Obama in Action Part V: Day 60
An American Presidency Project Exclusive Analysis
March 21, 2009
SANTA BARBARA—Friday March 20 marked the end of the second month of the Obama Presidency. Obama still maintains his lead in unilateral actions (Executive Orders, Proclamations, and Memoranda; see chart below). Recently the president has begun to define a distinctive mode and method for communicating with the public.
Going Public, Following the Audience
On Thursday, March 19, the President made a highly publicized appearance on the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno during a two-day visit to California. This was the first time a sitting president had appeared on a late night talk show. Despite Obama’s awkward gaffe about his bowling, the appearance was quite substantive, and can be fairly compared to other TV interviews.
Initial estimates from Nielson Media Research show an 11.2 rating for the show, the highest viewership recorded for the “Tonight Show” since 1998, when it followed the final episode of “Seinfeld.” The appearance was noted in all the mainstream media.
 By our count, including the Tonight Show appearance, Obama has participated in at least eight televised interviews in his first two months in office. That count does not include Obama’s February 1 appearance on the “Today” show.
As a generalization, television interviews by sitting presidents are relatively uncommon. Among our comparison group, considering just the television era, (Eisenhower – present), only presidents Reagan (Walter Cronkite on March 3, 1981) and Clinton (Dan Rather on March 24, 1993) had major television interviews during the first 100 days.
President Obama appears to be defining a distinctive strategy for “going public.” The TV interviews allows him to communicate directly with the American people in existing high viewership settings. At the same time, there has been a big effort to mobilize the Obama electoral base through the use of mass email. While Obama’s number of trips outside DC has not set records, he has successfully garnered high media attention.
Selective Use of the “News Conference” Format
Obama’s selective use of high-profile events to focus public attention suggests comparisons with both Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Roosevelt’s groundbreaking use of radio in the “Fireside Chats,” was by contrast infrequent, averaging just over two per year.  FDR was able to speak to large audiences, in their homes, drawing great attention. Reagan greatly reduced the number of presidential news conferences, but began a tradition of addressing the nation every Saturday morning with a short radio address.
Obama is recasting the Saturday radio address as a multiple medium format broadcast on radio and released in video on YouTube. Obama appears to favor infrequent, prime-time news conferences. Excluding press conferences with foreign leaders, which are typically very constrained formats, Obama is tied with George W. Bush in holding only one conference during his first 60 days in office. Obama’s second formal news conference is scheduled for March 24 for broadcast live during prime-time.
©The American Presidency Project
Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, "Obama in Action V: Day 60" in The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/obama_in_action_v_032109.php. |
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