Coming Soon: The Barack Obama Show

posted at 10:03 am on September 21, 2009 by Howard Portnoy
[ Media ]   

So, Obama appeared yesterday on five morning news shows (yes, I’m counting Univision’s “Al Punto” as a news show) and is scheduled to appear tonight on “The Late Show” with David Letterman — this all coming eight days after he was interviewed on “60 Minutes,” another CBS program. Any day now you can expect the White House to announce the creation of the Office of Television Czar, whose responsibility is just to keep track of the president’s TV bookings.

While some journalists opine that Obama is spreading himself too thin, the White House contends that the “effect of one interview, given how rapidly the news environment moves, doesn’t last as long as it used to.” Fair enough. Except that yesterday Obama used his media blitz to preach to the choir. If his goal was to change hearts and minds regarding his health-care proposal, wouldn’t his time have been far better spent courting viewers at the FOX News Channel, who entertain the most doubts about the viability of ObamaCare in any form?

In a similar vein, wouldn’t Obama be better off reaching out to, rather than dismissing, the Tea Party protesters, who are citizens with legitimate concerns about his agenda? There is something very telling in a remark he made to Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation” yesterday: “The 24-hour news cycle and cable television and blogs and all this, they focus on the most extreme elements on both sides. They can’t get enough of conflict; it’s catnip to the media right now.” He echoed this view to George Stephanopoulos, saying, “If you’re just being sensible and giving people the benefit of the doubt . . . you don’t get time on the nightly news.”

If Obama really believes the media love conflict — a claim that’s hard to justify in a media environment as friendly as this one has been to the president — then maybe he should try forcing their hand. Rather than stirring the pot continuously, calling anyone who disagrees with a liar or distorter, maybe he should try “just being sensible and giving people the benefit of the doubt.” He might find that this approach wins him a bigger TV market share —  not to mention the support of more of the American electorate.

Cross-posted at Zombie Contentions

Blowback