Let the pundits wail and gnash their teeth about federally funded fat-cat bonuses. Let the columnists dissect the stimulus package. President Barack Obama is not a product of media opinion or analysis — he’s a child of television, and although he’s not above writing a widely distributed op-ed piece rallying all nations to the G-20 summit, it is in television he trusts.
In the last two weeks alone, he surprised the traditional Washington press corps by passing on its annual Gridiron Club dinner only to make unprecedented appearances on ESPN, where he picked his NCAA Tournament bracket favorites, and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” where he committed his biggest presidential gaffe to date before returning to “60 Minutes” for a tough-questions interview with Steve Kroft.
Tuesday night, he held his second prime-time news conference in 65 days, during which he not only answered policy questions with bountiful detail, but also offered a glimpse of the elusive Obama temper. When a reporter continued to needle him about his “delayed” response to the AIG bonuses, Obama shut him down: “It took me a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak, OK?”
When does campaign end?
Not everyone approves of all this exposure, of course. Many critics, professional and not, see Obama’s high visibility as a sign of narcissism or ineptitude. They complain that the man needs to stop campaigning and start being president. But this is, apparently, exactly how Obama defines being president.
Unlike the previous administration, and perhaps because of it, he seems to consider it part of his job to maintain the conversation he began with the American people at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Television launched him from Chicago politician to presidential candidate, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
In all his recent appearances, the president was able to display his extraordinary talent for lucidly explaining complex issues while exuding the calm and easy dignity Americans watched him develop during the presidential race. Distilled now to a resolutely optimistic and wonky hepcat charm, his on-screen persona at its best plays to the American desire for a real-guy president u la Michael Doug las in “The American President.” At its worst, it fills its owner with the they-love-me euphoria that led to the blunder on Leno.
When Obama, in an attempt to be self-deprecating, compared his modest bowling ability to the Special Olympics, critics fell over themselves to point out that this is why presidents should stick to state-of-the- unions and the occasional news conference.
While it would be surprising if Obama and his team paid any heed, it will be interesting to see how they download this new information (“limit self-deprecating asides to self”) into the ever-evolving hologram of the new-media president. The one who understands that part of his job is to keep the populace engaged, as he did on Leno’s couch by comparing Washington to “American Idol” — “except everyone is Simon Cowell.”
These days, if it didn’t happen on TV, if it can’t be found in highlight form on YouTube or a network website, it might as well have not happened at all. Which is why Obama sent a video statement to Iran last week, as opposed to a letter.
Appearances on Leno, ESPN and even “60 Minutes” allows the president to control his image and his message in a way the traditional news conference, with its barrage of disparate questions and personalities, does not.
Obama understands the definition of reality “as seen on TV,” where the most important thing is your brand. The Obama brand is about calm amid chaos, strength through humility — and transparency through television.
