Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, yesterday:

Ironically, the best communicator in the history of political campaigning turned out in his first year in office to not communicate very well. They let the Republicans take the spin right from the beginning. The stimulus got beat up before one dollar was spent. What I would have done, and I’ve been in charge of the president, is I would have had him Tuesday night — not Tuesday night was the inaugural ball. Wednesday night I would have had him make a speech to the nation, break down what stimulus because a lot of the stimulus, it wasn’t job creation, but was safety net.

Fast Eddie’s on to something here. Maybe Obama should try giving a speech or two; he only gave 411 in his first year.