Madden: Housing Plan is Obama's Birth of a Salesman

Feb. 19, 2009 | WASHINGTON — The Obama administration seems to have learned three big lessons in salesmanship from the bumps it endured in passing the stimulus bill and presenting its Wall Street rescue plan. One, sometimes the best way to sell Washington on an idea is to leave Washington and talk to the public. Two, let the president himself market the idea. Three, keep the idea simple, or as simple as a complex economic proposal can be.