he obviously butted heads internally with some people who were around the president. but let s remember why he was chosen in the first ple. president obama, more cool demeanor, comes into the white house and needs somebody who knows how to manage democrats who are in control on capitol hill. as a tactical and strategic manner, you can look at how the stimulus was put together and you can say that was a mistake because of how much control democrats had in writing that bill and whether that was an appropriate way to do that. these are policy judgments. nevertheless, that original decision was about somebody who had the sharp elbows to come in and not only run a staff, run a west wing staff, but deal with the hill. then you had other events including the trajectory downward of the economy that gets bigger than just the chief of staff. hey, savannah guthrie, what signals is the white house sending right now about what the future is going to be like over the next few years without rahm
what s happening? the economy is terrible, megyn, or if it s not terrible it s certainly the jobs recovery part has been very sluggish, so you get one out of ten people who are unemployed, that means that probably one out of three or one out of four are directly affected, husband, wife, father, son, brother, sister. so people are very frustrated. and i think the president s trying to do something about the problem, but he does have a sort of cool demeanor, you d have to admit, and that cool demeanor, coupled with these terrible numbers, in terms of unemployment have people saying, does he really understand the problems of people like me? and it s 50-50. megyn: how much has he hurt himself by, for example, suing arizona over the immigration law, and weighing in unsolicited on the mosque controversy. the numbers according to this
out. he is more like a band-aid rather than a miracle cure. reporter: dudley s friend former shell executive john hoff meister believes he brings credibility and competence to the job. he says that dudley s cool demeanor has earned him the nickname of iceman. where you won t get the fleshy reaction, because bob is a listener. he wants to know what is being said and he wants to understand the point of view. reporter: compared to hayward, dudley has been relatively gaffe-free, though he recently told pbs that bp s safety violations mainly resulted from just one accident, and pointing to the 2005 explosion at bp s texas refinery. 15 workers died. in terms of attention and lack of attention to safety, it is not our culture. reporter: not our culture? bp has long been criticized for putting profit before safety, and for decades the company has come under fire for ignoring
i think he s a tad too to use an old person s expression ray mulland, the guy in the movies who never sweated, never got excited. i ve got to find a more current example. we ll work on that. you know, i really do agree with you. i think the three of us during the campaign noticed that occasionally, at a point where the country wanted popularity, they wanted someone who felt their pain, he does have a little bit of a cool demeanor and he needs to work harder. not that we want him angry, but we want to see him with fire. so yes, when he rolls up the sleeves, that s what he s doing. i m going to fight for you. i m going to work for you. i m going to connect with you. it s always a good sign. maybe it s a plus, michelle. i think of all of these other politicians, i shouldn t say it
an old person s expression ray mulland, the guy in the movies who never sweated, never got excited. i ve got to find a more current example. we ll work on that. you know, i really do agree with you. i think the three of us during the campaign noticed that occasionally, at a point where the country wanted popularity, they wanted someone who felt their pain, he does have a little bit of a cool demeanor and he needs to work harder. not that we want him angry, but we want to see him with fire. so yes, when he rolls up the sleeves, that s what he s doing. i m going to fight for you. i m going to work for you. i m going to connect with you. it s always a good sign. maybe it s a plus, michelle. i think of all of these other politicians, i shouldn t say it myself because i get overheated and always yelling. i always wonder maybe they re yelling on cue. your thoughts, michelle. i think the public is tired of it and if you want to watch