Well, looks like it's official, the Democrats will NOT be including a weapons assault ban in their upcoming gun control legislation.
Looks like Obama failed to deliver (yet again), in this case to 'deliver real reforms', which he promised shortly after the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
What's crazy about this, from a PR perspective is that polls show 56 per cent of Americans WANT a ban on assault rifles (other polls have shown the support ranges up into the 60-65 per cent range).
So the majority want it AND you have a string of mass shootings that provide further support for such controls and he still ultimately delivers nothing.
This is a great example of how PR isn't the end-all and be-all on an issue. Lobbying and campaign contributions can steer politicians into voting against what the public wants.
I just don't get why Obama continues to get in front of the camera (he's done this endlessly on economic issues), tell people what they want to hear, then a few months later fail to deliver (and he knows he can't deliver when he's making these promises). It makes him look weak and diminishes the trust people have in what he says.
I don't really have much of a stance on gun control as I think a lot of other things contribute to the issue (after all, 99.99% of gun owners are responsible ones), but I think it's bad PR to say 'We've got to get something done' and then months later you've done nothing. It basically sends a message that you are ineffective as a leader in that you can't achieve the things you supposedly think are essential to get done.
But as Obama has done many times before, I suspect he'll brush this off as a failure of 'congress'. And while that would technically be true, the President, aside from one press conference and a couple interviews, did as little as possible to get his hands dirty in this fight. He basically handed it off to Joe Biden and proceeded to distance himself from it.
Looks like Obama failed to deliver (yet again), in this case to 'deliver real reforms', which he promised shortly after the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
What's crazy about this, from a PR perspective is that polls show 56 per cent of Americans WANT a ban on assault rifles (other polls have shown the support ranges up into the 60-65 per cent range).
So the majority want it AND you have a string of mass shootings that provide further support for such controls and he still ultimately delivers nothing.
This is a great example of how PR isn't the end-all and be-all on an issue. Lobbying and campaign contributions can steer politicians into voting against what the public wants.
I just don't get why Obama continues to get in front of the camera (he's done this endlessly on economic issues), tell people what they want to hear, then a few months later fail to deliver (and he knows he can't deliver when he's making these promises). It makes him look weak and diminishes the trust people have in what he says.
I don't really have much of a stance on gun control as I think a lot of other things contribute to the issue (after all, 99.99% of gun owners are responsible ones), but I think it's bad PR to say 'We've got to get something done' and then months later you've done nothing. It basically sends a message that you are ineffective as a leader in that you can't achieve the things you supposedly think are essential to get done.
But as Obama has done many times before, I suspect he'll brush this off as a failure of 'congress'. And while that would technically be true, the President, aside from one press conference and a couple interviews, did as little as possible to get his hands dirty in this fight. He basically handed it off to Joe Biden and proceeded to distance himself from it.
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