THAT SHARK'S BEEN JUMPED (via Glenn Dryfoos):

President Obama -- Stop Talking! (Greg Easterbrook, 9/22/09, ESPN: TMQ)

[T]oo-frequent speechmaking devalues the presidential voice. When the president speaks occasionally, he commands attention; a president who speaks all the time becomes just another clanging cymbal in the background yammer. I bet Obama gives 10 speeches for every one given by John Kennedy. At the current rate, by 2010, an Obama speech will no longer be viewed as an important moment.

2010? It had happened by September of his first year, which is pretty nearly the point where W began giving big speeches (he'd already given the stem cell one), 32.1 Million Watch President Obama’s Health Care Address to Congress on TV (Nielsen, 9/10/09)

Viewership to last night’s address was down 38.6% from President Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress on February 24, which aired from approximately 9:00PM to 10:30PM.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2009 8:16 AM