Chapter 7 in Logic of American Politics on the Presidency explains how presidents over the last century have engaged “in intensive public relations to promote the president’s policies to the voters and thereby induce cooperation from other elected officeholders in Washington.” This is known as “Going Public”, and the strategy can be clearly seen as far back as President Theodore Roosevelt who spoke of using the “bully pulpit” to rally public support.
A recent article from Politico makes the case that the current Obama Administration has taken the practice a step further by utilizing new technologies and social networks.
“One authentically new technique pioneered by the Obama White House is extensive government creation of content (photos of the president, videos of White House officials, blog posts written by Obama aides), which can then be instantly released to the masses through social media. They often include footage unavailable to the press….[A White House press secretary went on to say] ‘The goal is not to satisfy the requester, but doing what is necessary to get into people’s homes and communicate your agenda to the American people.’”
This particular article is less focused on the Obama Administration’s going public for specific pieces of legislation. Rather the attention is paid to how the President is increasingly less reliant on using the White House press corps to disseminate his message. In the past when Presidents went public to turn the tides of legislativ debate they needed to hold press conferences or public rallies. In order for this to be effective the press corp covering the President had to relay the news event to the public in a manner reflecting the President’s aims. With new technologies the Obama Administration can more effectively circumvent the tough questions good reporters might ask by spreading their message via different channels that go directly to the American public.
One clear example raised in the article is how the Administration selectively releases photos taken by its own photographer to reinforce the President’s message (e.g. not a radical on gun policy, engaging the business community during the recent tax debate). Another new technology exploited by the current Administration is its large committed volunteer list. Fitting directly into the argument that going public continues to be a key strategy in the 21st century, President Obama’s reelection organization (Organizing For America) was retooled (Organizing for Action) to directly support his legislative priorities. Rather than relying on the media to report on the President’s activities and hope this spurs supporters into action, the modern White House can reach out to its most likely supporters directly.
Logic of the News 