How Obama Is Selling His Economic Agenda

The Tonight Show appearance was just part of his plan for drawing public support for his budget

By Kenneth T. Walsh

March 20, 2009 RSS Feed Print

President Obama's appearance on NBC's Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night was part of a carefully crafted White House strategy to pitch Obama's economic plans to the American people and bolster his job-approval ratings.

Other parts of the strategy, which an Obama adviser described as a "package" of media moments, included two town-hall meetings over the past two days in California, an interview scheduled to be run on CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday night, and a prime-time news conference Tuesday night. Each is designed to target a different audience. For example, Leno would theoretically appeal to younger people, 60 Minutes to a more issue-oriented crowd, and the news conference to the general electorate.

"We want to put our message out there as aggressively as possible," a White House spokesman says, and appeal to as many different demographic groups as the president can.

Obama will focus on selling his controversial $3.6 trillion budget to the country and to Congress in the next week and a half. It will be a pivotal time for building momentum for the financial blueprint because the House of Representatives is now starting to consider the measure in earnest.

Building momentum is all the more important because White House strategists expect the full House to be debating the budget when the president is in Europe to meet with other world leaders at the end of March and in early April, meaning he won't be in town to personally court legislators.

Obama aides acknowledge that he has a major selling job to persuade the doubters to accept his priorities on healthcare, energy independence, and education as part of his overall plan for lifting the economy. "He will be making the case for how the budget fits in," says a senior White House adviser.

Republicans and some Democrats have criticized Obama's 2010 budget as too heavy on spending and government intervention, and they say his blueprint will run up vast deficits that future generations will have to pay for.

Tags:
economy,
Barack Obama,
media

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ME, I BELIEVE IN OBAMA'S CHANGE AND HE IS THE ANSWER TO THE ECONOMY OF WORLD

EMMANUEL of AL 6:43AM April 07, 2009

everyone is worried about obama, and how is trying to bring the economy back to what it used to be. keep in mind, that he cant do it alone. change must come from the source. And where is that you must say?? Hmm. lets think. YOURSELF. Obama is not the olny american in this country, and someone have to help him out. im a student (junior) in high school, and it is sad that sometimes we fail to acknowledge the mishaps that we make. obama cannot do it alone. some people critize him one what he's doing like "he's tring to look good for the camera." to be completely honest, i really dont care how he looks. im just worried about my future, and how it is going to end up because of the economy. when i have my first child, i worry for him or her about their future. this recession is one of the worst ones ever, and we all mut put in our fair share of help so the united states can get back in the place we were before. number one. its by time we take respondsibility for our actions, and step up to the plate. dont be offended. this is just my opinion, and nothing that im saying is law. this is a true confession of a life learned lesson that i was sent here to share with you all. if everyone put contribute to "change", then we (the united states), would be out of this recession so fast, you wouldn't even believe it. well its my time to leave because im still in school, and i have to get back with my work. i just wanted to say that.

Mr. S. Johnson of GA 12:24PM April 01, 2009

Every news I read is filled with negative comments about Obama and people demanding the so promised change. Is like they've been brain washed and totally forgot the past 8 years. He's gotten into a situation that is pretty much impossible to solve. We have to remember that he didn't make that happen. He's trying to do whatever possible to change the course of the country. Common! If it took Bush 8 devastating years of sucking up our pockets and overspending in war, don't expect Obama to solve it in a couple of month. Think about it realistically and with common sense and you'll see that none of the people that ran for presidency nor any other president from the past would've been able to solve this.

This is something that is going to take time in term of years. People need to stop the whining. Is counterproductive and it doesn't solve anything. Just try to concentrate on being positive no matter what. Stop the verbal violence and narrow thinking. You're not getting anything out of making a stupid point or seeking verbal vengeance over every little step the president takes. Look at the past and see that you've never been in charge of the country. Remember "The Decider". What makes you think It'll be different this time.

At least this president is doing something different. That's why people don't like him. That's why you don't like him. Because you were looking for "magical" change. He's going for different ideas. The truth is that a lot of people don't like change, period, and some other are not willing to go through what's necesary to obtain a change. This country has had it way worst before. The only difference, I guess, is that people were more reality oriented and not so much luxury oriented.

Is the people that need to change. We are the country. We have to lead it. We only have one person that represents us. But is our daily attitude that's really bringing this country down.

If you want change, change yourself.

Mr. E of TX 6:32PM March 24, 2009

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