Column:
The Obama media blitz
Published Sept. 25, 2009
Think of how many times you have seen President Barack Obama on a TV show of some sort. I am not talking about clips taken from a menial press conference, but rather his major appearances. Since taking office in January, Obama has held as many primetime press conferences from the White House as former President George W. Bush did in his entire eight years.
He's given two speeches to a joint session of Congress, a speech to be shown to students across the country, appeared on Jay Leno and David Letterman's late night talk shows, shown an infomercial on ABC promoting Obamacare and, most recently, talked with five of the six Sunday morning talk shows in the same morning (Obama refused to appear on Fox News).
At the rate Obama is going with the media, there's probably about a 40 percent chance I'm able to land an interview with the president for this column by Thanksgiving.
When looking at this unprecedented exposure for a president, one really has to stop and wonder: Why is Obama making all these appearances? Why did Bush not do this many?
The answer is fairly simple. The fact is Obama's popularity, especially on policy issues, has plummeted in recent months. At first, Obama enjoyed an ideal situation, having personal popularity and large majorities in both houses of Congress.
Since the beginning of his presidency, Obama's poll numbers have gone down faster than the Titanic and the American people have begun to reject his radical agenda.
In an attempt to curb momentum, Obama has taken a drastic approach with his media appearances and there is almost a sense of desperation in this situation.
It has always been the case that speaking about an issue on the national primetime stage provides a minor boost to the president, whether he is Republican or Democrat. Since summer, it seems Obama has used this to keep his policies, namely Obamacare, afloat.
There's just one problem with this strategy, Mr. President: It isn't working.
After falling through the summer, Obama's poll numbers have stagnated in recent weeks, with only minor fluctuations showing up.
Obama got the immediate results he wanted from his media blitzkrieg, with minor spikes in support and approval numbers, but before anything could happen or be done with this newfound support, people forgot about the speech, presser or whatever Obama happened to be doing that night.
Once people forgot the rhetoric used a few days prior, polls returned to how they were before.
Even the speech to the joint session of Congress on Sept. 9, which was called a "game changer," had a minor effect on poll numbers that were felt maybe only for a week.
With so many issues at hand for the president and the American people, it will be interesting to watch how Obama continues his approach with the media. One can only say the same things so many times before people begin to ignore it.
Another risk is over-saturation. There easily could come a point where Americans see Obama on TV, assume they already know half of what he's going to say and change to another channel. At that point, Obama and his presidency are at the mercy of people's perceptions of certain plans.
With another three-plus years of Obama ahead of us, Americans might as well get used to seeing him on TV, because it soon may be the only way he is able to get anything done.
Eric Hobbs is the vice chairman of the Mizzou College Republicans. He can be reached at emhn75@mizzou.edu.
