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5 theories why Obama is going on 'The View'
The Week ^ | July 27, 2010

Posted on 07/27/2010 7:50:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

President Obama is making history by participating in a daytime talk show. But why "The View"? And why now?

Though no sitting president has ever appeared on a daytime talk show, when Barack Obama tapes "The View" on Wednesday, it will actually be his second visit with Barbara Walters & Co. The last time "The View" ladies welcomed him, during his 2008 presidential campaign, their questions weren't entirely soft-ball. So why is Obama returning now? And is it a good idea? Here are five takes: (Watch Whoopi Goldberg's announcement)

1. The president is doing PR repair after the Shirley Sherrod debacle Obama's decision to do "The View," says David Zurawik in The Baltimore Sun, is a "direct response" to the criticism over "his administration's harsh and abrupt firing of USDA worker [Sherrod]." His mea culpas will be aimed at the "many female viewers of 'The View' who might have been particularly offended" by the firing, and it fits the prototypical Obama pattern: "When the going gets tough, the president goes on TV."

2. It's an inevitable step — why did it take so long? Almost 20 years after populist genius Bill Clinton's seminal saxophone moment on The Arsenio Hall Show, says Jason Cochran in WalletPop, Obama's stop by "The View" shows that our politicians are finally seeing "value in communicating with us where we actually live, in between the ads for groceries and diapers." The real question is: Why haven't other presidents tapped this demographic?

3. Obama knows "The View" audience will give him a no-brainer boost Obama would reach a bigger audience on the "Late Show with David Letterman," says Jessica Grose in Slate's XX Factor, but given his "pretty dismal" approval ratings, "Obama is looking for an easy boost, and he knows he'll get it from Barbara and Co." He's likely noted how "gentle" they were with Vice President Joe Biden in April.

4. Older women vote The specific demographic goldmine here is the show's "huge audience of middle-aged, working class women," says Amy Chozick in The Wall Street Journal. These women (median age: 59) "rarely watch the Sunday news shows," but they "vote in midterm elections in much larger numbers than their male counterparts."

5. It's the economy, stupid It's important to remember that "The View" audience isn't just female, says Dan Amira in New York Magazine. With the midterm elections fast approaching, and the economy "still struggling," Obama could really "use some face time" with both "penny-pinching suburban housewives and channel-flipping unemployed people" of both sexes.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho44; economy; fail; narcissism; obama; shirleysherrod; television; unemployment
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Not to be outdone by Gov. Palin, Obama appears on the View to kick off his “Mama Grungies” tour


61 posted on 07/27/2010 8:36:56 PM PDT by justsaynomore (Eventus stultorum magister)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Because he sucks at everything else.




62 posted on 07/27/2010 8:39:08 PM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Given all his effeminate behavior, he should feel
right at ease with the rest of the girls. He can show
how to throw a baseball like a girl.


63 posted on 07/27/2010 8:42:42 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Dr. Sivana

I keep trying to remember if I’ve ever read of one of Obama’s old girlfriends saying anything about him ... weird. I cannot think of one ... weird. ;-)


64 posted on 07/27/2010 8:46:58 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

To call the blonde a teabagging racist?


65 posted on 07/27/2010 8:50:32 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Pavegunner72

that would prove to be interesting to me


66 posted on 07/27/2010 8:50:59 PM PDT by television is just wrong
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To: Tunehead54

In his supposed autobiography the only girlfriend story mentioned was identical to the primary girlfriend saga of William Ayers’ life. It was all about class issues, and didn’t focus on romance or sex at all. Someone pointed out that the odds of Obama and Ayers having such an eerily similar experience is astronomical.


67 posted on 07/27/2010 8:53:55 PM PDT by Fantasywriter
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To: Pavegunner72

Nice shot! Still laughing, thanks.


68 posted on 07/27/2010 8:58:20 PM PDT by Textide
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t watch daytime talk shows. I’m at work.

I don’t watch Sunday news shows. I’m in church.

I think that my “don’t watch” profile fits that of millions of Americans, including the vast majority of voters—men, women, old, young, rich, poor, well-informed, uninformed, all races and ethnicities.

And I wouldn’t want to see obama anyway. The very sight of him makes me angry. I think that that reaction fits a large and growing number of Americans as well.


69 posted on 07/27/2010 9:00:25 PM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: Honorary Serb

Have you tried buying a recorder?


70 posted on 07/27/2010 9:02:43 PM PDT by whence911 (Here illegally? Go home. Get in line!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"huge audience of middle-aged, working class women,"

As a working female I stopped reading right there.

71 posted on 07/27/2010 9:06:53 PM PDT by Lilpug15 (The Forgotten Man: He works, he votes and he generally prays - but He Always Pays": Sumner)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
He must be wanting Barbara Wawa to tell him, once again, how sexy he is. Or maybe he wants to tell Sherri Shepherd that Shirley Sherrod’s father was NOT lynched by the KKK.
72 posted on 07/27/2010 9:07:51 PM PDT by Razz Barry (Round'em up, send'em home.)
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To: historyrepeatz

Thanks,

I needed a good laugh!


73 posted on 07/27/2010 9:08:59 PM PDT by Jonah Vark (Any 5th grader knows that the Constitution declares the separation of powers. President Obama, get)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

6. Why not? That’s his natural habitat anyway. The real mystery is how did his handlers convinced him to take a grown-up job.


74 posted on 07/27/2010 9:09:22 PM PDT by Moose Burger
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Because he’s gay and he misses hanging around with Fag-hags like those on the view.


75 posted on 07/27/2010 9:09:22 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Obama really wanted to go on Jerry Springer!
Jerry would have pulled out the DNA results to prove who
is Zero’s real father. (It is Malcolm X and that is why the birth certificate is hidden away).


76 posted on 07/27/2010 9:10:48 PM PDT by Undocumented_capitalist (Obama never ran even a hot dog stand but now he is running the entire country?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Two words: knee pads.

Cheers!

77 posted on 07/27/2010 9:14:17 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
After the Lewinski scandal broke, Clinton got VERY selective with his speaking engagements. Only the safest, most supportive venues and scripted softball questions. I think his handlers were afraid the audience would be full of hecklers in stained blue dresses.

Obama's handlers looked at his poll numbers, then had nightmares about protesters with crude-oil-filled supersoakers.

They're thinking Obama's having a crisis of confidence. He needs to hit a home run, not just to motivate his troops but for his own ego.

The View fills the bill perfectly. Hope the girls there have prepared for his visit by bringing extra pairs of dry panties - I know they'll need them afterwards.

78 posted on 07/27/2010 9:16:08 PM PDT by ZOOKER ( Exploring the fine line between cynicism and outright depression)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

To skip the Boy Scout Centennial Jamboree in Washington D.C. Boy Scouts should invite former Bush Presidents.

To promoter fundraising tour.

To get easy questions from Left wing Socialist View Hosts.


79 posted on 07/27/2010 9:22:44 PM PDT by Steelers6
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

To tell you the truth, the whole thing makes no sense to me. I don’t see where he’s going to connect with a single person watching “The Spew” who wouldn’t have voted for him otherwise. So, from a political perspective, what’s the point?

Actually, only a truly pathetic weakling of a President would chose to appear with a pack of completely ignorant and witless morons like Joy Behar, rather than say, a little trip to the lions den on Fox to attempt to slay a dragon or two there. Obama’s appearance with Joy Behar, more than practically anything else he’s done as President, shows what a pathetic little weakling of a human being he truly is.


80 posted on 07/27/2010 9:26:15 PM PDT by catnipman
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