What NBC thinks about the #Obamercial
In a completely unbiased message to their fellow reporters and producers, NBC’s political unit had this to say about ABC’s hour-long commercial for government-run health care:
…President Obama, while peppered with tough questions about the issue, got an hour on national TV to make the case that he can be trusted to reform the health-care system. Remember, it’s not about winning the debate on whether his way is RIGHT; it’s about securing the TRUST of skeptical Americans that he’ll take their concerns and go about this with care. And on that score, this is where we probably get why so many of the president’s opponents were upset. This format was in the president’s wheelhouse. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s obvious he has a deep grasp of the issue, and no doubt he only helped his cause. Of course, we don’t yet know how many folks watched. But the perception that he got into the details most likely is only a help to him, even if those details become unpopular. By the way, it doesn’t appear the president committed any news, though some noted that he continued to leave open the door for supporting a tax on some health-care benefits. Also health care remains in today’s news as liberals and progressives rally for reform on Capitol Hill at 11:30 am ET.
Quote of the Day
In light of how so many organizations are coming together to work on the Tea Party movement, this quote seemed appropriate:
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
- Henry Ford
When a movement becomes a revolution
A terrific article in the Washington Post today follows one reporter’s journey watching the Internet transform from marginal to bona fide. Like it or not, the Internet is the new central front on the political battlefield.
“Obama’s unprecedented online success guarantees that there’s not a single campaign in 2012, Democratic or Republican, that won’t place the Web at the core of its operation. The floodgates are open. This doesn’t mean just hiring Web developers, bloggers, videographers — the works. It also means using the Internet to invite people into the process, giving them something to work for, offering them a stake in victory or defeat. More than any other medium in our history, the Web is by the people, for the people. Starting with Howard Dean, continuing with Obama and stretching out into the future, this new dynamic will transform the way campaigns are run — and, beyond that, the way the winning candidate governs. Fundamentally, all of this is redefining our relationship with our politics.”
New Look
Yes, we’ve finally made the switch to WordPress from TypePad for good ol’ PolicyMedia. In addition to taking advantage of the amazing new features of WordPress 2.7, we’re going to be branching out a bit as we work with other conservatives to make the message match the policy.
Obama’s Communications Team
For those of us interested in political communications, one of the premier posts in the field is the White House Press Secretary. While the role has changed in recent years, the President's chief flak is traditionally the vehicle through which news becomes important, via their close working relationship with the media (ok, I'm not talking about every press secretary here). The White House communications director likewise shapes the national debate on every major issue in ways the public can never even begin to imagine.
President-elect Obama continues to show he's no dummy — and no moderate — with his sharp picks for the White House communications team:
- Robert Gibbs, an Obama campaign spokesman, will be press secretary
- Ellen Moran, EMILY's List executive director, will be communications director
- Dan Pfeiffer named Obama's deputy communications director
Romney on the Bailout
Detroit-born former governor Mitt Romney has a prescription for Detroit that seems downright novel in the face of Washington's endless deficit spending: make automakers reform or die.
If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go
overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With
it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
Do Republicans represent business values?
As a small business owner, this was a pretty disturbing observation:
the same time the dominant segment of the Republican Party wants to
regulate the lives and lifestyles of certain classes of people in the
most intrusive way possible. Some businessmen, especially those who
depend on Colorado having a reputation that draws visitors and
business, don’t see that as helpful."
‘Ups and downs of a digital-age campaign’
In The Boston Globe, a former Romney communications advisor lements the decline of traditional media and pleads with online media to more closely adhere to a journalistic “code of ethics.”
“Where are the online gatekeepers? Gatekeeping is the most important function for the offline media. Editors decide which stories get published. They make sure rumors aren’t printed. Sensitive information is double- and sometimes triple-sourced. Gatekeeping serves an important purpose in establishing the ethics of journalism. Sadly, it doesn’t exist on the Web.”
Unfortunately for traditional PR and communications people, that horse has left the barn.
Republicans Ponder Path to Renewal After Party Suffers a Harsh Setback - WSJ.com
“Key pieces of the longstanding Republican coalition of economic and social conservatives, culture-war soldiers and national-security hawks showed severe stress fractures during the long election, and leaders from different wings are now vying for party leadership.”
How do liberals view the media?
The answer to the old joke is “in the mirror,” of course.
Soaking in the final seconds of what may be an Obama win, the liberal writers at the New York Times are hyperventilating with anxiety. And since they can’t express it in the first person, they turn to New Yorkers to express their anxiety for them. Their piece also offers a little editorial perspective on how liberals view the media:
“Many liberal Democrats watch MSNBC, but some say it sounds too much like comfort food. CNN serves its election coverage with a stiff little chaser of doubt for Democrats, and many liberals say CNN and NPR are their regular evening companions. If they really want to rub the sore tooth of worry, they dial over to the ‘Obama’s radical friend Bill Ayers’ channel, otherwise known as Fox News.
“‘Mostly I flip between CNN and MSNBC, but I go to Fox if I want to get enraged,’ Mr. Downs said.”