Ronn Torossian Mike Paul Al Golin Joe Baerlein John Davies Lou Hoffman

The pendulum of President Obama's publicity successes and missteps swung wildly during his first year in office thus far. Now, top PR and public affairs experts debate his real prowess from the standpoint of image and reputation management, messaging and communications.

"As much as I'm not a fan of Barack Obama, there's no question that his candidacy and presidency so far are very much to be admired for anyone who studies PR," says Ronn Torossian, president and CEO of 5W Public Relations. "He's simply brilliant at public relations."

Torossian explains: "The man has no real or actual accomplishments to speak of, and on the heels of a major international embarrassment in losing the Olympics, he gets named the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize. His ability to manage his brand and understand his celebrity power is something which no president, and perhaps no man alive, has ever mastered to the degree Obama has so far."

However, not all experts are as enthusiastic about Obama's PR stature: "While he has an excellent reputation as a speaker and he knows how to motivate people, one of the things he spoke about during the campaign was not just talking the talk, but walking the walk," says Mike Paul, president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates. "Some say he took on too much, too soon. He should be concerned about being known as the rhetoric president."

How high does Obama actually score on his first-year review in PR? Below, Paul and other experts answer this question—and offer tips and advice to Obama and other PR professionals moving forward:

• Keep a tight focus on core campaign promises and values as critics and opponents weigh in. "Obama started out hitting the ground running and it seemed like he might be the most exciting and productive president ever in the first year," says Al Golin, founder of GolinHarris. "But after receiving criticism from the very media who adored him, he began to overreact by being too much of a consensus builder." Golin's advice: "Obama should now only do what he knows is the right thing to do—and not be overly concerned by his critics. He should be a much stronger leader and realize that he won the election by a big majority."

Some experts are even more heavy-handed: "Forget about the notion of bi-partisanship," says Joe Baerlein, president of Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications. "The first 10 months have shown that will cause delay in advancing his agenda. Voters know they voted for a Democrat after eight years of Bush."

• Honest, transparent communications are king in today's media environment. During the presidential campaign, "Obama raised more money from the masses because he was perceived to be authentic," Golin adds. "With the transparency of the media today, this authenticity is more important than ever for politicians and business leaders. People have little tolerance for phonies and they will be exposed immediately. This is a good thing. In response to someone saying, ‘Back in the good old days, people and businesses had more ethics,' I say, ‘That's nonsense.' They just never got caught."

• Demonstrate smaller successes while tackling global goals. "My strategy for Obama would be to go after a few big goals, like the war and healthcare," Paul says. "At the same time, he needs to accomplish double the small successes. If you're hanging your reputation on something that might not come through for two years, during the first year you have to hit small goals too. That might mean extra money for small schools, for example. They don't have to be huge programs—but they must be successful."

Baerlein agrees: "Pick three issues that you can have demonstrated results or progress on in 2012," he says. "Use your White House appearances, travel schedule and media opportunities every day to advance those three issues. Delegate everything else to the vice president and the cabinet."

• Develop the statesmen persona by being an icon of action—not words. "One big mistake Obama is making is that he's talking too much," says John Davies, CEO of Davies Public Affairs. "With every speech he gives about healthcare, for example, the ratings keep going down. The most powerful person in the room speaks the least. Obama's nonverbal skills are so powerful and he has a natural ability to walk into a room and make people look. If you combine the presidential seal with the way Obama walks and carries himself, you have a Kennedy-esque stature that is huge. But he's talking too much."

Davies continues: "He's almost been over-exposed as a candidate—and people are getting tired of the campaign," he says. Obama has mastered the persona he developed during the campaign, but "hasn't transitioned to the statesman persona—even though he can probably do it better than anyone. The package they put him in during the campaign was a change agent and someone who inspired people. However, they never transitioned him to the leader of the free world."

Davies explains that the Olympic presentation "was the epitome of the challenges they face: It was overdone and a little plastic, without real meaning to it," he says. "The Olympic presentation offered a great lesson for PR: Every speaker was over-trained and plastic. Michelle Obama was the best out of all of the speakers. The presentation would have been far more powerful if Michelle Obama and Oprah had done all the speaking."

• Implement social media components throughout your organization. Obama's use of social media and Internet technologies during the campaign is frequently mentioned as a contributing factor to his success in winning the election. In addition: "The President's commitment to social media seems to have trickled down into other government agencies," says Lou Hoffman, president of The Hoffman Agency. "For example, when Julius Genachowski took the reins of the FCC, it didn't take him long to get the social media religion in the form of a blog and posted video interviews." Hoffman has also blogged on Obama's storytelling prowess, specifically related to his infomercial that ran during the campaign.

• Take a cue from Obama: Cultivate natural speaking abilities by nixing the note cards and teleprompters. "When you have really great talent in the CEO you're working with, speaking from note cards or a teleprompter takes away from the passion of the speech and makes people feel like it's not your speech," Davies says. "The speaker should memorize the piece and stress the five points that outline the speech. If you're talking about something with passion, you have to do it without notes or teleprompters."