Obama to hold presser Thrusday (first one in nearly a year)

[robinblue]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100526/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2270_3
Public opinion turning against Obama on oil spill

16 mins ago

The American public is losing its patience with President Obama over his handling of the Gulf Coast oil spill.

In the five weeks since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, Obama had largely escaped political fallout. But as BP attempts yet again to seal the leak, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds a majority of Americans unhappy with Obama's handling of the spill. According to the poll, 53 percent rate Obama's handling "poor" or "very poor"; 43 percent believe Obama is doing a good job.
.............



What will no doubt give the White House pause is the shifting public sentiment on Obama's handling of the spill. Earlier this month, the president seemed to be escaping most of the public wrath over the disaster. An Associated Press poll released May 13 found mostly good-to-neutral marks for Obama's role in the mess: 42 percent approved, 33 percent disapproved and 21 percent said they were neutral.

.............

White House officials aren’t unaware of the shift. In recent days, they’ve stepped up their media strategy in response to the spill. Tomorrow, Obama will hold his first full-fledged news conference in nearly a year to take questions on the issue. And Friday, he is scheduled to make his second visit to the Gulf.

Will it be enough to placate an increasingly frustrated public?

[Bitwit1234]

1. Still more than Bush did.

[Divine Discontent]

5. let's focus on the now - is the 1st full press briefing in a long time acceptable for someone who

promised to be transparent? That's the question, not, "is it more frequently than B*sh" (the worst f*cking excuse for a "president" this country has seen - by that argument, he doesn't have to do a damned thing and he still will be more proactive than dumya)

[SemiCharmedQuark]

14. The WH press corps says that Obama has held more press conferences than that

And they are not really Obama's biggest fans.

Qualifying "formal" to make the number smaller is pretty disingenuous.

[Bluebear]

16. That's damning with faint praise, actually.

[Divine Discontent]

29. remember when presidents USED to take a flurry of questions about a range of topics on a regular

basis? so the reporters had things they could tell their readers who wanted to know what the president had to say on a host of current issues was actually saying - instead of hearing it through the grapevine, and gossip, and staffers, etc...

it is sad. Obama is a huge improvement over Dumya, but is that EVER saying much? Hardly...

[Hawkowl]

26. Still better than the worst ever

Great. Wonderful. Is that the new standard for American Presidents? At least I'm not shrub! I'm better than Stalin! But not as good as Nixon?

Second worst ever?

[Big Blue Marble]

2. We really do not need more media strategy.

We need real leadership!

[robinblue]

7. I noticed that comment also and agree.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Obama held a full press conference in April, and in Febuary.

With several smaller pressers.

Fox News has been pushing a meme that Obama hasn't held press conferences in over a year. It's a load of bull.

[robinblue]

11. "the president hadn't held a formal news conference since July 22. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100526/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2269


WH pulling out all the stops to defend oil spill handling to media

26 mins ago

The White House, continuing its effort to push back against negative media coverage of the government's handling of the oil spill, held an on-the-record meeting Wednesday between incident commander Thad Allen and several influential political columnists.

Among those on hand in the Roosevelt Room meeting were the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, the Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib and Newsweek's Howard Fineman.

Robinson told Yahoo! News that he was invited by email Tuesday night and found the meeting "quite helpful" in getting direct answers to questions about the administration's handling of the mess in the gulf. He also said that bringing in leading opinion makers — as the White House has done before, on such issues as Afghanistan and health care reform — can be helpful to the administration in making it clearer what steps it's taking.

"I think they want to do what everybody in this city always wants to do: Get their side of the story across," he said.

After a contentious briefing Friday at which reporters complained that their oil-spill questions weren't being answered, Allen joined Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in the briefing room Monday. Meanwhile, administration officials including Obama adviser David Axelrod have been hitting the cable airwaves.

And Thursday will be the next move by the White House to help shift the narrative: President Obama is scheduled to take about 10 questions from reporters at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Just Tuesday, the Washington Examiner's Byron York wrote how the president hadn't held a formal news conference since July 22. "A lot can happen in 307 days," he wrote, "which is far longer than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton ever went between news conferences."

[SemiCharmedQuark]

12. Mark Knoller disagrees.

"CBS News Radio reporter Mark Knoller, the press corps unofficial record-keeper, agrees the July presser was the 'last formal, prime-time news White House news conference,' but points out that Obama did make a surprise appearance in the briefing room in February, and took six questions. 'I count that as a White House news conference,' Knoller said, noting that other 'news organizations seem to be ignoring that session so they can report he hasn't held a news conference since last July.'"

Calderone added: "Ann Compton, a long-time ABC News White House correspondent, also pointed out that Obama took some questions at the Nuclear Security Summit in April."

http://mediamatters.org/strupp/201005260051

[robinblue]

17. we are talking of the prime time formal ones.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

19. If even the press corps does not define press conferences that way, why do you?

[robinblue]

20. Because I think that a prime time one is the real one.simple as that and

you think differently. I have no problem with that.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

21. And the press corps thinks differently too.

In fact the only one pushing this meme is Fox.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. No you don't.

You're just shifting goal posts.

[phleshdef]

25. No you don't. You are just trying to backpedal after embarassing yourself.

[Big Blue Marble]

24. Because we can think for ourselves.

I know the difference between answering a few questions and a full press conference.
You might remember when all presidents did have those regularly and in prime time.

It is clear that there is a definite "media strategy" to keep this president in a controlled
environment and distanced from his subjects er... I mean citizens.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. Is that what you call it?

[Bluebear]

32. "and took six questions" = Whee!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. blah blah blah blah blah

http://mediamatters.org/iphone/research/201005210052

[Scurrilous]

4. Glory Days!!1!

:o

[Divine Discontent]

6. well, it can't hurt! over 50% polled said "POOR" in rating Obama's handling of the spill. ouch.

[ProSense]

8. News Conference by the President, 2/9/10

News Conference by the President, 2/9/10

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[phleshdef]

10. BS. He has not only held pressers in the past year, but numerous interviews, town hall meetings...

...gave the State of the Union address, went in front of live cameras and faced the Republicans down... TWICE. You can't, with any possible amount of spin, say that President Obama hasn't faced the nation, faced questions from critics and the opposition and faced journalists. Of all the things one might criticize this President over, running from the press is far beyond inaccurate, its an outright lie.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. It is bullshit. Even WH press corps admits it's bullshit.

And yet here it is...

[MyNameGoesHere]

15. Jesus Christ!

There is nothing Obama can do about the oil leak, DADT, The wars, or the economy. Why the fuck should he waste his time dealing with the press and the public? He is only a man after all. What the fuck do you people expect from him?

[DevonRex]

23. You've been called on your bullshit. nt

[FrenchieCat]

27. I thought they say his ass was on Television too much?

Did they change their minds?

Last press conference was when the only thing that was reported on it was what he thought
about the Black professor being arrested in his own home. They called him a racist for it.

I'm fucking way passed tired of the media and what the demand.
They can kiss my ass, and so can those who parrot their fucking manipulative bullshit talking points.

This place was supposed to be where one could come to get away from the manufactured bullshit,
but guess that is false advertising.

The media ain't done shit for America! Fuck 'em!

[awoke_in_2003]

33. I see...

you haven't mastered double-think yet :hi:

[FrenchieCat]

34. Nope...not familiar with that,

and that would have to be a good thing! :hi:

[awoke_in_2003]

36. Every once and a while...

I dial into hate wing radio. The disconnect from reality is unbelievable. Hell, when the Miss USA was named they were claiming that she was in legal with muslim extremists. I nearly wrecked my truck on that one, and listening to the logic knocked a few points off of my IQ. This is how I felt after hearing it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOxY_nHdew

[Divine Discontent]

30. and when it comes to smaller press briefings ---

The numbers speak for themselves: During his first year in office, President Bill Clinton did 252 such Q & A sessions — an average of one every weekday. Bush did 147. Obama did 46, according to Towson University professor Martha Kumar.

“Too many of the president’s meetings are ‘no coverage’ for my taste,” said ABC’s Ann Compton. “That is a stark reduction in access for us.” They are accused of controlling the message to the same degree as their predecessors, to whom they said they would not be like when they got into office.

[Divine Discontent]

31. And there I go getting all 'facty!', it may not be as contentious as some of the posts on here

screaming and cursing, but it's the facts... do with them what you will!

[FrenchieCat]

35. Can you give us comparitive stats on # of speeches given, unscreened town hall meetings attended,

legislation passed in the first 18 months. That would be really informative,
cause there ain't nothing better than context to accompany any numbers!

Thanks in advance "Facty"! :hi:

[Divine Discontent]

37. town halls? you mean where people, who are typically approved and given tickets in advance tell the

politicians they're so awesomey! And speeches? I could care less about speeches. I want hard questions being asked directly to the man in charge, the kind that turned George Dumbass B*sh's face deep red with resentment that someone dare ask him a tough question.

I provided facts, and you can ignore the numbers that are way out of proportion and not even close, and contextualize press briefings to speeches all you wish to.