Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Ongoing Campaign

I predict this to be a trend for future presidents:

Millions of campaign supporters are receiving emails urging them to call members of Congress. Groups allied with the White House are running ads scorning the President's foes. States that were closely fought in the 2008 election are again being visited by Mr Obama.

On Friday morning, Melbourne time, he will arrive in talk show host Jay Leno's studio to appear on The Tonight Show. Candidates have often used late-night talk shows to highlight their lighter side, but no sitting president has appeared on one, according to NBC.
Never stop reminding the people about the mistakes Bush made and how much you're doing to fix it. Seems like a useful, yet scary, tool.

5 comments:

  1. Ok I must be missing something. Why is it scary that the president went on the Tonight Show?

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  2. If you didn't know he was already elected, you might think Obama was still campaigning. He's been touring the country, from trips to cities helped by the stimulus package (http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/40887022.html) to meetings that look a lot more like raising political support than they do policy making (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-obama-contreras20-2009mar20,0,6995251.story).

    I guess I'm afraid of presidents using their resources and influence as president to run their next campaign for president. All presidents do it, but it sure seems Obama is starting early.

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  3. You could look at it that way, or you could look at as him trying to be open and forthright with the American people in a time when the majority of the country is dissatisfied and fearful about the the state of the union. Like the Fireside Chats. Something we never saw from Bush. I guess from one angle it's campaigning and from another it's good leadership.

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  4. If we assume politicians are "single-minded seeker of reelection" then there much be a political reason for everything. Perhaps even March Madness brackets:

    "There is more than one way, however, for the President to play favorites. Was Obama more inclined to select teams from swing states that were closer in last November's election? A bit of reverse engineering of his bracket suggests that the answer is a qualified yes."

    http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/03/obama-ncaa-bracket-shows-bias-toward.html

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  5. That's a hell of an assumption. Don't think I could stomach that much pessimism.

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.