“Celebrity,” redux

September 18, 2009

House Republicans are resurrecting the ’08 anti-Obama slogan “celebrity” to ridicule his three-day broadcast blitz: ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Univision, and Letterman.

Flashback: In June ’08, McCain strategist Rick Davis wrote this ahead of Obama’s controversial pre-election Europe jaunt: “Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, comparable to Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.”

The NRCC’s Ken Spain, in an email this morning, echoes: “Celebrity Sunday is almost upon us and while many will have no choice but to tune in, the numbers continue to show that people are tuning the president out.”

Eric Cantor’s Brad Dayspring: “‘Celebrity Sunday’ is quickly approaching, and the President is no doubt hoping to spend more time lecturing on health care than answering questions about his decision to abandon important security commitments to key allies like Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel.”

The celebrity tag worked for a little while in the early fall, but it fizzled. And at first blush, it seems sort of dopey to slap the label on a sitting POTUS — who is, after all, the most famous man in the world by default. But the Republicans are groping, in fits and starts, towards a more resonant attack, as Mark Liebovich touches on today: That Obama’s omnipresence is verging on overexposure, that he risks becoming a pitchman instead of prophet, Eric Estrada instead of FDR.

Spain says: “He is a less popular salesman with an even less popular product to sell.”

On the other hand, all exposures weren’t created equal. A less explored point, to me, is the difference between Obama the speechmaker and Obama the talk show guest. He seems to do a lot better — and gets a bigger bounce — when he does big showstopper speeches like the health care joint session than when he does one of these drowsy, how’s-the-new-doggie sit-downs with Steve Kroft or Leno. The small screen makes him smaller and his audience sleepier.

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