Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Prez Obama reaction before the speech!

So Ryan Teague Beckwith from Under the Dome posted on his twitter account how it was typical Washington that he's getting reaction from Politico about President Obama's speech before his address tonight.

I then noticed an email I got and further investigated my inbox to find I had several similar emails from elected officials. Indeed our Representative David Price and Rep. Brad Miller sent out emails with their response to Mr. Obama's address. I also got releases from other representatives around the country as well as GOP folks.

The emails all came into my inbox before 6:00pm yet President Obama's address isn't until 9pm. It is "typical DC" like Ryan put it but what does that say about it all?

I'm not quite sure yet. I'm still pondering it and would love your reaction. Is the President's speech that predictable? Then why is he using network time and commercial space in this economy if it's that predictable? Are these politicians taking the easy route knowing what he will say? How do we know it's not just a canned response without genuine opinions if it comes out before the actual speech?

Or, is this just a sign of the immediacy of the news on the internet and cable television that it's more important to have a response for the second the speech ends (or earlier) than to have an honest reaction to what he said and sometimes just as important, how he said it.

I'm not judging anyone here, I'm just raising questions and looking for you feedback!

Have a great night and let me know your thoughts on the president's address here or at tim.boyum@news14.com.

***UPDATE***
An interesting update on the posting above. First, I mistakenly added Sen. Hagan to the list which I quickly corrected. Rep. Miller's office emailed me tonight to point out that Rep. Miller's earlier statement about President Obama's speech was not a prediction of his speech. His staff was briefed earlier in the day by White House officials and they wanted to make sure to get a statement out to journalists who were on deadlines. As a journalist, I completely understand that and I pointed out to Rep. Miller's staffer I wasn't saying the early statements were a bad thing it was just an observation. It's not uncommon for journalists to get embargoed versions of speeches and statements to help them prepare their stories ahead of time to meet deadlines. My goal for all of this is to give you a little perspective on how the news is made! I did not intend for my blog to mean these lawmakers were making predictions about future speeches, I was just trying to show you the viewer/reader a little bit about how the process works.

1 comment:

  1. Be professional! It's President Obama, not Prez Obama. Where were you raised? In a barn?

    ReplyDelete