Obama here. Obama there. President Barack Obama is everywhere.
Since his inauguration, President Obama has been an ever-present face in the media. His less-than-100 days in office have been consumed with countless press conferences, town hall meetings and interviews.
In the past seven days alone, President Obama had a televised townhall meeting in California, an interview on “60 minutes”, an appearance on Jay Leno and filled out his NCAA bracket for ESPN.
First Lady Michelle Obama is on the cover of several magazines including People, Vogue and “O” Magazine. (For the first time in 105 issues, Oprah Winfrey shared her O Magazine cover.)
The constant coverage is reminiscent of Obama’s campaign last year which caused the GOP to cast him in a negative light as “the biggest celebrity in the world”. That criticism didn’t resonate with voters.
Now, In political terms, Obama’s presidency can be characterized as “personality-driven”. And lately, some have said Obama is trying to use his personality to overshadow problems like appointment scandals, AIG bonuses, billion dollar stimulus package, rising unemployment rates, two wars overseass and a free-falling stock market. His political communication strategy seems to be talking to the American people in different settings in order to maintain support.
So far, the president’s omnipresence in the media hasn’t turned off the public. According to polls, Obama remains extremely popular. Politico reported President Obama has higher approval ratings than Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had at this point in their presidency.
Of course, the numbers don’t show correlation between Obama’s face time with the American people and his approval rating. Therefore, this media blitz may or may not be helping.
What do you think of President Obama’s recent media blitz? Do you feel he should be focusing more time to working on the issues rather than doing lighthearted interviews?
Article by FreshXpress Staff
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally believe that a President should be able to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. I also believe that since the President has been in office for two months, we need to give the policies that he’s already passed some time to actually take effect. It took eight years for the United States to fall completely apart and people are giving our President the side eye because he hasn’t put it back together in two months.
Agreeing with Robin I think that being an intelligent human lends itself to being able to multitask. Point blank. The man took 10 minutes out of his day to fill out a bracket. “Oh no!” He took another hour out to do Leno…. “HOW DARE HE!?”
I’m just sayin. Had he have used those 10 mins to think REALLY REALLY hard about the economy, I wonder if we would have noticed a major difference.
Honestly, I dont mind the 10 minute ESPN bracket. I don’t think he should have went on the Tonight Show though. What did that accomplish? People are losing their houses and jobs left and right. There is no time for that kind of thing. And thats no disrespect to B.O., but rather, just some accountability. Work needs to be done.
At first I wasn’t a fan of President Obama appearing on The Tonight Show. I thought, “Why the hell is the president going on an entertainment when the country is going down the toilet?” Then, he appeared on The Tonight Show. Excellent!! He spoke directly to the people. I believe you have to use resources for their worth. Granted he slipped up with the “Special Olympics” reference, but he was able to leave the jargon of DC politics behind and be colloquial. Additionally, Jay Leno did an excellent job asking questions that people cared about. I’m all about our nation’s chief, no matter their stance, being everywhere when necessary. However, on the flipside, it could prove to be detrimental to Mr. Obama if he is simply stepping in the limelight without reason. —- Just my thoughts.