. Maybe its that vision thing plus his style is too Kennebunkport dry for me.
Reagan’s of course is great, and probably most of it is good read even for liberals, he has such an engaging connection with people and really has had a wide breadth of being friends with stars and cowboys, union and business, as well as politicians. So he doesn’t treat “constituents” as such.
Posted by: robert b | February 24, 2009, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
Yeah, right – I’m sure he’s actually reading these letters….PPUUUHHHHLLLEEAAASSEEE! Must we continue with this astroturfing? Come on, Jake. You’re above this kind of nonsense.
Posted by: Indievoter | February 24, 2009, 3:49 pm 3:49 pm
I wonder if FDR ever got any letters from the Japanese citizens in interment camps.
Posted by: MayBee | February 24, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
I could never see George W. Bush reading letters from ordinary Americans…
Posted by: matt | February 24, 2009, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
Oh, sure, Obama will read the letters and get a few photos taken. He might even use an emotional story from a letter if it suits his purpose.
But King Zero will do as he pleases.
Posted by: Michelle | February 24, 2009, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
“I wonder if FDR ever got any letters from the Japanese citizens in interment camps.”
Maybe we should ask Michele Malkin.
Posted by: Ryan C | February 24, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
Human, I’d agree with the sentiment that Secretary of the Treasury Doogie Howser should go, but the markets will only go even more crazy if that happens.
BTW, who picks which letters Obama reads? That’s the real question. Rahm?
Posted by: emjay | February 24, 2009, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
“Reagan and Bush Sr have books out on their citizen correspondence.”
Thanks Robert, I’ll have to check that out.
Posted by: Ryan C | February 24, 2009, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
This is obviously FDR week. Lincoln’s letter reading doesn’t even get a mention, poor guy.
Posted by: MayBee | February 24, 2009, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
You’ve got to be kidding me. This is a story? This is nothing but drivel to wash down the Koolaid with. Obama reading ‘everyday’ letters? Come on. The guy is a dyed-in-the-wool collectivist who couldn’t care less about the ‘common people’ unless their tragic story can be doctored to illustrate an example of how horrible America is. How ’bout a little, just a teeny, tiny amount of skepticism toward this kind of thing.
Posted by: lukematthews | February 24, 2009, 4:01 pm 4:01 pm
I thought keeping the Blackberry was about staying in touch.
Posted by: mad | February 24, 2009, 4:06 pm 4:06 pm
“Letters from the public were very important to Roosevelt, who saw the mail as a way to gauge fluctuations in public sentiment.”
——————————–
Polling by letter
Posted by: mad | February 24, 2009, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
‘to renew his sense of contact with raw opinion.’
———————————-
A lovely illusion as coping mechanism…
There are worse things.
Posted by: mad | February 24, 2009, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
I could never see George W. Bush reading letters from ordinary Americans…
=============
That’s because George W Bush wasn’t compelled to make sure you knew about it. He just did it.
If you recall, during his last speech just a few days before he left office, Bush invited some of the many citizens he had met and kept in touch with over the years.
Jake Tapper covered the occasion here.
Posted by: MayBee | February 24, 2009, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
So, does BHO have ANY original ideas for himself and his administration. I love the history lessons revisited but honestly, the man just becomes more & more of an empty suit to me. What a joke. Next wk, stay tuned for JFK lessons. I’ll look forward to it. History was always my favorite and I haven’t read and heard all of BHO and his thugs version of it.
Posted by: Cali | February 24, 2009, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
“That’s because George W Bush wasn’t compelled to make sure you knew about it. He just did it.”
George Bush as the modest man?
You’re kidding right?
“If you recall, during his last speech just a few days before he left office, Bush invited some of the many citizens he had met and kept in touch with over the years.”
You mean the same people who stuffed his fake townhalls with questions like “Why are you so great?”
“They include about 45 people chosen for their personal stories, a practice normally reserved for a State of the Union address”
How nice that Bush got some stage props for his farewell save the legacy speech!
Posted by: Ryan C | February 24, 2009, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
I wonder if the White House has received any tea bags…
Posted by: ChicagoTeaParty | February 24, 2009, 4:51 pm 4:51 pm
Anything that gets through to the O-Desk has undoubtedly been pre-screened for lack of sufficient praise. And yah, big picture of Obama actually reading, much less dwelling on, letters from the Common Folk. Snort. Any chance we can allow FDR to stop rolling over in his grave one day soon?
Posted by: Kat5 | February 24, 2009, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
“Snort. Any chance we can allow FDR to stop rolling over in his grave one day soon?”
That the Roosevelts were patrician populists, while the Obamas are mob-friendly corporate climbers, and that most people deal in email these days, makes any comparison of Obama with FDR far-fetched.
(“I almost hear an echo of Franklin Roosevelt in that … ” Wolf Blitzer is saying on teevee, sticking to the Obama script. John King, meanwhile, is reprising (as his own thoughts) Darth Gibbs’ remarks on Morning Joe.)
Posted by: Human Intelligence | February 24, 2009, 5:17 pm 5:17 pm
When NEXT the market tanks — tomorrow or the next day — Obama starts using a cigarette holder in public, affects a leg brace, and takes to motoring to Warm Springs in a Pierce Arrow, instead of zipping off to Hawaii on AF1 …
Posted by: Human Intelligence | February 24, 2009, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm
FDR (so says the history books) came to office profoundly hopeful – and stayed hopeful. All of his messages were ones of optimism and forward-looking. This seems to be an entirely different approach to Obama, who is telling us how bad things are and how bad they will be. Nothing significant there, just interesting to see the two different approaches. Only time will tell if they end up similar or not. BTW, if anyone’s interested, I’m reading a great book on FDR right now called ‘FDR’ by Jean Edward Smith, really interesting read.
Posted by: lisa | February 24, 2009, 6:43 pm 6:43 pm
Just for the sake of argument BHO gets 1000 letters per day. He reads 10, thats only 1%. All those letters are going to be screened for key words and phrases. Only the least offensive and most complimentary and agreeable are going to be chosen. They are going to be mostly completely worthless. Normally it takes about 4-6 months for the President to receive anything from the public. These letters are more than likely written by a staff of writers.
Posted by: Ted | February 24, 2009, 7:33 pm 7:33 pm
Oh My Shame on all the negative comments on this page!! At least obama is trying to throw postive engery in this world and doing more than most presidents did for the nation.. Amen !!
It’s people like you that need to get with the program with your own shelf!!My oh my all of the nasty negative comments on this page is goin to kick u back in butt one day . This reminds me of high school chitter chatter!! Be an adult and get some help within ur selves
U all take care now….
Posted by: lorraine | February 24, 2009, 8:24 pm 8:24 pm
“In case He does: decree single-payer NOW, bring in Howard Dean and Paul Krugman and John Edwards, lose Geithner TODAY, and STOP the bailouts.”
Human Intelligence,
You are so Right On!!!
Posted by: Cherubim | February 25, 2009, 10:50 am 10:50 am
Both President Reagan and the first President Bush regularly read large numbers of citizen letters, randomly selected by the director of White House correspondence. They were from supporters and critics, from adults and children, from people who eloquently made a point. They furnished insight like no public poll can do. So let’s give the FDR and JFK comparisons a rest.
Posted by: Been There | February 25, 2009, 11:49 am 11:49 am
What’s the address, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? I’ll send my 2 cents, for a laugh.
Posted by: JK August | February 26, 2009, 10:29 am 10:29 am
Swoon. Spare us the hype. I believe everything he does is for show. What we need is action on the tanking economy. How about more articles about that? How about some real analysis on this pork bill.
Posted by: Jennifer | March 2, 2009, 9:20 am 9:20 am
Hey Jake,
What about doing your job and asking some of the difficult questions instead of some “fluff” story. I thought we were in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? Perhaps someone should have listened to the millions of Americans who were, and still are, against the out of control spending!
I think a lot of people should stop looking out and start looking in! Your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you are saying!!!
Posted by: Let Freedom Ring! | July 31, 2009, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm