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Obama Over-Exposure?
September 16, 2009 8:33 AM
This Sunday, President Obama will be interviewed on five shows -- ABC News’ “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” CNN’s “State of the Nation”, CBS’s “Face the Nation”, NBC’s “Meet the Press” and Univision’s “Al Punto with Jorge Ramos."
It's a rare feat called "the Full Ginsburg." In modern media lore, the first time someone pulled a five-show feat was 11 years ago, in 1998, when Monica Lewinsky’s attorney William Ginsburg made the rounds to defend his client. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, did a Full Ginsburg in 2007 after launching her presidential bid.
For both Ginsburg and Clinton, Fox News Sunday made the cut, and Univision didn’t. Such is not the case for President Obama; Democrats say the Fox News Sunday audience is largely entrenched in their opposition to the president, essentially unconvincible, and thus submitting to an interview might not be the best use of President Obama's time.
Polls indicate that Americans say the more they hear about the president’s proposed overhaul, the less they like it. An ABC News/Washington Poll last week showed 54 percent of Americans feel that way. White House officials say that’s because Americans are hearing false attacks on Obama’s plan, not reality -- hence the PR blitz.
Republican strategist Kevin Madden says it’s too much.
“I think the worry is it’s gone beyond over exposure and now we have what I would call the ‘Obama omnipresence.’ You almost can’t escape this president,” Madden said on ABC News’ “Top Line.” “It goes beyond just cable news and it goes into whether or not you’re flipping on ESPN and you’re seeing him talk about basketball or you turn on the Lifetime channel and you hear what Michelle Obama is wearing this week. And I think that begins to wear on a lot of people.”
But there are others who feel the president could step it up even more to avail the opportunity he has to get his message across to the American people.
“I don’t think he’s overexposed at all. In fact, I think in some ways he’s underexposed,” said Public Strategist Mark McKinnon, media consultant to former president George Bush and presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “I think he’s one of the most gifted presidential communicators that we’ve seen in political history and telling President Obama to stay off the media is like telling Frank Sinatra to stay away from the microphone.”
White House deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer says the idea of “overexposure” is “an anachronistic view of how people consume news in this day and age.”
With the audience splitting over hundreds of channels the president could appear on all the Sunday shows, morning shows, evening news programs and late night, and yet, not even reach half of the country.
McKinnon says the administration needs to make up for time it lost in August, when the president’s critics filled the airwaves to rally Americans.
“In politics there’s really no such thing as over communicating, because if you are not communicating, your opponents will be,” McKinnon told ABC News. “If the president stops talking, that means his opponents will start talking. We live in 24-hour news cycles now and if the president isn’t filling the vacuum, his opponents will be.”
You can read more on this HERE.
-- jpt
September 16, 2009 in Obama, Barack | Permalink | Share | User Comments (140)
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This is definitley going to have an effect on on my job, being a medical billing assistant.
Posted by: Ben | Oct 5, 2009 5:38:51 PM
i think that it's good that president obama is going on talk shows because a lot of people watch these shows so now people will know what obama is doing
Posted by: kolton k | Oct 2, 2009 11:36:43 AM
If he is such a great communicator...why does he have to keep repeating himself?
Posted by: mom | Sep 20, 2009 7:29:56 PM
All right now, all you opinionated folks out there- DON"T FORGET TO VOTE!!!But remember we're not just voting this nut out-we also need to pick a replacement.
Posted by: c.a.hendeson | Sep 17, 2009 12:00:39 PM
This president has divided the country!Corruption in government is rampant; czars, ACORN,etc.The race card is being played all the time .I dont want to be a democrat any more. Does this make me racist?Cuz, I'm Amer.Ind.and African-Amer.Shame On You Mr. Obama!!!!!
Posted by: c.a.hendeson | Sep 17, 2009 11:54:03 AM
Big brother being beamed into your home every second of the day.
Just sit back and take your Soma folks. Everything is roses.
Disagree & we'll collect your personal info off the web & see if your taxes are in order...
Posted by: Slick Willie | Sep 17, 2009 6:33:05 AM
Only an award-winning car salesman, like Mr. Obama, can sell a 2010 model as a 2011 model.
Posted by: young_voter | Sep 17, 2009 2:11:53 AM
If you don't want to see the President, then go to that LYING piece of crap call FOXNEWS. Me I plan to watched every show, including Letterman. I even let my kids listen to the school speech. For a minute there I was alittle afraid when they got home they wanted to do the Zombie dance from Thriller. I said oh no Obama turning my babies into Zombies.HA! HA! HA!
Posted by: Annabella | Sep 16, 2009 11:39:10 PM
Don't get mad at Obama because he can put two sentences together, unlike you know who. But we all know the (real) reason you guys are so upset with the man. Hint! Hint!
Posted by: Annabella | Sep 16, 2009 11:25:06 PM
What's so good about it folks, if you don't want to see President Obama you can go to that Lying piece of crap call Foxnews. Me, I plan to watch every show he's on, including Letterman. Keep doing your job Mr. President. See I remember the mess which was lefted behind for you to try to clean up, by you know who.
Posted by: Annabella | Sep 16, 2009 11:16:58 PM
Overexposed???? hmmmm Not to me. Of course I don't listen to his speeches anymore. He is still campaigning on the stump in my humble opinion. Time to sit down in the Oval Office and work. Quit gallivanting around the country. tsk tsk
Posted by: eco delsol | Sep 16, 2009 11:11:07 PM
I think Obama telling the people the truth about the health care problem,why we need reform and what it will entail if very important to counteract all the lies and b.s. spewed during August by insurance company 'groupies'.
Posted by: Lydia | Sep 16, 2009 8:54:07 PM
The man has a serious case of overexposure. Lcal radio reported that Obama has had major TV time over 130x since his inauguration. In comparison, Bush and Clinton were down in the 30's at the same point in their administrations.
Posted by: matt | Sep 16, 2009 6:45:27 PM
Well, Fox News is not a part of the government's privately owned media group, so I'm not surprised he won't be posturing on that particular network.
Posted by: JD | Sep 16, 2009 6:20:41 PM
its a good thing we dont have that "permanent campaign mode" thing we had that was sooo awful when bush was president, that Scott McClellan lamented. things are soooo much BETTER now!! change!! yea!!! wonder what scott has to say these days. but i forgot, he had his 15 mins of lib whacko fame and he's been spit out. like that poor goofy woman who camped out in the mud at bushes ranch. didnt seem to hear about her when she was campin outside BHO bungalow up in mahtha's vinyud.
Posted by: fred | Sep 16, 2009 6:05:01 PM
Does Charlie Gibson know about this?
Posted by: MikeC | Sep 16, 2009 6:00:04 PM
Well... every "rockstar" has their "groupies"... Even Obama must take in the opiate of his adoring (media) fans...
Posted by: jafo | Sep 16, 2009 5:53:28 PM
Fox news Sunday is the only political news program that is safe from BO's lies. I won't let this puke on my tv. Had the same problem with Clinton and Bush. Clinton and BO are reality challenged where as Bush just couldn't speak.
Posted by: nobozons | Sep 16, 2009 5:49:44 PM
Breaking News:
Rather than going on 5 Sunday morning shows, the White House announced that it will take a page out of the playbook of another socialist world leader. On Sunday, NBC (The National Barack Channel) will air its first installation of Hello President. The show will borrow from the format of Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez's Sunday morning show, Aló Presidente.
Posted by: Steve | Sep 16, 2009 5:41:43 PM
When is this salesman going to leave the White House, so that we can get ourselves a president?
Posted by: Steve | Sep 16, 2009 5:39:24 PM
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