Not concerned about overexposure, President Obama went on a Sunday morning media blitz, appearing on five major talk shows. He was interviewed on ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and Fox. Just kidding. Not looking to reach a new audience, the President opted to appear on the Spanish-language network Univision’s show Al Punto rather than Fox News.
The most logical move would be to appear on Fox, considering they draw millions of viewers more than their cable news rivals. If he needs to clear up perceived misconceptions related to messaging, Obama should have appeared on the cable network with the largest audience, and audience that coincidentally holds those same “misconceptions.” That would be the perfect place to clarify the tough questions, providing he could answer them. But, alas, he passed on the opportunity.
The President wanted his message to focus on health care but this topic faced stiff competition from other competing news stories. Reluctantly it seemed, Obama spent portions of his interviews discussing Afghanistan, race, major league baseball, the media, and ACORN.
The most interesting soundbites came from George Stephanopoulos’ interview on ABC’s “This Week.” The President denied that mandating everyone buy health insurance would be a tax increase. He continued to reject the notion even as Stephanopoulos read the Webster’s Dictionary definition of tax as “a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.” Obama laughed and told Stephanopoulos’ that he considered the use of the definition to be weak before they moved on. Obama won’t be laughing when moments like that mean his poll numbers drop another five points.
When asked for his opinion on the bills passed by Congress to halt funding to ACORN the President replied, “Frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money. . . . This is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.”
Obama is right that the ACORN scandal is not the most pressing issue facing our country. We need to be actively discussing and finding solutions to our problems concerning national security, health care, our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economy. However, corruption and scandal in an organization that has ties to the government is a big deal. It was unwise to tell taxpayers, who now know their money is funding an organization willing to facilitate sex slavery, that he isn’t following it closely and it isn’t worth paying attention to.
Unfortunately for Obama, he seriously missed the mark on ACORN and health care. He had nothing new to say about his health care plans and he mistakenly conveyed the image he is above the ACORN story. People care about corruption and they care about the misuse of taxpayer money. They want the President to reassure them that their money will not continue to fund corrupt organizations, especially when the President’s party is trying to convince them to support government run health care.
Inconsistencies like these are making it easier and easier to ignore Obama. His administration clearly needs a major shakeup in quality of advisers, messaging, and strategy.
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