Word: medias
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Giving a transformational presidential speech while trapped in politically toxic quicksand is no easy task. And as he mounts the rostrum in the House of Representatives' chamber on Wednesday night, the forces arrayed against Barack Obama - both real and those conjured by the politico-media maelstrom - are fierce...
Liberals (in the blogosphere, at the grass roots and in Congress) complain that the President is a spineless, incompetent quitter. Conservatives (on Fox News and talk radio, at tea-party confabs and in Congress) insist that he is a panicky, on-the-run liberal. Old media sputter that he is a flailing, directionless Jimmy Carter redux. (See pictures of Barack Obama's first year in office...
Obama's task is particularly tough because even before he will have finished speaking to tens of millions of Americans, the media filter (both old and new) will jump in to sift, analyze and reshape his message. For a weakened President, this is both a nuisance and a danger...
...Does the press focus exclusively on process? The media are consumed with a proverbial turning-of-the-page, the tension between the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill and the perils-of-Barack drama. Obama has to get the postspeech coverage to evaluate the substance of his proposals and his thematic vision of the country, rather than just focus on his droopy poll numbers and the loss of that Massachusetts Senate seat...
...find the right tone? How Obama needs to come off: optimistic, confident, resolute, gracious. What he has to avoid seeming: defensive, negative, churlish, sarcastic. Behind the scenes, Obama has been evincing some frustration with the media coverage of his first year in office; like most Presidents, he doesn't think he is getting enough credit for his hard work, nor enough patience for evolving efforts. But 2010 needs to be about the future, not grievances of the past - and that includes an end to blaming the Bush Administration for the problems Obama inherited...