The Obama White House seems to have adopted a familiar phrase to describe its preparations and relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy: lean forward.
"I want you to cut through bureaucracy, there’s no excuse for inaction at this point, I want every agency to lean forward," President Obama said during remarks at the American Red Cross Tuesday afternoon.
This is hardly the first time the president and the White House have borrowed MSNBC’s multi-million dollar tagline that the network adopted to embrace its progressive political identity.
In the official readout of the today’s call between the president, governors, and mayors from states and cities affected by Hurricane Sandy, Obama used the phrase.
"The president made clear that he has directed his team to continue to lean forward and provide all available resources to support ongoing response and recovery efforts," according to a White House report of the event.
The White House put out a release on Obama’s briefing on Hurricane Sandy that used similar language. During the briefing, "The president made clear that he expects his team to remain focused as the immediate impacts of Hurricane Sandy continue and lean forward in their response."
On Monday, the White House issued a statement announcing Obama’s travel plans that also borrowed the catchphrase.
"The president will continue to receive regular briefings on these efforts," the statement read, "and has make clear that he expects his team to continue to lean forward as Hurricane Sandy approaches."
It is unclear if the White House is adopting MSNBC’s tagline as repayment for the network’s many in-kind contributions to the Obama campaign.