http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/212933-pelosi-obamas-communication-could-be-stepped-upPelosi: Obama could boost communication
By Mario Trujillo
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said President Obama should increase communication if people have the impression he is too aloof.
Pelosi, however, said she disagrees with the characterization that Obama is too removed or difficult to access emotionally.
"So while I disagree with the characterization, if that is the impression people have, then communication has to be stepped up," she said when asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe.”
A number of Republicans have criticized Obama's response to recent crises — in particular his decision to go ahead with a fundraiser after the downing of a commercial airliner over Eastern Ukraine last week.
Pelosi cited President Abraham Lincoln, who said public sentiment is everything.
"I think [Obama] has a great deal to be proud of," Pelosi said. "Lincoln said public sentiment is everything. And actually Ronald Reagan used to quote that of Lincoln."
The minority leader pointed to a number of economic indicators and the implementation of the new healthcare law as things for which Obama should be proud.
When initially asked the question about Obama's temperament, Pelosi joked, "Do you want me to write a book or something to talk about that?"
During the interview, Pelosi also called on Congress to pass emergency funding requested to deal with the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border.
"What we need to do is have the supplemental that gives us the resources to meet the humanitarian needs to do the border control, but also to have the judicial piece so that these children have representation and judges to hear their cases," she said.
Pelosi again expressed confidence in winning back the 17 seats necessary to take back the House, something most forecasters say is unlikely in the current midterm climate. However, she called those analyses "stale."
"This is a very odd year, that all assumptions that people have made about in an off year of a presidential ... they are all stale and they are obsolete," she said. "Communication is completely different and how people organize, and social media and the rest."
