Obama Goes Into Campaign Mode with Media

Facing criticism that President Obama isn't connecting with the public, the White House is infusing its communications strategy with some of the discipline and outside-the-box thinking that made Obama's presidential campaign famous. Sensitive about talk that the president was sometimes overexposed last year, the administration will now be more frugal with Obama's face time, and more picky about who he talks to.

The new approach will include:

• More direct, rapid response to criticism.
• More events at which the president speaks directly to the public without a media filter.
• Carefully choreographed interactions with the press, with fewer news conferences and more interviews.

It's an approach similar to the one employed successfully by Obama's 2008 campaign. "We ran everything through one strategic filter—how does this help us win the election?" said the White House's communication director. "Anything that didn't help us do that, we didn't do."
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