President or TV Celebrity?

Rove, Karl. “The President Risks Getting Stale.” The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2009. Web. October 2, 2009 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574430883099005144.html>.

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In his article in The Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove makes the point that President Obama's appearing on so many Sunday television shows without presenting any new ideas hurt him politically. Rove says that Obama appeared defensive and the fact that he refused to be interviewed by Fox News' Chris Wallace made him seem afraid to be challenged. In his interview with George Stephanopolis of ABC, President Obama denied that his proposed fine for people who do not buy health care insurance is a tax. Stephanopolis pointed out that, according to Webster's Dictionary, the fine does meet the definition of a tax. It became obvious that Obama did not want to call it a tax because he had promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than 250,000 a year. Rove goes on to criticize Obama's answers to Bob Schieffer's questions on Face The Nation. The topics were "waste and abuse" in health care and Obama's idea that insurers and drug companies should pay higher taxes because of their big profits. After offering some of the Republican ideas as alternatives, Rove returns to his main point that Obama's TV appearances are not helping him or his proposed health care plan. Rove says that "this health care plan is not only losing public support on its own merit, it is diminishing Mr. Obama's credibility." Rove also states that ,due to all the exposure, "his (the president's) magic disipates as he becomes less interesting.'

I realize that Mr. Rove was an advisor and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, so I know he is coming from a republican point of view. Even though I am a republican, I do believe his criticisms are accurate. President Obama seems to place too much value on his own celebrity. President Obama thinks that by going on almost every talk show, including David Letterman, he can charm people into supporting his ideas. President Obama is mainly trying to sell his idea for a new health care plain. His answers on the Sunday shows revealed weaknesses in his ideas and his over-exposure may have hurt his popularity. The fact that the polls show that his health care plan is losing public support and that he is becoming less popular indicates that maybe President Obama should spend less time in front of the camera and more time working toward solutions that will work. Republicans and democrats alike agree with this idea about President Obama not spending his time wisely. President Obama should focus more of his time coming up with new ideas for the health care plain in order to make it more agreeable across the nation.