Obama Getting Tons of Collateral Media Coverage

Presidents are kind of like the family dog. They have to pose for so many pictures and video because they are the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

We know the usual suspects for these sessions in the Rose Garden or the Oval Office: the sports team/individual of the week who won some major tournament or championship, the visiting head of state and - of course- the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.

But our overexposed President Obama is getting full 21st century technology media coverage for all kinds of things that have nothing to do with healthcare, the recession or figuring out how one can survive a trip to the recovery.gov website.

We’re less than a week removed from “busted-gate” where the world pondered if President Obama was checking out a passing woman’s “bunky” (that’s the safest term I could conjure up at this point) or did the angle of the picture distort what video shows may have been simply two people passing without noticing the other.

My wife and I disagree on the “busted” moment and I have no plans to pursue a debate that can only end with an elbow to my arm.

I’ll admit it, I jumped all over the fallen teleprompter story on Twitter involving the President during a speech to urban officials. The president’s reliance on teleprompters during speeches has grown in the early months of his administration.

You can debate the finer points of what this use of the teleprompter means about the President. All I know is, I never start a newscast without mine.

Now, there’s the manner of President Obama throwing out the first pitch at the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis Tuesday night. I’ve read that Fox Sports had a tight shot of the President’s windup and toss, but no coverage of whether his pitch was a ball or a strike.

Video from another angle shows the POTUS did get the ball to Albert Pujols without it bouncing, but the Cardinals slugger helped him by setting up in FRONT of the plate.

It was clearly a ball.
Pew Research reports Michael Jackson is the only figure to have nudged Obama from the top of the news agenda for more than a single week since the inauguration.

I wonder if the President needs all this collateral coverage to make sure he ends this week in front of Sonia Sotomayer.