MSNBC First Read asks: what speech were you watching!?-Calls Obama address a hit

[Politics_Guy25]

Wow:

From MSNBC's http://www.firstread.msnbc.com

Quick reaction to tonight's speechFrom NBC's Mark Murray
On the Web and Twitter, some of the instant-pundit analysis I've seen of President Obama's address tonight has been critical.

But they must have been watching a different speech than I was.

As we wrote in First Read this morning, Obama's objectives tonight were to demonstrate to the public that his administration is doing everything possible to mitigate the spill’s impact, to reimburse Gulf residents, and to hold BP’s feet to the fire.

In a strong, resolute and, yes, optimistic tone, he hit on all three.

Greg Sargeant of TPM weighs in as well:
Greg Sargent: "The intended audience of this speech was a general public wondering what the heck is going on with the spill and what the broader game plan is. This audience didn't need to hear the level of commitment to specific policy prescriptions that we all might have wanted."

Might I add, not laying out precise details and demands is exactly what led to HCR being passed.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Wow.....I just wrote the same thing elsewhere.....

that this Oval Office Speech was aimed at the general public,
not the pundits and the politicos....

and generally, that is who the audience of Oval Office speeches are; millions of Americans,
not the beltway commentators.

[Cha]

7. Right...remember one

speech he gave..that the pundits all panned but the rave reviews were coming in from the public and they changed their tune..I swear this happened but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since.

[WeDidIt]

9. The pundits are playing the same ole same ole

They're holding the black president to a higher standard than any president in history has been held to.

[mzmolly]

22. I liked how Ezra Klein said it to Rachel Maddow tonight

"The President couldn't give the speech we wanted to hear tonight..." Or something like that. Basically he stated that the speech was meant to address the general public. Tonight was an opening to a necessary discussion that the RW has been effective in preventing for far too long.

[Clio the Leo]

27. oh sorry I missed that....

.... I could stand ALL of them jumping the shark but Ezra ... turned him off before he made me mad at him. lol Will have to go back and watch it.

[mzmolly]

28. Well he was a bit disappointed too. But it seems to me he came around

a bit when he thought it through? Then again, it may have been my optimistic ears. ;)

[PM Martin]

39. That is true.

Seeing that the masses are not attentive, he had to give them an introduction.

[Historic NY]

2. POTUS me what I want to know...mainly what the heck was going on.

[Politics_Guy25]

3. Keith

Keith was literally screaming at Obama tonight after the speech. I was surprised to see that come from him.

[Cha]

10. I hope he didn't strain anything bc

nothing was helped by it.

[NYC_SKP]

4. K & R nt

:thumbsup:

[Cha]

5. Thanks Politics Guy~

Greg Sargent was watching the same speech I was.

I hope the President helped those in the Gulf who were so affected by the disaster and were watching tonight..because I know he'll be following through.

[Politics_Guy25]

6. You are welcome-n/t!

[gulfbreeze]

26. No, it did not help. Not at all

He was here this morning and the speech he gave then was just as bland. We are desparate!!!!! The remark he made about the number of boats....It's NOT true. I don't know who is giving him his information but it is so far off the mark. BP is calling the shots; the coast guard obeys and neither communicates with our local officials. It's not because our officials aren't trying either. This is way past scary... Most of us are really losing hope. I wish we had done what Destin has started and that's taking into our own hands. Below is an earlier post of mine that may help you understand why I'm so upset. We don't need platitudes, we need action and we need it now.

Here on Pensacola Beach, they have done nothing in the gulf to help stop the oil from coming in! The booms are nothing more than bones being thrown by BP to keep everyone preoccupied. Pres Obama just spoke about a huge number of vessels off our shores working to help keep it out of our bays and off our beaches. It's just not true. They have NOT been here. There are people picking up tar balls. There have been some local boats hired to stay on the look-out. We grew up in the charter fishing industry here and know all of the Captains personally. One, who's been off shore for about 2 weeks, says his job is to site oil in the gulf, call it in, and stay with it until clean-up crews arrive. They never arrive. ever. My husband was driving home for lunch yesterday and while crossing the bay bridge, he saw the oil in the bay. No one is talking about it. I'm really upset with Obama's speech this morning. It was patronizing, placating, and not true. I drove people to the polls to vote for him. Last night I saw where BP is finally purchasing some of Costner's oil spill clean-up machines and a glimmer of hope returned. But upon hearing Obama not telling the truth, and almost avoiding addressing any of the dire issues, that glimmer is doused. My husband's been saying we need General Honore' here and last night saw him with a plan on cnn.

[Voice for Peace]

30. in the speech he said he wants to hear from people

if things aren't working

and he is probably getting a great deal of misinformation. so people on the scene who see what's happening or not happening need to be contacting the WH.

[Clio the Leo]

8. I think we have a situation where the MSNBC hosts/analysts are WAY more informed about the matter ..

... than the average Joe.

This is not like the 9/11 attacks or even a hurricane. This is not something that the American people have a complex understanding of. .... They know that oil is pouring from the earth, and it's damaging the wildlife ... and that "it's probably not a good idea to go to the Gulf for vacation right now" and that's about it.

They dont know what cap and trade means.

They dont know what carbon pricing means.

They dont know what's in the Senate climate bill.

They know that you put petroleum in your car and if there's a shortage of that, you might have to pay more at the pump. They know that you cant buy a car anywhere that runs totally without gasoline. THey know they have to go to work tomorrow and make enough money to put gas in their cars to take their kids to school.

So for us to be upset about the President not going into detail about an energy bill that most Americans have no clue they even need .... well, smacks of liberal elitism. (bless 'em)

[Politics_Guy25]

12. Clio....question for you?

What did you think of the address tonight. You're a pretty astute observer of the scene. Do you think it'll go over well with the general public? I don't really have a feel for it. Do you think he did what he needed to do?

I do agree with you on your MSNBC points also.

[Clio the Leo]

21. I think the general public doesn't care about the spill as much as the press thinks we do...

.... and I say "we" ..... *I* do .... I mean the public in general.

Prime example .... when the President first started to get banged by the press, a friend of mine, Conservative Republican and loyal Fox watcher .... we kid one another back and forth all the time about politics. She said, "your boys in trouble!"

I said, "about the oil spill?"

"No! About giving away those jobs!" (talking about Sestak and the other guy who's name escapes me who claimed the WH offered him a job to stay out of the race.)

I have only heard one person mention anything about it, a bridesmaid at work mention that the bride "had to cancel her plans to get married in FL because of that oil thing...." We pray at church about it, but there's never any specifics, other than "help those who are trying to fix that problem in the Gulf with the oil problem..."

So the real question is just how upset is the public really? .... I think his lack of movement (or little movement) in his poll numbers has more to do with the public not seeing this as big of a problem than it is than their feeling he's doing a bang up job.

So as I said above .... the MSNBC gang was upset that he wasnt specific enough but I really dont think the public was asking for specifics about how to get an energy bill passed. It's not like the health care bill (which STILL a VERY complex thing) at least people had some real life experience with what that was trying to do.

But if Sarah Palin can knock Barbara Boxer for saying that passing an energy bill was a way to improve national security, mock her for talking about "the weather", that tells you something.

In the end, he sounded tough with BP (apparently what the press has been asking for) and he detailed what the admin has done thus far (also what the press has been asking for.) .... He didn't go in to specifics saying EXACTLY what he was going to do to stop the leak and clean it up but that puts us back to the problem of this being unchartered territory. Until someone else is able to come up with something BETTER, I dont see how he can be faulted for it.

Personally, *I* liked the speech, but I'm biased. :)

And I also think, as popular as Olbermann, Rachel and Tweety are .... they will be in for a sad awakening if they think they're more popular than Barack Obama. They might say that they're journalists and dont care about popularity, but, lets not kid ourselves, they're on TV, they crave attention.

[golfguru]

38. wrong thread, self delete

[DimplesinMI]

43. Exactly.....Darn it!!

Ok, we have oil in the Gulf, I get it. There is not a darn thing I can do about it in Michigan, where I live. I am sick of this being the story the MEDIA keep telling me to care about. Really, frankly, truly...I don't.

I do care about over 3 million people and counting that have gone for now three weeks and counting without extended Unemployment Compensation. Were is Keith, Rachel or Mattews on THIS STORY? Many, many efforts by unemployed groups and individuals to have either one of these host actually do a real segment on this ever going CRISIS for many people, have heard crickets......

The ONLY MSNBC host that have given these people 5 good minutes on his show is ED.....period. And that....is shameful of these so-called liberal TV hosts (minus Matthews who is not liberal in the least).

[onpatrol98]

48. Wow!

This oil spill will significantly INCREASE the number of unemployed people. The oil spill will also affect our nation's economy. Our coastal environment is damaged perhaps beyond repair. Even after our unemployment numbers improve, the damage from this oil spill will remain. I'm sorry you're sick of the story. But, I'm sure it's because I live in a coastal state and have shared the beaches with my children and family and people from all around the world including Michigan.

The grief from fishermen, environmentalists, locals, and people from all around is palpable. But, really...to be honest, it was a bit of your attitude that I thought I picked up from the President's speech. It was unfair of me. Just as it's unfair of me to over simplify your attitude about the oil "story". But, from each of the President's speeches about the oil spill...I do feel a hint of... "Look, I'm doing the best I can about "those" people and "their" problem on the coast. I don't feel a "we" in his speeches. I think he comes across as distant, bothered, and bullied into making speeches. I believe he's concerned, but is simply at the point where he would like to move on.

As President, he can't plug a hole. He's sick of people judging how "angry" he is about the oil spill. He wants to move on. He's given great speeches. He loves to play to an audience. He's intelligent and articulate and is sick of hearing about an oil spill all day. What can he do about it? What do we expect him to do about it? Why can't we just move on? That's what I hear, when I hear one of his oil spill speeches. His voice seems deadpan to me. But, I'm too close to the issue.

Your post helped me decipher what I was detecting in his speeches. Something just beneath the surface. Just my opinion, of course. I can't read the man's mind. Well, hopefully, for your sake the media will move on to another topic. There are other issues just as important. And, eventually, the media will move on. They'll lose interest and the next story will herd them in another direction. And the Gulf States will take it one day at a time. And, the people who do care, will find a way to make a difference. They always do. I'm always amazed to find out how many people do care.

When busloads of people show up to cheer for a president, any president, I'm seldom impressed. But, when busloads arrive to help people move on after a disaster. I'm always touched. After Katrina hit, it turned out many of our volunteers were actually unemployed and from other states. But, they were touched so much by the troubles of people they didn't know, that they volunteered to help. Perhaps it helped them temporarily forget about their own troubles. I don't know.

I'm glad you were brave enough to be so very honest. You don't care. We get it. Message received. Unemployment sucks in Michigan and has for quite some time, even before the economy tanked. And, I do care. I hope things improve for the area and our country. I'm not naive. I don't believe the media is focusing on the coast, because they care. It's the story of the moment. But, I'm thankful for the many that do care. I'm deeply touched by the collective amount of empathy on DU when a tragedy of any kind strikes.

[Mojorabbit]

50. Everyone I know or have talked to in Florida

are beside themselves about this spill. I don't see any proactive plans to mitigate damage being put in place. That alone would be huge.

[Clio the Leo]

23. .... and one more thing....

.... I did a Twitter search right after KO had his meltdown .... the overall reaction was not one of "yeah! KO nailed Obama! I totally agree with him!" ... but "KO and Tweety have fallen out of love with Obama! how funny!" .... says a lot right there.

[Clio the Leo]

31. An here's your answer I think...

Notice this Tweet,

"Brutal reviews of Obama's speech...from the political Left"
http://twitter.com/KevinMaddenDC/status/16276809957

... if the perception is that the ONLY people who didn't like the speech were the left ... it may have actually helped his cause. :)

[Politics_Guy25]

33. Thanks Clio-Now one last question for you

for tonight at least. hehe. Were you alive during the Iranian hostage crisis? Would you say that commanded the public's attention and emotions more than this? Are they on the same level or not really? I was nothing but perhaps a distant twinkle in my mother's eye in 1979. From what I've read, though, I don't think Carter lost to Reagan due to it. I think he would have lost anyway.

[Clio the Leo]

35. I was too little....

.... the only thing I remember about that is my mother telling me "the hostages have been in captivity for a year today..." and of course I remember Reagan making that announcement that they'd been freed.

But I was six .... dont remember much else about it.

I cant remember enough about Carter/Reagan to say .... I CAN tell you I backed Carter because I liked his pretty green signs lol .... I even made my own .... probably why I'm a Dem today.... because Carter had prettier sings .... and because my dad is a socialist ... probably a small factor. lol

And if you want ONE more Twitter anecdote ... if you search for "Obama" the number one Obama related Tweet (most retweeted/quoted) is this...

@cascio Sadly, Obama is a 21st century face for dying 20th cen philosophies. PR pretending to be transparency, centralization masked as network.

and this is the second more quoted....

@BarackObama will meet with BP tomorrow to tell them to set aside necessary funds to compensate businesses and people who have been harmed.


It would appear that the American people are, typically, divided. lol

[ginnyinWI]

40. I was in my late 20s then.

I was busy having babies and raising them, but I was well aware of the hostage crisis. Day after day--it was grueling to wait and wonder when it would ever end. It was as if we all had a family member over there. ABC started Nightline as a way to give it more coverage because people were engaged and did care. It seemed impossible that our great nation couldn't do something to fix this crisis. We were new to the idea of terrorism, you see. It was more than an environmental disaster, which after all is a problem but not acutely frightening. The hostage crisis spoke more to our fears that America wasn't so invincible after all.

It wasn't so much focused on Carter, although some might have changed their vote because of it. When he ordered that helicopter rescue attempt and then it failed--well a lot of people didn't like that at all. I think probably what made him lose was his overall failure to manage the political end of things. He was wonky and worked at solving problems but just left his political image up to chance.

[Clio the Leo]

32. and another one....

Fun watching conservatives finally discover--or at least feign surprise at--Obama taking heat from the left.
http://twitter.com/brianbeutler/status/16277500531

[vaberella]

37. It went over excellently with the general public.

Look at my posts here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x340188

[Phx_Dem]

17. The media punitry has been doing this long enough to know that

Presidents don't give big, long, wonky, detailed policy speeches from the oval office. They give broader and, hopefully, uplifting overviews of what's to come. Specific but without alot of detail.

Did JKF explain exactly how we were going to build rocket boosters to get into space? Did he explain exactly how much it would cost or how it would be paid for? Did he name the team who would start the project? No, he didn't.

[mzmolly]

29. An excellent

point.

[Arkana]

36. He said "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things

not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Well, that sumbitch didn't tell me how the rocket boosters are built! Or the composition of the rocket fuel! Or who would be the first astronauts! F- NOT ENOUGH SPECIFICS, MR. KENNEDY!

[Phx_Dem]

44. To Scarbrough's benefit, he actually used the JFK example this

morning while he and Mika were talking to Chris Jansing about the speech. They both liked it, and Mike even said about the criticism that she was really surprised at the media's reaction and, "it's getting ridiculous. I don't know what people want from him anymore."

When Joe and Mika agree that the media are acting like assholes, there's a problem.

[Arkana]

46. Joe liked it?

Hmmm. Perhaps I don't have to ban my father from watching him.

[Jennicut]

11. It was aimed at people like my husband. Who have no idea why I spend all this time on DU

talking about...politics. Yuck, he says.
He liked Obama's speech, especially the part about clean energy.

[Politics_Guy25]

13. LOL Jennicut-question for you as well

You're someone that I trust to look at things impartially as well. Do you think this address did what it needed to do then?

[Jennicut]

15. Yes. Because it wasn't for us political junkies. Non political people don't

talk about clean energy. They talk a tiny bit but don't have the major idea in their heads. And peak oil. Making the distinction that we must switch over. The last point of the speech was very powerful for my husband. He does not really know how legislation even works. Or what a climate bill is. This was not about that. It was about getting ordinary people to have that idea in their heads. It was mentioned last for a reason. The money for the spill, the clean up, etc. will be ongoing but the major thing effecting us all for years to come is how to move away from oil.

[K8-EEE]

42. Unfortunately I think most people will hear of it second hand

and MSM will tell them how it was, and I truly believe no matter what he said they would not have a favorable opinion.

[Phx_Dem]

14. Just like debates. The media's opinion is always opposite of the public's.

They don't call it the Beltway bubble for nothing.

[Politics_Guy25]

16. Now, THAT is true

I distinctly remember after the first debate in 2008, it was a Friday night. Even international news outlets called President Obama's performance horrific and rated it as a KO for John Mccain. Boy, were they EVER wrong. The instapolls gave Obama a huge win.

[Phx_Dem]

19. For God's sake, they actually though Bush won every debate.

He was so clueless, it was embarrassing. Al Gore's sighs didn't even come close to the level of Bush's ignorance He could have picked his nose on stage and he still would have won.

[patrice]

18. I like the fact that he has some folks guessing. You know the ones: he's damned if he does & he's

damned if he doesn't.

[mzmolly]

20. I think some people wanted him to talk the oil into leaving the gulf?

Sheesh. :crazy:

[Clio the Leo]

25. ha! nt

[AspenRose]

45. That's a very "messiah"-sounding thing to do, isn't it?

You are right

[Arkana]

47. Parting the black oil?

[mzmolly]

49. Or walking on it?

;)

[Clio the Leo]

24. I'm just glad I'll be missing Big Ed's show tomorrow....

.... this wasn't exactly the "dictator" approach that he was hoping for. (What in the WORLD is he smoking with that BS? Dictator? Obama? Seriously?)

[IOKIYAL]

34. 'cause the media ain't doin' its job

of informing the people, so the president must.

[FrenchieCat]

41. Instead of the media doing its job and talking about the subject matter of the speech.....

they talked politics instead. They should be ashamed.