Move over "American Idol". The real deal wants some more T.V. time. So on this Tuesday, "American Idol's" performance show will be postponed until Wednesday. Other television network programs will also be shuffled around to give President Obama time to address the American public.
In case you haven't been paying attention, President Obama and his folks have been all over US television screens in the past week. President Obama, of course, made his now infamous appearance on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" with, well, to be polite, mixed reviews. He appears today on CBS's "Sixty Minutes". Obama of course had his regular weekly address on Saturday. Moreover, his spokespersons have been out there in full force, led by Secretary Treasurer Geithner's March 19 television interview with CNN.
One wonders, therefore, what new things there are left to be said which necessitated the President's decision to go prime time in yet another speech to the American public. Last week's "American Idol" show had approximately 25,000,000 viewers: http://ca.movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.eonline.com/104051-. Watching the screaming fans who are in the audience live for the show, tells me that not many of these 25 million viewers are going to be that thrilled that "Idol" is being preempted by a speech from the President, even if it means only that they will have to put their anticipation on hold for one day. I doubt that many of them will even bother to stick around to watch the Obama speech. So this whole idea may turn out to be a mistake.
I will watch it and of course will let you know what I think about it. But quite frankly, I would prefer to be watching "American Idol" especially since I already have other plans for Wednesday night.
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Forcing American Idol to reschedule its broadcast? Damn you, Mr. Obama! Is nothing sacred?
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight. You're criticizing Obama for displacing a singing competition in order to address the nation in the middle of the worst economic crisis in 80 years?
ReplyDeleteYes. You got it. I would prefer to watch "American Idol".
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has not exactly been shy in addressing the American public in the past few days. Even the Obamaniacs have been critical of his over exposure and his Jay Leno gig.
Let us see what he has to say. I am not sure that his 4th appearance of the week will do much to resolve this "worst economic crisis in 80 years", but if it does help, then I would agree with your sentiment. If it doesn't help, or makes things even worse, give me "American Idol".
And clearly, this performance adds nothing. He appears convinced that his mere presence can part the waters. A talented speaker, but to quote Shakespeare, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"
ReplyDelete"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"-- come on. Dig out an old clip of one of the last president's (few) news conferences and after you stop shuddering, thank your lucky stars for Obama. He got mostly good, substantive questions, and he gave equally good answers. Lots of details and statistics.
ReplyDeleteAnd he showed some chutzpah-- in one exchange, Ed Henry asked an extremely loaded and ridiculous question about the deficit, to which the President gave a long and thoughtful answer about using this crisis as an opportunity to change broken energy and health care systems in order to see long-term spending reductions and quality improvements. Henry then asked a follow-up: "Why did you wait DAYS to express your outrage over AIG bonuses?" The President replied, "It took me days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."
-scott
You are not making consistent objections to Obama's punting "American Idol". In your original post, you say that it will be "a mistake" because 25 million fans of "Idol" will "not be thrilled" about having to wait for the next installment of their show. Now you're saying the problem is not that Idol fans might be upset, but rather that he is being overexposed, but that it's only a problem if his latest appearance "helps".
ReplyDeleteSo which is it? Are you judging Obama's wisdom or lack of it by how the fans of "American Idol" react? Or are you judging Obama's wisdom by whether it "works", whatever that means? Neither criterion, by the way, is particularly compelling. In fact, the first is ridiculous. It would be like the Canadian prime minister deciding not to address the nation over a major crisis if it coincides with a NHL playoff broadcast. The second is valid, but only on a purely political basis. Is that what you're judging it on? Your objections to Obama in this and previous posts seem to be much broader. I can't quite put my finger on it, but you clearly don't like him. Not that I care. In fact, I happen to think Obama is showing the limitations of vacuous platitudes as a substitute for good public policy. Still, I find it inconceivable that any balanced critic would take him to task for wanting to address the nation without regard to Paula Abdul's schedule.
I for one thought that PBO was, as always, masterful in front of the crowd. He demonstrated deep knowledge of policy and showed the road ahead. At a very real level, he helped instill confidence in his capabilities. And confidence in the future is the only fuel to feed the recovery. Moving "Idol" at a time such as this is epiphenomenal, and I suspect the American people realize that, "Idol" fans included (I'm more of a "Law and Order" guy myself, but would have been ok at it being pre-empted for this).
ReplyDeleteMike Hunt
"It took me days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak".
ReplyDeleteOh come on, Scott. Speaking knowledgeably is SO pre-9-11! Obama has to get with the times and start foaming at the mouth. Didn't he learn ANYTHING as a law professor?
This doesn't make logical sense to me, Lewis:
ReplyDelete"But quite frankly, I would prefer to be watching "American Idol" especially since I already have other plans for Wednesday night."
You preferred to be watching American Idol - because you had other plans for the night?
And, if you had other plans, why didn't you just record Obama's talk and watch at your leisure?
why didn't he express his outrage over AIG sooner? C'mon -- careful deliberation doesn't make one arrive at outrage, but sensibility. Outrage is reactive. More likely, he was just clueless about what to think, and waited for public opinion to weigh in before it was safe to express his outrage (to be distinguished from a stern opinion. Barack descended to mocking AIG on Leno). By the way, I think he's wrong about the bonuses (just like he's wrong to have Geihtner at the helm), but it really shouldn't take a couple days to turn the lights on. Palin would have set things straight at once. you betcha.
ReplyDeletewhy has he been on he road while important decisions are being made in Washington? Probably because they don't want him around, and is more useful as a celebrity. Pitiful
Professor Klar,
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post and you highlight an extremely important point: Obama, and liberals in general, want to be always in the public eye, and want govt to always be in the public eye.
A useful analogy is the well-worn "hovercraft and moped" analogy.
Liberals want government to be like a large hovercraft. Hovercraft are capable of a wide array of transportation tasks but none particularly well, and are noisy, inefficient and cumbersome. And they break down frequently and are difficult and expensive to repair and maintain. And they're ugly.
Conservatives want government to be like a moped. A moped is small, efficient and requires some effort on behalf of the operator. They're easy to repair and almost never break down. They're very good at what they do. And they look great!
We can see Obama's desire to be always present makes him a noisy hovercraft, as does his preference to do many things badly.
Conservatives like Bobby Jindahl and Sarah Palin reject earmarks, and they reject the hovercrafts of the now-liberal Federal Government. They are true conservative mopeds of the future!
Cheers,
Jack Dixon