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One very important part of the American presidency is the ability to “dominate the news cycle”, meaning that when the president wants to do something that the White House considers important, he can virtually take over the news for a given period of time. In effect, it has become “government by television” meaning that a president uses his ability to take over the news cycle to get the things he wants by influencing public opinion and bending things in his direction. Equally important, the president can drown out the voices of others, both in Congress and around the country.
This year’s presidential nomination race started very early and it has kept going at a white hot level. With the multiple Republican debates and the many other things going on (which candidate is up, which isne about to quit, which one made a mistake today) the Republican contest has taken on the aspect of being almost as important as the presidency itself. It seems we have forgotten that these men are running for office, not occupying it.
In times past, it didn’t happen this way. In the year before a presidential race, almost nothing was heard from the candidates and their staffs. Certainly, campaigns did not start dominating the news during the year before the first primaries. As a result, a president was more or less free to set the national agenda and let the rest of the world react to his direction.
Obama, in contrast, had less than two years of his presidency to govern without attention being focused on his opposition. The Republican victories of 2010 changed all of that overnight. Suddenly, the big story switched from having a young president with African-American heritage to this: “What will the Republicans do now?” The Republicans on Capitol Hill, intent on disruption and compromising on nothing, have also found a way to dominate the news themselves, but it is very much a mixed blessing for them, because, clearly, the public does not approve. On recent poll shows 82% of the public, in fact, believe Congress is doing a poor job.
Two years is a very short time to have a presidency uninterrupted by a near constant focus on the opposition. By moving up the presidential campaign, the television networks and major newspapers have, in effect, all but declared the Obama presidency over. Now, they would protest that they have done nothing of the sort, but putting so much time and attention on those who are against Obama that they have, unwittingly perhaps, undermined his presidency with a kind of pre-mature switch a joint presidency shared with all the Republicans running for office. Obama has to bob and weave to get the attention that normally goes to the presidency by default.
What can be done? The first thing is to realize that American campaigns have gotten too long and too costly, in more ways than one. Nations like England strictly limit campaigns to a set period, which probably wouldn’t work here, but it is worth noting and perhaps considering. Putting some sort of limit on what seems to be an endless effort would not be a radical step and, if it were done, it would have to be on a mutually agreed basis with both political parties and potential nominees.
Another thing that could be done is for the major newspapers and television networks to set some of their own reasonable limits about how much they will cover. After a 40 year+ campaign against the national media for “bias”, the television networks now bend over backwards trying to be fair, or nice, to the Republicans, the result of which is to give them far too much unchallenged airtime. The Republican victories of 2010 also put the networks on notice that Obama could lose the presidency in 2012, so they stepped up their coverage accordingly, but without, it seems, any sense of restraint.
Some balance needs to be restored between the attention given to a sitting president and the people who want to take the job away. Further, after all this coverage, it seems unlikely that the voters are much better off at all in terms of knowledge of the candidates. What is being hurt is our system of government and a sense of fairness to the person who was elected to represent the nation, regardless of party. Television, and news in general, has become a vitally important part of the modern presidency. By taking attention away from Obama they weaken his ability to govern and increase the chances that the Republicans will win back the White House. The same forces would apply to a Republican in the office, so regardless of one’s political views, this is nothing to celebrate.
Doug Terr7, 1.18.12
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