Dec
7
The article in question is by one David Carr at the nytimes; we’ve noted the President’s overexposure before – see “The Olympics, Obama and the Permanent Campaign” – but it might be more prudent to look away from the President’s explicit political ends and focus only on the means:
When Barack Obama became president, he promised a “new era of openness.” After almost a year of a media diet that seemed to be all-Obama, all-the-time that concluded in a reality-program couple crashing a state dinner at the White House, I’d be O.K. with the kimono closing a bit.
When Michaele and Tareq Salahi waltzed uninvited into the White House for a state dinner almost two weeks ago, their camera crew from Bravo’s forthcoming “The Real Housewives of D.C.” was left waiting outside, but it’s not as if their presence would have been much of a breach of current protocol.
After all, like much of daily life there, their visit was recorded and uploaded on the White House Flickr feed, the always-on streaming window into “the people’s house,” a nickname that has never been more apt than under the current residents.
Considering the White House’s hulking, media-rich Web site, its Facebook page, photo galleries and podcasts on iTunes, the presidency seems less threatened by the incursion of a reality show than running an administration that is in danger of becoming one.
Carr’s immediate conclusions, of course, are shared by all except the most hardened partisans:
One of the downsides of having a president who is also Celebrity in Chief is that it creates the impression that the leader of the free world is part of a milieu that is more TMZ than C-SPAN. In an effort to remain connected to the social media world that was so much a part of his electoral victory, the Obama administration may be guilty of a very contemporary common offense: Oversharing….
The president can’t be blamed for a few knuckleheads trying to game their way into his presence, but his shared love of the camera leaves him vulnerable to suggestions that he is too busy appearing as the president and not busy enough being one. And we all know that television shows — reality or otherwise — can jump the shark.
But again, I want to focus on the means. Americans may say they want the Presidency to be at an honorable remove, to be about competence in office appropriate to the office. But if that’s the case, not only should everyone have voted for McCain, everyone should have voted for Nixon in 1960. The sad truth is that if one becomes a tabloid sensation, one has a better chance of winning not just attention and dollars but even getting one’s message across. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Paris Hilton is admired by some. It’s almost impossible to tell how low tastes will go; part of the problem is that more media has actually meant fewer celebrities. Our attention isn’t divided: it’s non-existent unless buttons are pushed. Buttons correspond not to narratives that are of importance or genuinely grab our interest, but narratives that are consistent with how we view things already. People come to us already branded, but our passivity means there can be enormous wiggle-room for carving out a new brand. Don’t be surprised if Jon Gosselin or Michael Lohan ends up lecturing about parenting and people start listening in earnest.
So, in the current President’s “defense:” this is the media environment he has to work with. And he has to work with it. One problem with the Bush years was that the President then was drowned out by the enormous amount of media mocking him. When he made serious decisions about things like Iraq, they couldn’t be taken seriously in the least. To not engage the media environment is to concede the stupidest assumptions people make about politics. I’m not saying that President Bush didn’t engage the media. He tried and failed, and yes, that’s a scary thought. You can be the President of the United States and there are forces so beyond your control that you’re a sitting duck.
This President, on the other hand, has a huge advantage over the media. People like him for whatever reason. That would seem to indicate that updating his myspace and facebook page are the way to go. Unfortunately, the more one pursues that strategy, the less Presidential one is, and all of us know how shallow the sort of attention one gets from social media is. It’s important attention if you’re starting something new, not if you’re the President already.
My own thought is that the White House – despite how nice their new site looks – could learn from Sarah Palin. She’s very effective with her Facebook page: for better or worse, it seems to suit her. Pick one aspect of new media you “click” with, and use that alone if you want. Trying all forms of media at once is what those of us who are getting no attention have to do, and lends support to the idea that one is competing with people like Lindsay Lohan for the nation’s attention. The latter may be the truth, but it is not a President’s job to change how public opinion shapes itself. His authority is tied to actual power for a reason.
- Briefly Noted: That “Office of the President-Elect” Thing is a Disgrace (cf. Federalist 70)
- Briefly Noted: That Republican “Rebuild the Party” Site is Excellent
- Briefly Noted: James W. Ceaser, “The Roots of Obama Worship”
- Innovation in Politics and the Potential of the Internet
- Temptation.
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I have to belatedly add that all this attention certain media outlets are dedicating to Sarah Palin (*coughcough* MSNBC *coughcough*) seem to be taylor-made to try and distract all 22 of their viewers from 0bama’s plummetting approval rating by trying to establish the ‘OMG! We REALLY dodged a bullet by not having this hick Barbie as VP’ narrative, which itself is based on the fairly ghoulish premise that John McCain would kick off at any time had he been elected POTUS.
Fenway_Nation´s last blog ..Bettie Mae Page: April 22 1923- December 11, 2008