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Obama Steps Down From the Bully Pulpit

Barack Obama, who rose to the White
House on the strength of his speeches,
will spend the twilight of his
presidency having conversations.
The orator-in-chief will continue
giving big set-piece speeches, such as
Wednesday's commencement address
at the Coast Guard Academy tying
climate change to national security.
But with his agenda hemmed in by
Congress and the public's attention
drifting towards his would-be
successors, Obama is increasingly
taking a more informal tack.
In January, he sat down with YouTube
star GloZell Green, better known for a
"cinnamon challenge" video. In April,
he chatted about climate change with
Bill Nye the Science Guy while on a
tour of the Everglades. Earlier this
month, he sat on a panel on poverty at
Georgetown University with a Harvard
professor and the head of a
conservative think tank.
The White House says these are all
part of an effort to come down from
the bully pulpit and get into the pews.
"The President wants to spend the next
year and a half not just talking at
people but having a conversation with
people and there are a range of ways to
do that," says Jennifer Psaki, the
White House communications
director.
She stressed that these more
nontraditional interviews allow
Obama to talk more at length about
the issues he cares about, especially
when the subject is not the lead story
on cable news.
"There are many, many people who
care deeply about climate change for
example, but they may not be
interested in reading the latest clip or
watching the latest cable news piece
about a debate on Capital Hill," she
adds. "They're more interested in
watching a clip or hearing more in
depth discussion with the president of
the United States about how to
address this larger, bigger issue."
The strategy also allows the White
House to reach audiences that may not
be tuning in to the news through more
traditional outlets. When Obama went
on comedian Zach Galifianakis' web
series Between Two Ferns last year to
talk about insurance enrollment, some
pundits clucked, but the White House
noted that signups on HealthCare.gov
spiked.
In many ways, Obama is just following
the path of predecessors like Franklin
Roosevelt and John Kennedy, who
used radio and television in new ways
to get their message out.
"Younger audiences receive
information in different ways," says
Don Baer, CEO of strategic
communications firm Burson-
Marsteller and former Clinton White
House communications director.
"There is no need to stand on a lot of
ceremony about that. At one point in
our history, the presidential press
conference was viewed as innovative,
new and foreign. Today it's one of the
core staples of presidential
communications."
There is a downside, says Tevi Troy,
president of the American Health
Policy Institute and author of "What
Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and
Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular
Culture in the White House." The
YouTube interview or the Top 40
radio station hit is not a presidential
press conference, and the
circumventing of the traditional media
does not go unnoticed by the people of
the White House press corps who
constantly struggle for more access to
the president.
"The number one downside is that the
traditional media don't like it," Troy
says. "And as president, that can
impact the way they write about you."
Still, Psaki insists the president's
conversations with bloggers and
thought leaders do not signal that he's
completely done away with traditional
speeches and interviews.
"It's about expanding the scope of what
you consider and also thinking about
what your audience cares deeply
about," Psaki says. "How do you—not
just talk at them, but also engage."
USA Press – Source: time.com

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