And apparently neither do you. In speaking to George Stephanopoulos,
Obama said he focused too much on policy instead of speaking to the American people in his first year.
"If there's one thing that I regret this year is that
we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values," Obama told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview at the White House.
The president said he made a mistake in assuming that if he focused on policy decisions, the American people would understand the reasoning behind them.
"
That I do think is a mistake of mine," Obama said. "
I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we're making a good rational decision here, then people will get it."
Let's see, who was complaining that he didn't get involved enough in his signature agenda? Oh that's right, Democrats in Congress.
How much did he speak to the American people (and everyone else).
According to Mark Knoller at CBS, Obama's first year offered:
411 Speeches, comments and remarks
42 News conferences
158 Interviews
23 Town hall meetings
46 out-of-town trips to 58 cities and towns in 30 states
10 foreign trips to 21 nations (4 of them twice)
7 Campaign rallies (all of them lost)
If he'd only had a chance to speak to us we might have gotten it.