Behind Obama's 100-Day PR Strategy

Alex Wong / Getty Images Could this be a "mission accomplished" moment for the new White House? Richard Wolffe on how David Axelrod and other top aides decided to mark the occasion.

Judging from the questions from White House reporters, Obama’s senior aides have been struggling with the monumental question of whether or not to mark the national political holiday known as the first 100 days.

But that misses the point. Behind the scenes, the real discussion inside the West Wing was not about ignoring or embracing the 100-day festivities, which Obama’s aides happily dismiss as a Hallmark moment.

"It’s very early here to be assessing, evaluating and crediting ourselves—even as we would give ourselves high credit for these early months," David Axelrod said. "This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the problems we face are large and are going to take some time to confront."

Instead their debate centered on a recurring dilemma facing this new administration: to look back or forward, to be sober or optimistic? Whether the issue is torture, the economy, or its own achievements after all of 100 days, the balancing act between the future and the past—between positive and negative—is tough to execute.

Senior White House aides say there were initial plans to pre-empt the 100-day holiday and look firmly ahead to the next 100 days and beyond. What better way to avoid the hubris of a "Mission Accomplished" banner, especially at a time when thousands of Americans are losing their jobs each month? The early plan was to deliver a future-focused speech ahead of the 100 days: They were so forward-looking, they would even beat the 100-day marker itself.

But that was rejected as largely impractical. How could the president look to the future without recounting recent history and his own past? Would a forward-looking perspective sound too much like a collection of predictions and promises? Could they really leave the retrospectives to a media struggling with its own existential gloom?

What they settled on is splitting the difference, a classically Obama-esque compromise in government. To reach their ultimate goal, they need to recount how far they have already made it. The long march to a transformational presidency takes more patience than the press can muster. It may well take more time than any conventional honeymoon in politics. Call it the obstinacy of hope.

“We are proud of what has been accomplished but this is just the beginning,” says Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. “The real effects of it are not going to be fully felt for some time.

“The 100 days is part of our culture so you have to observe it, and we’re participating in it, albeit reluctantly. The reason we’re reluctant is because it’s very early here to be assessing, evaluating, and crediting ourselves—even as we would give ourselves high credit for these early months. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the problems we face are large and are going to take some time to confront. The challenge always in Washington is to take the longer view in a town that operates on one-hour news cycles.”

Of all the measures of the first 100 days—the legislation and the spending—few mean quite as much to Obama’s aides as the dramatic turnaround in the mood of the country. An Associated Press poll last week showed a plurality believed the country was on the right track for the first time since January 2004, soon after the capture of Saddam Hussein. The only other time President Bush saw such numbers was in the months after 9/11. President Clinton enjoyed something similar at the end of his second term, at a time of peace of bubble-inflated prosperity.