January 7, 2009
Obama and the Press: When Will the Honeymoon End?
James Kelly
Managing Editor, Time, Inc., Professor of Journalism, Princeton
Minutes of the 14th Meeting of the 67th Year
At 11:15 AM at the Friend Center, President George Hansen called to order the fourteenth meeting of the 67th year of the Old Guard of Princeton following a hospitality hour. Don Edwards led us in the invocation. The minutes of the previous meeting were read by Jerry Berkelhammer. Seven guests were introduced: Ann Walker, George and Deborah Bradley by Bill Walker. Shirley Jones by Chan Jones, Barbara Graham by Rosemary O'Brien, Happy Wallace by Jack Wallace, and Ralph Rubano. Three new members, Dean Chace, M. David Egger, and Lawrence Pervin were also introduced. Moments of silence were held to honor Edgar Van Zandt who passed away on December 25th. Bruno Walmsley demonstrated how to link our websites to Wikipedia, and our historian James Ferry was recognized for having ferreted out the lecture titles for the 1959 winter session from the records collected by the Princeton Historical Society.
Landon Jones introduced our speaker, James Kelly, a Princeton alumni who served as Managing Editor of Time from January 2001 to May 2006, and now is a Visiting Professor of Journalism at Princeton, teaching a course which he had taken here before his graduation here in 1977. When asked to speak at the Old Guard some months ago, he readily agreed, imagining the occasion as an evening gathering in the Tap Room, everyone sitting around, drinking port and settling the issues of the day. Well, this honeymoon version of an Old Guard meeting doesn't quite correspond to reality. He had to get up early to get here for the morning meeting, and upon arriving, he realized that he did not bring a tie. As a matter of fact he doesn't own a tie. We are all very good at envisioning pleasant, even ideal possibilities for special occasions. His topic was "Obama and the Press; When Will the Honeymoon End?"
He began by reviewing the press's courtship of Obama observing that the press loves an underdog especially in a presidential primary. Not all underdogs are created equal. An underdog needs three things: the patience to court the press one on one, an ability to cast himself as a match up politician, and the capacity to polarize the front runner, especially if he or she is clearly considered a shoo-in for the nomination. Obama clearly had all three. Additionally, he had ways of standing out from all the other candidates. Everyone remembered his brilliant and powerful speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. As one looked at the line-up of candidates in the first debates, he stood out both physically (obviously) and experientially in standing for change. The word spread to journalists that they should look at Obama's books, clearly written by him. His first, "Dreams from My Father '', a story of race and inheritance, published in 1995, well before his active political commitments, is a moving beautifully-crafted memoir of self- discovering confronting the most serious questions of identity, race and class. His more recent book, "The Audacity of Hope", records his thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream, the basis of his subsequent campaign issues. These two best sellers are so well written that they stand out in contrast with books attributed to other candidates like John Edwards, Bill Richardson, and John McCain. No one remembered the names of their books.
Obama is a wonderful speaker when he wants to be, especially with large crowds or one- on-one. He was less effective with small groups in living rooms, which is where John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden excelled. It was the huge crowds Obama attracted in the early days of his campaign that made the press more attentive to him. Most of the candidates kept giving the same stump speeches day after day. Obama varied his speeches, covering different issues and responding to alternative perspectives.
As the race narrowed to Barrack and Hilary the contract between the two campaigns might be described as the best and the worst. Two new strategies for Obama were the web-based solicitations for workers and money, the last of these bringing in unexpected millions in small donations, and the former providing thousands of volunteers, primarily new to campaigning. Hillary depended on large donations and on Democratic party structures for campaign workers. A second Obama strategy was to focus on the state caucuses for nailing down votes, rather than the total election vote in each site. Hillary focused primarily on winning the large states with the large total votes and largest electoral votes. But the small numbers mounted up for Barack. Hilary also suffered from the handicap that Bill did not know how to "swim in the media stream of 2008''. One additional factor involved the crews of each candidate. Barack's crew was exceptionally disciplined and personally committed. There was no internal tension. Hillary’s crew was more complex and experienced but they often coped with tension because they mostly hated each other. They were much better paid than Obama's crew but were much less effective.
When a crisis arises that may involve the candidate, of course the press is eager to uncover something that contradicts any initial denial by the candidate. The Illinois governor's appointment of Roland Barris to Obama's senate seat provided such a crisis. Obama's handling of this was masterful; he did not issue any denial of previous contacts with the governor, but he fully gathered all the facts about his and his staff's contacts with the governor and released the report to the press. What a President really wants is close rapport with the press. Finally Kelly reviewed cartoons and magazine covers and Obama's comments upon them as hype. Obama knows when he is performing and he does not easily lose faith. Many questions followed: on talk radio, the Obama children, Sarah Palin, the withdrawal of Bill Richardson, handing candidates babies to kiss, and much more. President Hansen adjourned the meeting at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
James T. Livingston
Landon Jones introduced our speaker, James Kelly, a Princeton alumni who served as Managing Editor of Time from January 2001 to May 2006, and now is a Visiting Professor of Journalism at Princeton, teaching a course which he had taken here before his graduation here in 1977. When asked to speak at the Old Guard some months ago, he readily agreed, imagining the occasion as an evening gathering in the Tap Room, everyone sitting around, drinking port and settling the issues of the day. Well, this honeymoon version of an Old Guard meeting doesn't quite correspond to reality. He had to get up early to get here for the morning meeting, and upon arriving, he realized that he did not bring a tie. As a matter of fact he doesn't own a tie. We are all very good at envisioning pleasant, even ideal possibilities for special occasions. His topic was "Obama and the Press; When Will the Honeymoon End?"
He began by reviewing the press's courtship of Obama observing that the press loves an underdog especially in a presidential primary. Not all underdogs are created equal. An underdog needs three things: the patience to court the press one on one, an ability to cast himself as a match up politician, and the capacity to polarize the front runner, especially if he or she is clearly considered a shoo-in for the nomination. Obama clearly had all three. Additionally, he had ways of standing out from all the other candidates. Everyone remembered his brilliant and powerful speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. As one looked at the line-up of candidates in the first debates, he stood out both physically (obviously) and experientially in standing for change. The word spread to journalists that they should look at Obama's books, clearly written by him. His first, "Dreams from My Father '', a story of race and inheritance, published in 1995, well before his active political commitments, is a moving beautifully-crafted memoir of self- discovering confronting the most serious questions of identity, race and class. His more recent book, "The Audacity of Hope", records his thoughts on reclaiming the American Dream, the basis of his subsequent campaign issues. These two best sellers are so well written that they stand out in contrast with books attributed to other candidates like John Edwards, Bill Richardson, and John McCain. No one remembered the names of their books.
Obama is a wonderful speaker when he wants to be, especially with large crowds or one- on-one. He was less effective with small groups in living rooms, which is where John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden excelled. It was the huge crowds Obama attracted in the early days of his campaign that made the press more attentive to him. Most of the candidates kept giving the same stump speeches day after day. Obama varied his speeches, covering different issues and responding to alternative perspectives.
As the race narrowed to Barrack and Hilary the contract between the two campaigns might be described as the best and the worst. Two new strategies for Obama were the web-based solicitations for workers and money, the last of these bringing in unexpected millions in small donations, and the former providing thousands of volunteers, primarily new to campaigning. Hillary depended on large donations and on Democratic party structures for campaign workers. A second Obama strategy was to focus on the state caucuses for nailing down votes, rather than the total election vote in each site. Hillary focused primarily on winning the large states with the large total votes and largest electoral votes. But the small numbers mounted up for Barack. Hilary also suffered from the handicap that Bill did not know how to "swim in the media stream of 2008''. One additional factor involved the crews of each candidate. Barack's crew was exceptionally disciplined and personally committed. There was no internal tension. Hillary’s crew was more complex and experienced but they often coped with tension because they mostly hated each other. They were much better paid than Obama's crew but were much less effective.
When a crisis arises that may involve the candidate, of course the press is eager to uncover something that contradicts any initial denial by the candidate. The Illinois governor's appointment of Roland Barris to Obama's senate seat provided such a crisis. Obama's handling of this was masterful; he did not issue any denial of previous contacts with the governor, but he fully gathered all the facts about his and his staff's contacts with the governor and released the report to the press. What a President really wants is close rapport with the press. Finally Kelly reviewed cartoons and magazine covers and Obama's comments upon them as hype. Obama knows when he is performing and he does not easily lose faith. Many questions followed: on talk radio, the Obama children, Sarah Palin, the withdrawal of Bill Richardson, handing candidates babies to kiss, and much more. President Hansen adjourned the meeting at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
James T. Livingston