BARRACK WHO?:

Presser draws 24.7 million; 14 percent drop (Michael Calderone, 7/24/09, Politico)

That's a 14 percent drop from the April 29 prime-time presser, and 50 percent less than the first one of his presidency.

The bully pulpit is a precious political resource. He wasted it.

MORE:
Obama Complains About the News Cycle but Manipulates It, Worrying Some (PETER BAKER, 7/24/09, NY Times)

fter six months in office, perhaps no other president has been more attuned to, or done more to dominate, the news cycle he disparages. Mr. Obama has given roughly three times as many interviews as George W. Bush and held four times as many prime-time news conferences as Bill Clinton had by comparable points in their terms.

In the past four days, Mr. Obama gave “exclusive” interviews to Jim Lehrer of PBS, Katie Couric of CBS and Meredith Vieira of NBC. He gave two interviews to The Washington Post on one day, one to the editorial page editor and one to news reporters. He held a conference call with bloggers. His hourlong session in the East Room on Wednesday night was his second news conference of the day. And on Thursday, he invited Terry Moran of ABC to spend the day with him for a “Nightline” special.

The all-Obama, all-the-time carpet bombing of the news media represents a strategy by a White House seeking to deploy its most effective asset in service of its goals, none more critical now than health care legislation. But longtime Washington hands warn that saturation coverage can diminish the power of his voice and lose public attention.

Besides which, he's not an asset when he's speaking. The idea of Barrack Obama is compelling. The reality disheartening.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 24, 2009 9:15 AM