Media Reacts To Obama Speech With Yawns
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Media, Partisan HacksI heard O’Reilly describe it as “boring” and even Anderson Cooper talked about people falling asleep.
And then, of course the grandaddy hack of them all has this to say…
I’m sorry, but when was it the media’s job to decide whether or not a Presidential press conference was exciting?
And, by the way, when has a Presidential press conference ever been exciting? The only time I can honestly think of one that came remotely close in recent memory was when a reporter backed Bush into a corner on torture and it started to get heated. Oh, and of course there were the Clinton/Lewinsky briefers. Still, this idea of exciting/boring is just plain odd.
Listen, Obama laid out an agenda, took about a dozen questions and then called it a night after about an hour. And while I suppose some would have him apologize because the presser didn’t have as many twists and turns as CSI: Miami, I welcome some sober, nuanced assessments as opposed to vague, flashy platitudes. After all, wasn’t that the knock against Obama? All style and no substance?
Maybe they still feel burned by the Bushies and want to hit Obama particularly hard to make up for their lack of curiosity in the last 8 years, but is this really what they’re going to lob at this guy? That he’s boring?
Jeezus…
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 and is filed under Barack, Media, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:55 am
I think this post goes hand-in-hand with the one that follows – Media Outrage. The conference has been classified by the press as boring because there were no headline grabbing gotcha moments. Hence of littel entertainment (ratings) value. The only one, and it’s being headlined this morning, was when Obama got short with Ed Henry on why Obama didn’t express outrage quickly enough about the AIG bonuses. The question on whether these 5 seconds are a sign of of weakness or strength will be discussed all morning, I am sure.
I found nothing about the president’s conference boring nor entertaining. I did find it informative, though.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Donklephant » Blog Archive » Media Reacts To Obama Speech With Yawns…
When was it the media’s job to decide whether or not a Presidential press conference was exciting?…
March 25th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Yeah, CNN made sure they focused on the Ed Henry bit a lot right off the top. Cooper asked Henry why the President got angry at him. Henry then went on to speculate about his state of mind, etc. A very slippery slope indeed.
And then a Republican panelist said that he saw the first glimpses of a “one-termer” in Obama because we was being arrogant.
Good times.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:19 am
What it boils down to is this:
When the hacks perceive Obama as behaving like a “rock star,” they hammer him for not acting more like a president.
When the hacks perceive Obama as behaving like a president, they hammer him for not acting more like a rock star.
Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
March 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Actually, you guys should understand that when media critics and some media supporters agree that the presser was “boring” or at least not very interesting, it’s a polite way of saying that the President broke no NEWS.
So why ask TV networks to preempt their programming in prime time, prompt MSNBC to run a clock on thee screen all day long ticking down the hours and minutes to the POTUS PC, and sucker all the cables into building a whole evening of programs around “analysis” and commentary about said NEWS conference, if all the President wanted to do was to restate stuff everyone already knew in practiced answers?
Of course, the reason is that Obama wants to dominate as many news cycles and mini-cycles as he can to press for passage as intact as possible of his budget.
OK, fair enough, but the NEWS people looking for NEWS will find it wanting, or boring or whatever. Be grateful that the honeymoon deference to Obama keeps them from taking off on him in harsher ways.
Just a note, fastening on one semi-testy exchange is not what happens because the media are ill-disposed or frivolous. It’s what happens when there is no NEWS.
If Obama had used the occasion of a presser to annouce something — almost anything — that something would have dominated the coverage.
My guess is that one more prime time presser like this and the networks will cease to give him the airtime unless the WH can convince them that their will be something important to report.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I was actually relieved when my three year shate in her underroos about 15 minutes into it. I was starting to slip into a pleasant hypnotic trance, Obama’s voice like a million fluttering Barry White butterflies reading a transcript of pillow-talk between Lydia Lopokova and John Maynard Keynes. Each time he said “growth” – I slipped further down the rabbits hole. I was about to share a slice of kie lime pie with Herbert Hoover when that sweet aroma of mac-n-cheese offtake (like smelling salts) thrust me back into consciousness. Obama was saying something about…”growth.” Boring…oh, I think not. It was nothing less than a direct arterial injection of sweet socialist loving. I still have a happy glow about me today.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I thought it was a great press conference. I really enjoyed it. Whatever Obama’s faults and deficits might be, He seems to be very on top of things, poised and in command, and quickly digesting so many of the important details of various issues and how they fit together. That’s very heartening to me.
Compared to the presentation of most other Presidents I have experienced and that of virtually every other contemporary politician, I find this truly delightful.
But then I am not looking for the President to entertain me. I just want him to show me how he is doing his job. And he did that, for me. As good as I have ever seen it done.
And big props for the line about wanting to know what he was talking about before speaking. I have always been mystified by the unrelenting contention that the President must speak immediately with authority and vision to every conceivable issue that arises.
If the media needs constant content, that’s their problem, not mine. I’d rather have thoughtful leadership. If the price is waiting a day or two before the President makes a statement about an issue, I’ll gladly wait.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
The media has a distorted notion of News. The only news they’re really interested in is BREAKING! Could be a high speed chase, a plane crash, a missing blonde or maybe the president drops his pants. They don’t care. Everything else is boring details that fail to justify a BREAKING NEWS splash across the screen.
If it isn’t BREAKING! they have no interest in it because only BREAKING! news will grab the marginal viewers and thus boost overall numbers.
There are exactly two important types of news: BREAKING NEWS and uninformed analysis of BREAKING NEWS.
A calm, rational discussion of important issues by the president of the United States will only be watched by people who already watch news — ratings for cable news will not go up — and thus, it was boring, irrelevant, and frankly a pain in Anderson Cooper’s butt.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
KK,
“He seems to be very on top of things, poised and in command, and quickly digesting so many of the important details of various issues and how they fit together.”
I couldn’t agree more. Maybe it’s age, maturity or a more critical eye toward government officials, but I don’t ever remember a president with a grasp of both details and vision all the while discussing execution using a language that is eloquent and understandable. It seems a rare and mature communication style.
To those who believe he is not presidential in manner, I disagree.