Reactions to Obama’s Saturation Strategy

By Erik Sorenson 

Tuesday in this space we asked for feedback on the question of whether President Obama’s saturation bombing of the TV “air waves” is helpful to his agenda–or not. It is true that most of our emails–well, all but one–came from members of the community who seem to generally support the President. The one that didn’t was, ahem, un-publishable. Here are some that were:

I whole-heartedly agree with his strategy of appearing on as many TV shows as he can. One reason for the strategy is the splintering of the TV audience. You just can’t reach the numbers that you once could with an appearance on one show or one network. Heck, you can’t even reach that many anymore by appearing on ALL of them. Another reason, which is connected to the first, concerns the ability of even the most isolated, unaccredited person to reach an audience. Finally, this president–possibly more than any other president, even Ronald Regan–has a personality that shines on TV.
from Michigan

I think Obama is doing the right thing to at least get his side of the story out to the people and hitting Letterman and the like, is a great option. Why not? He would be well served by hitting Fox as well, but I’m not sure it would be such a love fest, although I think he could handle it. I know Bill Clinton could and Obama is no slouch when it comes to public speaking.
from Atlanta

Advertisement

As to whether or not it’s effective, I am struck by the fact that most of the people who say “He’s over exposing himself” are Republican pundits who, I am sure, have nothing but best wishes for Obama’s success.
origin of email unknown

This last comment suggesting that Republicans cornered the market on criticism is not entirely true. In fact, just yesterday a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat gave me chapter and verse on why the President fouled up on Sunday because all the talk after his blanketing of the networks was how he–uh, blanketed the networks. (See the front page photo Monday in The New York Times). His message was also buried–or at least somewhat lost–in the course of a lengthy appearance Monday night on Letterman, according to my friend, who pointed out that healthcare and the economy lost out to jokes about the band, the audience and summer vacation.

Erik Sorenson is chief executive officer of Vault.com, Inc. He oversees the strategic direction of the global, New York-based media company, including ShopTalk & TVSPY. If you would like to comment on Remote Control, or want to reach Erik, email remotecontrol@tvspy.

Advertisement