Larry D. Lauer

Crisis communication 101 teaches that you determine exactly what happened very quickly, develop a statement on what your organization is already doing about it, and then you contact as directly as you can the most affected parties. The news media would usually be third or fourth on an affected party list.

But what happens most often, however, is that the news media is the first to inform you about something horrible that just happened, and then you are under enormous pressure to assess the situation very quickly and make a public statement that you will very likely have to revise as you find out more.

But this kind of pressure filled situation is today’s professional strategic communicator’s reality. In a 24/7 news environment it is extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get on top of the most volatile issues and events. And Syria certainly is one of those “all but impossible” situations.

By taking so long to go public with a firm statement on the use of poisoned gas, and then not following the statement they finally made with immediate action, the Obama administration enabled leaks about disagreements among the staff to confuse the public. And when asking for Congressional support appeared to be an afterthought, all of this obviously robbed the president of much-needed leadership credibility.

And what is additionally troublesome to me is that from healthcare reform, to the budget, to education initiatives, to the deficit, and now Syria, it is not apparent that there has been a steady influential professional strategic communication voice involved during the planning and implementation processes.

My take as an outside observer is that while the president eventually comes up with a feasible solution (whether or not you agree with it), all too often by the time he is ready to act the climate has already been poisoned with leaks about internal conflicts.  And such leaks inevitably lead to losses of credibility… and even doubts about basic competence.

One thing is certain: The road ahead regarding Syria will be bumpy, and it has been made even more bumpy in recent days. As a result, the effectiveness of Obama’s entire presidency will rest on whether or not he can somehow regain his credibility with this issue, as well as with those that lie ahead. And the only way to do that in this 24/7 media world, I believe, is with a strong professional, and fully integrated, strategic communication team completely engaged every day.