We have frequent conversations around our office (that’s right, the one with cranberry zinger colored walls) about the Administration. It’s hard to avoid such talk being in Washington and having political backgrounds with an election season approaches.

It is not uncommon for these conversations to devolve into a critique of the Administration’s PR strategy. It seems they rely too heavily on playing defense and far too much on the power of the War-time President image. As Fox News blares the “breaking news� of the “President comments on the War on Terror,� we ask is it too much to ask for the President to talk about something other than the war – even if just for one news cycle? Of course, it’s not that easy. But why not try?

Then I read this quote from the book “The CIA at War� by Ronald Kessler:

The events of 9/11 fundamentally changed the way the President looked at the world,� said McLaughlin who periodically briefed Bush and attended most of the meetings with the President to plan a counterattack. “I’m convinced he wakes up every morning thinking about how to prevent anything like that from happening again.�

[note: “McLaughlin� is John E. McLaughlin who, in 2003, the book’s publication date, was Deputy Director at the CIA.]

It’s hardly an earth-shattering statement. It’s nearly cliché. We’ve read something like it a million times since 9/11. For some reason, in light of our office discussions, it strikes me differently this week.

It’s easy for Joe Schmo PR pro to look from the outside in and say “change the story, knuckleheads.� It’s not so easy to be the person upon whom responsibility for the security of our nation falls. While we (the aforementioned PR pros) have clients and bosses – and our consciences – to answer to, the President’s clients are slightly more important – as in the American people, Congress, the judges of history, the face in the mirror, and, depending on your point of view, God Himself.

This is where communication - and being a PR adviser - can get tricky. It may very well be in the President’s best interest – politically and from a PR standpoint - to shift focus to the economy or immigration or energy, anything that will deflect criticism over the war. But if you sat down at your desk to a casualty report and a threat briefing, not to mention the scar of a terrorist attack still fresh in your mind…. Would you want to talk about education? Any press office would be likely to push a President towards an event highlighting economic success. But the President’s heart and mind are focused on something else.

As he reflects on the last six years, will he really say “I wish I had put more money in wind energy�? I doubt it. My money is on his chief concern being, “9/11 happened on my watch. I cannot leave this office unless I know I’ve done absolutely everything in my power, and spent every last waking hour making sure it doesn’t happen again.�

The President is perfectly capable of focusing on more than the War on Terror. He does it everyday. Of that, I have no doubt. And while I wish he would talk about something else for just one day, I’m not sure I would be able to do so if I were in his shoes. Say what you want about whether we should be in Iraq or whether we should use the phrase “War on Terror.� But until you’ve sat in the Oval Office and made these decisions, I’m not so sure we really know what it’s like to bear the burden of keeping this nation safe or of sending troops into harm’s way. And if we did, I’m not so sure we would be looking to change the story.

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