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You are here: Home / National Security / Why Obama Chose to Speak from the Oval Office

Why Obama Chose to Speak from the Oval Office

December 6, 2015 at 7:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 57 Comments

New York Times: “The choice of the Oval Office as the location for the address to the nation was partly the result of holiday happenstance: The rest of the White House is decorated for the many parties that Mr. Obama will be hosting this week for his staff, members of Congress, journalists and others.”

“But the decision also reflects the gravity of a subject that has come to define Mr. Obama’s presidency, especially in his second term: how to reassure Americans of their safety even as the United States faces an increasingly aggressive terrorist foe. And it suggests the importance that the president and his advisers place on responding to criticism of the his strategy for defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.”

Washington Post: “White House officials said that a run of what they regard as fear-mongering and xenophobic speeches on the presidential campaign trail has heightened the need for Obama to speak to the nation.”

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Filed Under: National Security, White House

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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