CINCINNATI (TDB) -- With 69 flacks (22 more than Clinton had) now ensconced in and about the West Wing, one might surmise the poll numbers would be rising. But even Gov. Ted Strickland's reelection campaign manager Aaron Pickrell -- who ran the Obama campaign in Ohio -- acknowledges "people are angry." President Obama visits Lorain Community College in Northeast Ohio today on a trip aimed at promoting job creation in a state where people are desperate for work. Lorain County on Lake Erie has 9.5% unemployment; statewide the jobless rate stands at 10.9%. Ken Auletta reports in this week's New Yorker that Obama's White House has hired the largest communication's staff in memory -- with 69 people it is bigger than Bush's, bigger than Bill Clinton's. Thus, the president has actually created some jobs. His public relations staff has grown while ordinary Americans worry. Signs of a disconnect? Here's Auletta's nugget, which comes 6 pages deep into an article titled Non-Stop News:
"This White House, like others, does its best to manipulate press coverage. Obama's communications staff, according to Kumar, has swelled to six-nine people, from fifty-two under Bush and forty-seven under Clinton."
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