Before taking office, Obama aides said the soon-to-be-president would give a “major speech” in a Muslim capital within 100 days of taking office.  The “Hallmark holiday” had an actual goal.  Today we learned that the speech will happen in Egypt - one of the many possible locations to choose from - on the 136th day of his presidency.  Only a month behind schedule.

According to NBC’s Chuck Todd on this evenings Nightly News - Obama’s team is billing it as one of the top five most important speeches he will give as president. 

That’s definitely an over-sell when under-selling would probably serve them better.  What if the speech falls flat or lands on deaf ears?  Sure, afterwards you can say, “That will go down as one of the greatest speeches of his presidency.”  But to claim it before words have more than likely even been committed to paper - that’s a heavy weight to lift.

Under-sell and over-perform.  A key lesson.  Not always necessary, of course - but in this case, it could end up being a PR mis-step.