Fumble: Admitting a mistake better in the long run

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Jack Wojcicki

The Veritas team called three Fumbles on the same play. The First Fumble came when the Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) put forth a motion meant to shift volunteer efforts away from Shinerama—a charitable event. Attention and subsequent ire came because the rationale used in the preamble—that Cystic Fibrosis (CF) “has been recently revealed to affect only white people, and primarily men”—was categorically false, not to mention potentially racist and sexist. Regardless of the motion’s intent, any statement to be made public—even at a students’ meeting—has to be carefully reviewed to ensure accuracy of information and no potentially damaging comments are present. The response of CUSA president Brittany Smyth did nothing to mitigate the situation for the second Fumble. As furor spread across the internet and major media outlets took notice Ms. Smyth issued a statement of apology. She did not, however, apologize. Rather she explained process and suggested that people just didn’t get it. Bad form. When issuing an apology, apologize to those affected and direct comments to them! Don’t offer a non-apology that makes insinuations or suggests someone ‘didn’t understand’ what was said. Put the onus on yourself and take control. Criticism of CUSA and by extension Carleton University (CU) rose to the point that CU’s reputation was being degraded. A University’s Administration distances itself from Student politics, but when the institution itself and its integrity are questioned then it is time to step in. All CU President Roseann O’Reilly Runte did was express regret that Shinerama might be cancelled and intimate how the students may reverse that decision. What she should have done first and foremost was to apologize on behalf of the University and its students to all CF sufferers their families, reiterate the University’s stance on racism and sexism, and offer assistance to the CUSA. This would have put both the President and the University in a position of leadership. Instead, the third Fumble.

Touchdown: Jordan’s Queen harnesses YouTube’s power

We’re big on new media and social media websites here – that’s why Keith McArthur is our Senior Director of Media Innovation. So I’ll steal some of his thunder in hailing Queen Rania of Jordan for being given YouTube’s first Visionary Award for her use of the video portal to combat stereotypical views of the Muslim world. Queen Rania used her own YouTube-based internet channel to engage young people and to counter negative perceptions of Arabs and Muslims – and got more than three million views in the process. She even capped the award with an acceptance video, done in a Letterman-style Top 10 format with reasons including “Because anything Queen Elizabeth can do, I can do better” and “I was tired of people thinking ‘Jordan’ was just a basketball player.” Well done, your Highness.

Touchdown: CFIA follows through on pledge

I recently gave the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) a First Down call for the admission of its executive vice-president, Dr. Brian Evans, that the national food watchdog hadn’t done a very good job of communicating during the listeria outbreak – and for his vow that they’ll do a better job moving forward. Well, Evans has followed through on the pledge, and promptly, announcing the assembly of a panel of four outside experts who will review the way CFIA goes about watching out for food-borne hazards. They’ll be “free to speak as they will or wish to in terms of what they’re recommending,” Evans said. This is solid damage control, folks. It’s only by acknowledging shortcomings, committing to addressing them and then – and this is the crucial part – visibly following through on that commitment, that an organization’s credibility can get rebuilt. I’ll be keeping watch to see how CFIA communicates the results of the process.

Fumble: (Update) Automakers to carpool

Many people reacted to last week’s Fumble about the Big Three automakers taking three separate private jets to Washington to plead for a $25 billion government bailout. And rightfully so. The Big Three were also lampooned on Saturday Night Live and widely attacked by Congress. So I would be remiss if I failed to update the item this week with the latest communications effort: that the Big Three now plan to carpool to Washington for the next bailout meeting. But the idea appears to have come from a meeting hosted by Michigan-based auto parties supplier Dura Automotive Systems Inc., and its President Tim Leuliette, after he met with the automakers, suppliers, auto dealers and auto unions last weekend. “The proper people are talking to the proper people and things are getting put together,” Leuliette told the Associated Press. “This really picked up momentum over the weekend.” None of the Big Three were quoted in the AP article, although GM did announce earlier in the week (“Air GM grounds two jets in the wake of PR debacle” – the New York Times) that it was giving back two of its leased jets, meaning that after beginning the year with seven private jets, it’s now left with only three, after giving two back in September and two more now. Ford then followed suit, saying it was considering shedding some of the five private jets it owns (GM leases all its jets). One of the best comments about this (from a communications perspective) I heard was from a client who told me this week: “Look, the government is searching for a way to help the automakers. All the Big Three have to do is give them the reasons to do it. Instead, all they’ve given them so far are reasons not to do it.”

Fumble: Magna layoffs by media

Thank you to a loyal Touchdowns and Fumbles reader who emailed to alert us to the possibility of this item. It’s an important lesson in the often overlooked importance of employee communications and, yes, it’s a Fumble. The Toronto Star story about the Magna auto parts plant shutdown and layoffs began with an anecdote about a man named Duc La, who was driving to Magna’s Aurora plant to his job of 20 years when he heard about the planned closure on the radio in his car. “I’m really worried. I’ll have no job,” said the married father of two. The story talked about how he tried to hide his tears as he got out of his car in the company parking lot. “I have a car and a new house. It will affect me a lot.” It’s true that Magna properly notified an earlier staff shift of the pending closure and it’s possible that a worker then “leaked” the information to the media. But ultimately, it’s the responsibility of any employer to ensure that such news is delivered by the company directly to its employees. They should not hear about it through the media. As challenging as that is, it’s imperative. Employee reactions will predictably be offside if they’re given the news by the press and their ensuing comments can be damaging. It’s a timely reminder in this troubled economy of the importance of internal communications.

Touchdown: Crate and Barrel’s touches

An often overlooked area is how companies communicate with their customers. Social Media has improved companies’ abilities to maintain a connection to their valued clients and we help many companies do that through our Social Media division com.motion, which celebrated its first anniversary this week. But sometimes the good old fashioned methods like telephone and mail also work extremely well. Case in point. A customer I know recently purchased a coffee table from the new Crate and Barrel store in Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The delivery people were prompt, polite and efficient. But, surprisingly, the customer later received a telephone call inquiring as to whether the delivery had been properly executed and whether the client would be comfortable or not with having the same delivery team potentially return in future. That was impressive enough, until a few weeks later a hand-written card arrived in the mail from Crate and Barrel salesperson Darryl Forberg. He asked whether the client was enjoying the purchase, offered to be available by telephone if the client needed anything further and then repeated his thanks for the purchase. I randomly asked around and a colleague at Veritas had a similarly unexpected experience with Crate and Barrel, so much so that she had already gone back to the store to make a repeat purchase. Let’s think about the economic winds blowing our way and consider the little things we can do on the communications front. Veritas can work with you to design programs that help you weather the storm.

Touchdown: Mulcahy communications campaign leads to tighter regulation of young drivers

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Lisa Richards

This week the Ontario government introduced tighter legislation for drivers under the age of 21. The new legislation would implement a zero tolerance policy for speeding and alcohol as well as limiting the number of young passengers in a vehicle. The team here at Veritas gives Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and parent Tim Mulcahy (whose son Tyler was killed last summer along with two friends, when Tyler’s car went off a Muskoka road and into a lake) a collective Touchdown for their highly effective communications efforts aimed at prompting the government action. Since the death of his son, Mulcahy has implemented an integrated communications approach including paid ads, media interviews, social media (uploading a tribute to his late son, “Tyler’s Song” to YouTube), and also by setting up a website to back his calls for tighter controls on young drivers, something that received solid (and influential support) from key third party stakeholder MADD. Some here felt that Mulcahy could have done better at addressing some of the issues related to his push to limit drivers under the age of 21 to one other young passenger in their vehicles. What about those who carpool on the way to team practices? Or the designated driver who takes friends home after a night out? Clearly communicating his reasoning on this point may have recruited more support from young drivers. However, by using social media, he’s opened up the topic for discussion using the right medium to connect with his target audience. This has the potential of bringing his message directly to those opposed. But all of that said, Mulcahy’s integrated campaign was squarely aimed at prompting action by the government, and that objective was very clearly achieved this week.

First down: CFIA admits Listeria crisis fumble

This isn’t about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s deafening silence during the tainted meat situation that killed 20 people and sickened untold others a couple of months ago. That was an obvious and irrefutable Fumble. But I think a First Down call is appropriate, for CFIA executive vice-president Dr. Brian Evans’ admission to the Toronto Star this week that his agency blew it by going underground when the toxic cold cuts hit the fan. “The invisibility of Evans and other CFIA officials during the outbreak was in stark contrast to the very public approach of officials during the SARS outbreak in Ontario when the late Dr. Sheela Basrur and her colleagues sat before reporters each day to update the government's concerns, actions and next steps. During the summer's meat outbreak, repeated requests for media interviews with the CFIA were delayed and often denied outright,” is how the Star’s Robert Cribb summarized the CFIA’s mishandling of its crisis communications. As Maple Leaf Meats CEO Michael McCain showed, even if you don’t have all the answers in the midst of a crisis, it’s imperative for those in positions of responsibility to be regularly available to media to update them on what is known, what actions are being taken, and what efforts remain to be made. Dr. Evans seems to get this, and realizes there is work that needs to be done now. "I think we need to work with the media and others to have them understand the context of the programming we're doing, what is the science that we're bringing to the work that we do, and I think we have to be engaging with the public ... to make sure we're responsive in the appropriate way," he said. He’s right. The CFIA needs to start proactive outreach now, to increase the media and public’s levels of understanding of what the agency does – and to make deposits in the banks of credibility and goodwill with reporters, so that when the next crisis strikes there will be some media relations capital there to draw upon.

Touchdown: Rae spins his record as an asset

Bob Rae launched his quest for the federal Liberal leadership yesterday, and did so with what I thought was quite a shrewd bit of spin. The elephant in Rae’s campaign office is his record as Premier of Ontario – a period marked principally by economic collapse, spiraling deficits and a decline in personal popularity right across the board – most notably among the labour unions and other groups and individuals who had previously been his champion. Being “toxic in Ontario,” as CTV’s Roger Smith phrased it, is not a new notion to Rae, and to his communications credit, he didn’t try to tiptoe around the proverbial elephant, he grabbed it by both tusks. “It's part of my life, something I'm proud of, and it's not something that I would run from — the very valuable lessons that I learned from the experience of governing Ontario during very tough times," Rae said, serving notice that he will position the widely perceived liability as both a badge of courage and a key reason why he, better than anyone, should be the Grits’ next leader. Proactively raising the issue himself at the very outset of his campaign is a smart communications play for a couple of reasons: first, it lets him define it with a positive spin before his opponents. And second, it’s a classic “blunting strategy”: by serving notice that he’s more than happy to talk about (and spin) his record, it will that much more quickly become old news for the media, who will then be more likely to move on to present-day issues and more immediate matters as the leadership campaign moves forward.

Touchdown: Cuomo warns Wall Street

Good for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to understand how the public is feeling these days. He sent a stinging warning letter to nine Wall Street banks receiving government bailout money that they’d better trim massive bonus packages or they will be potentially charged with breaking the law. Cuomo is still angry about the executive bonus payouts at AIG before the giant’s near collapse, including a $5 million cash bonus and $15 million “golden parachute” to former CEO Martin Sullivan and a $34 million bonus to AIG Financial Products Unit head Joseph Cassano, whose unit caused the bulk of the firm’s losses. Cuomo’s warning letter said “obviously we will have grave concerns if your expected bonus pool has increased in any way as a result of your receipt or expected receipt of taxpayer funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.” Right on. From a communications perspective, leaders have to walk the walk. We can’t say “I feel your pain” and then jump into the limo for a weekend in the Hamptons to consider how to invest our multi-million dollar bonus. Demonstrate that you’ve cut back too and you’ll have a much better chance of keeping public opinion on your side.

Fumble: G20 wine of the times

Lesson #2 on this same subject: last weekend the G20 leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, met at the White House to discuss the economic crisis and how to best manage it. While millions of Americans have lost their homes, Canadians are losing their jobs, and working-class people who still have both a home and a job worry about the future, the political leaders sipped a $500-per-bottle wine, while being served a menu that included “Fruitwood-smoked Quail,” “Thyme-roasted Rack of Lamb,” and “Tomato, Fennel and Eggplant Fondue Chanterelle Jus.” Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for First Lady Laura Bush, said the $500 wine, Shafer Cabernet Hillside Select, “was the most appropriate wine that we had in the White House wine cellar for such a gathering.” Ahem. Come again? How about a reasonable California red? Wine Spectator columnist Robert M. Parker Jr. described the Shafer wine as “…opulent, flamboyant.” Just the sort of message you definitely do not want to send in troubled times. Surely our leaders can better reflect their constituents’ real economic pain with more than just rhetoric. Oh, sorry, I forgot dessert. Chandon Etoile Rose sparkling wine accompanied by “Pear Torte” with “Huckleberry Sauce.”

Fumble: Big three jet for free

Did it occur to the Big Three auto companies’ CEOs that when you plan a trip to Washington to plead for $25 billion in taxpayer bailout funds that it might be a good idea not to arrive by private jet? It should have. This is an extremely important communications lesson in these troubled economic times we live in. So important I am going to focus all my TD&F items on this subject this week. Whether you are a hospital, a small company, a crown corporation or a Canadian business of any size, when you are telling the public you need help and you have to make cuts (see CTV and CanWest Global recently), you’d better make sure you don’t get caught with your hand in the truffles box. Cutting on one hand while you’re still living the high life on the other sends a horrible communications message and damages your credibility. All three auto CEOs, Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler arrived by separate private jets for meetings in Washington. In Wagoner’s case it was on a $36 million luxury Gulfstream G4 at an estimated cost of $20,000 roundtrip from Detroit to Washington, while ABC News quoted the Northwest Airlines flight as $288 in coach and $837 in first-class. “This is a slap in the face of taxpayers,” said Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. “To come to Washington on a corporate jet and ask for a hand out is outrageous.” Indeed. Imagine the goodwill (and great PR for his brand) had one of the CEOs flown commercial and said: “I just didn’t think the jet was appropriate.”

Touchdown: Google's new flu-tracking feature

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Laura Modesto

A great play by Google this week for successfully communicating their latest innovation: Google Flu Trends. For starters, Google profiled their philanthropic activities and highlighted some of their most popular features like the powerful search engine and its ability to capture real-time data. The announcement launched at the perfect time: in the fall, at the beginning of flu season, and after an election that could have overshadowed their story. Google also used a credible third-party endorser – a doctor from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s great to deliver news about yourself, but even better if a third-party – especially a medical expert – does it for you. This lends your story more credibility. Another small, but Touchdown-worthy detail, is that Google spokespeople delivered their messages in a way that aligned with their business – through their blog. Finally, Google included an essential key message: Google Flu Trends can never be used to indentify individual users. This message addresses confidentiality, which is vital when communicating health-related issues.

Touchdown: Tim Horton's takes high road

It was a tempest in a coffee cup at Toronto City Hall this week, as the city’s public works committee debated a number of potential new measures to restrict various types of packaging in a bid to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Squarely in the cross-hairs was Tim Horton’s, with the city on the verge of outlawing the kind of disposable coffee cup used by the company. The cup is recyclable, but the plastic lid is apparently incompatible with Toronto’s recycling system. A tough spot to be in, but we give a Touchdown to Tim Horton’s spokesman Nick Javor, who kept his comments largely positive despite the dispute with the city. “We’ve got a lot to do as an industry. We’ll continue to be innovative … our brand and our company has always looked at moving forward … and along the way we’re going to have our eyes and ears open to other packaging strategies and innovation.” Some say you can’t fight city hall, and Javor played it well, acknowledging work to be done but also underscoring his company’s brand message commitment to innovation and improvement. Sometimes a spoonful of sugar can help smooth out a bitter brew, and this was one of them.

Touchdown: Crisp family brings good from tragedy

It was heartbreaking, the story of Brandon Crisp: the 15 year-old Barrie-area boy had a fight with his parents over his video game habit, left home in a huff on Thanksgiving Day, and disappeared. His body was found last week – an autopsy concluded that he died from injuries likely suffered falling out of a tree. Some families, when dealing with tragedy, say little or nothing to the media – and that’s a matter of choice. There’s no right or wrong way for private citizens to deal with terrible situations like this. But others will decide to try and use the media attention to bring some good out of the tragedy, and that’s what Brandon’s parents did this week. First they issued a statement, thanking the public for their support and their search efforts when Brandon was missing, then they announced the establishment of a foundation to fund placement of needy kids into sports programs. “Our family believes everything happens for a reason, although it is hard to understand the death of a child who had so much to give," Brandon’s father, Steve Crisp, told reporters. "Brandon will keep giving to those children less fortunate to enable them to love life through minor sports through a foundation we'll be setting up very shortly." Brandon enjoyed playing hockey in younger years, but was told he was “too small.” Unable to play the sport, he later turned to video games for entertainment. "I think every child should be able to play, wherever they want to play, and whenever they want to play, and that's something that I'm going to make sure happens from now on,” Mr. Crisp said. A laudable message, delivered with grace at an obviously terrible time for him and his family.

Touchdown: Sopranos boss sings

You’ve got to hand it to David Chase. The Sopranos creator has obviously been put out to do media interview to promote the holiday season-timed release of the complete 86-episode Sopranos series in a boxed DVD set (which apparently weighs about the same as a human head). So you would expect that Chase would talk about how wonderful it is and try to get people excited about buying it. But no. The fact that hardcore fans can now watch Sopranos episodes back to back for hours on end? “I’ve never watched television that way. In fact, I only wanted to see the Sopranos on Sunday nights at 9 o’clock. That’s the way I was brought up. That's how my family watched Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners,” Chase told Entertainment Weekly. Okay. But it must be fun to watch your episodes, right? “I would be a wreck,” Chase said. “I would think, ‘My God, this is moving slow.’ ‘Or: This is too fast.’ And that’s the last time I’ve seen these shows. I don’t go back and watch them.” So let’s face it, having the creator of the shows saying he’ll never go watch them again is hardly a ringing endorsement for the entire boxed set. But to diehard fans, it’s totally consistent with Chase’s brand, and the show’s attitude and mystique, and for that reason, it was a Touchdown. Chase shamelessly plugging the set would have just seemed weird, and his publicists probably knew that going in.

Touchdown: Tough talk on GM

There were several Touchdown-worthy comments on the sad situation at General Motors. The communications lesson here is that, yes, sometimes the media does ‘hype’ stories beyond the facts, but in other circumstances we all need to speak frankly and pointedly about the harsh realities at hand. GM is losing $2 billion a month, sales are down 45 per cent over this time last year and the venerable company is on the verge of bankruptcy. It looks like GM can keep itself afloat for another six to nine months, but the day of reckoning will soon be upon it. “Immediate federal funding is essential in order for the U.S. automotive industry to weather this downturn,” GM President Fritz Henderson admitted to investors during a conference call this week. And consider the impact on the rest of the U.S. auto industry: “If GM were to go into a free-fall bankruptcy and didn’t pay its trade debts, then the entire domestic auto industry shuts down,” said Kimberly Rodriguez, an automotive specialist with the auditing firm Grant Thornton LLP. The Centre for Automotive Research estimated that the U.S. auto industry employs about 1.2 million people either directly or in auto suppliers, and that those 1.2 million auto sector workers spend enough in the economy to keep another 1.7 million Americans employed. That’s almost 3 million jobs tied to a U.S. auto sector that’s badly ailing. And you can’t ‘spin’ that.

Fumble: Palin on Larry King

Memo to Sarah Palin: The election is over, stop running. Actually, the Alaska Governor has been a great friend to Touchdowns and Fumbles by providing so many examples of how the golden rules of communications can be broken. And she did it against this week, “gosh darn it.” She even used a football analogy, referring to the “audible” quarterbacks sometimes yell at the line of scrimmage to change the offensive play based on something they see in a defensive alignment. On CNN’s Larry King Live, the ‘suspender-ed’ one of course asked her if she would consider running for president in 2012. Remember, Barack Obama isn’t even sworn in until Jan. 20. “If I have to call an audible down the road here and circumstances change and the door is open for me to do so, it would be something that I would take that challenge on, that responsibility,” Palin said. The rule in communications is never speculate on an outcome. In this case, you certainly don’t speculate on running so soon after your GOP ticket was so soundly thrashed and many are blaming your presence, as the VP candidate, as dragging the ticket down to defeat. It just doesn’t make any sense. At least, in that sense, it added consistency to the Palin brand.

Fumble: Something fishy in Dubai

Veritas Team Huddle Compiled By Kathy Barnett

The posh new Atlantis Hotel in Dubai has some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy. The hotel’s star guest is a four metre long whale shark captured off the coast of Dubai. Hotel management claim the shark – a vulnerable species - was rescued when floundering in shallow waters, and is being cared for, fed and monitored by a staff of marine specialists. Since “Sammy” went on display to the public in late September, a public outcry for her release has had the hotel on the hot seat. To quote a colleague, this play is as fumble-icious as they come. From the get-go, hotel management was outplayed. Animal rights activists (or just plain animal lovers) have proven their ability to mobilize around ‘Free Willy’-style causes. Case in point: crustacean supporters across the country saw to it that Dee-Dee the giant lobster made it back into the sea after a brief stint at a New Brunswick fish store. The public outcry in this case was no exception, and included high profile voices such as PETA and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Heck – you can even buy a ‘Free Sammy’ bumper sticker. What’s disturbing about the Dubai story, though, is the hotel’s mistaken belief that the world would buy their rescue story and, worse still, that their staff of marine specialists have the beast’s best interests at heart. Here’s where the walk differs from the talk. The hotel’s limited communications (a fumble in itself) have failed to outline what, if anything, is being done to restore the whale shark to health. There are no third party marine experts who can speak to the hotel’s strategy. There is no release plan. There is no formal response to the public outcry. In the meantime, though, the shark is on full display to the public and is even being used in its marketing efforts. And insiders have revealed that a captured whale shark was in the specs for the hotel all along. TD+F’s message to the Atlantis Hotel is this: If you’re going to swim with sharks, prepare to be eaten.

Touchdown: Harper begins semantical shift on deficits

It seems that any time we’ve heard the word “deficit” cross Stephen Harper’s lips of late, it has been intrinsically linked with words like “no” or “zero.” So it was especially interesting to see him emerge from a meeting with the C.D. Howe Institute, to tell reporters that the brains inside the meeting had told him “don’t be afraid to run a deficit if the deficit is in the best interest of the economy.” Later, he noted the difference between a temporary deficit and a structural, long-term deficit approach, which he said “absolutely” must be avoided. Curious, this shift in semantics around the D-word, at a time when leading economists and editorials are saying that short-term deficits amid the global financial meltdown probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. Could this be the very beginning of some ground-softening on the part of the Prime Minister? If so, it would be a wise strategy – purely in the communications sense, as this is what we do here at TD&F …

Touchdown: Obama’s communications prowess key to win

Sure there are a million variables at play, but there’s no denying that the superior communicator is now President-elect of the United States. I’m not saying that’s the single reason Barack Obama won the big prize, but it was absolutely part of it. And what he has is a unique combination of God-given talent plus strategic and tactical smarts. Much of what makes Obama so good at captivating an audience and driving home his message can’t be bought or taught – he’s just got the stuff. But he also made some very smart strategic decisions as well: focusing on messages of hope and possibility which ultimately painted a compelling campaign narrative for the future of his country. John McCain had a strong narrative, too, but it was mainly about him – and why he’d make a good President. Obama had a story which was both compelling and unique, and he made it work. Now his challenge is to deal with the tremendous weight of expectation that has been placed upon his shoulders, and I believe we saw the first of that work on Tuesday night when he noted that even though change has come to America, it won’t come within one year nor within one term of his new administration. Obama started trying to temper those tremendous expectations of immediate and dramatic change at the earliest possible opportunity – had he done so any earlier, it would have been seized upon by his opponents and the media as a “cave in” or “climb down” on everything he had been promising. He has just traded one long and challenging road for the new one which now lies before him – and just like the campaign, watching his communications as President will no doubt be equally fascinating.

Fumble: Your words live on

What a bummer for CNN political contributor Paul Begala, a former Bill Clinton staffer, this week in the wake of all the euphoria over Barack Obama’s victory. Bad for Paul, but good for readers of TD&F in that it reminds us of an important lesson about how our words can live on via the Internet and come back to haunt us. It was confirmed within a few days of the election that Obama had named talented Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff, a critically important position. Indeed, Emanuel, who like Obama is from Chicago, had this to say as he shed some tears: “I am so happy that my parents are still alive to see their middle son become the chief of staff for a historic figure in the White House, the first African-American president. It means a lot to me.” Yet one headline referred to the words Begala used to describe Emanuel more than two years ago in a feature story in Fortune magazine, when Begala said Emanuel’s style could best be described as a “cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache.” Not words Begala would probably have chosen this week, given the circumstances, but they existed on the Internet for any reporter to see who Googled Emanuel’s name. It’s worth keeping in mind, for all of us.

Touchdown: Hasselbeck reverses field

Elizabeth Hasselbeck has done pretty well for herself, going from TV reality show contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback to full-time panelist on popular TV daytime talk show The View. And at some point she decided her political views were relevant to millions of Americans, which is why for months she went on (and on) about Barack Obama’s alleged “radical ties” and predicted Americans would never elect him President. It sparked more than a few nasty battles on The View. And Hasselbeck (who adopted the resident Republican role on The View) took it a step further, traveling the campaign trail and appearing onstage to introduce VP candidate Sarah Palin at several rallies. So millions tuned in the morning after Obama’s historic victory to see her reaction on The View. It was Touchdown-worthy for obvious reasons when she said she wasn’t first in line to support the new President, but she was definitely in line supporting him now. “Today is a victory for this country to have Barack Obama be our president, the first black president,” she said. “To have the amount of voters – 14 million more voters in this election than the last – present themselves and vote in this election. Today is victory. In seeing the amount of people that were able to gather with enthusiasm, ignited and ready to move this country in a fresh direction under Barack Obama, I think he has a gift. And I think with everyone’s support and prayers, he has the ability to really move us in a new place.”

Fumble: Italian PM’s gaffe

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is known to be gaffe-prone, but it didn’t take long after the election of Barack Obama as U.S. President for Berlusconi to really embarrass himself. In Moscow following a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Berlusconi was asked about the future prospects for U.S.-Russian relations. “I will try to help relations between Russia and the United States, where a new generation has come to power. I don’t see problems for Medvedev in establishing good relations with Obama, who is also handsome, young and suntanned,” Berlusconi said. There was an immediate firestorm about the comment being racist, to which the Italian PM replied that he meant it as a compliment to Obama and people who didn’t understand were “imbeciles.” He added: “If some people don't have a sense of humour, then it’s their problem.” Well, from where we stand that’s not even close to being right. Berlusconi was representing his entire country – every Italian citizen – when in Moscow. He wasn’t on stage at Yuk Yuk’s going for a laugh. His Fumble is in forgetting what his communications mission was that day: to comment on his meeting with a foreign leader and on how the election of a new U.S. President might affect global politics and Italy’s interests. Instead, Berlusconi completely failed to reflect any comprehension of what Obama’s election actually meant on the world stage. Instead he tried to make a joke, a racist one at that, and ended up looking like a complete buffoon.