This number explains why Obama made 'selfie stick' video
Why did President Obama agree to make that 鈥渟elfie stick鈥� video? Maybe you鈥檝e seen it 鈥� the one he did with BuzzFeed titled, 鈥淭hings Everybody Does But Doesn鈥檛 Talk About.鈥� In it, the chief executive of the Western world plays air basketball, tries on sunglasses, winks at himself in a dirty mirror, and yes, uses a selfie stick to hold out his phone and take a series of mugging self-portraits.
Plus, when his cookie is too big to fit into his glass of milk, he looks disgusted. 鈥淭hanks, Obama,鈥� he says on the video.
The point of this is to sell the Affordable Care Act, also known as 鈥淥bamacare.鈥� As we wrote Thursday, this year鈥檚 sign-up for the ACA closes on Feb. 15. Mr. Obama is trying to use unconventional marketing to reach the key demographic of young, generally healthy, potential enrollees.
The ACA needs the premiums of these folks to help balance out the expense of covering older, less healthy participants.
But the video鈥檚 controversial. Conservatives say it鈥檚 demeaning to the presidency, or inappropriate. They鈥檙e focusing on the fact that the video appears to have been shot on Tuesday, the same day the White House was dealing with the death of Islamic State hostage Kayla Mueller.
Right-leaning pundit when he first saw the video, he thought it was amusing. But he changed his mind after he learned it was filmed after Obama learned that Ms. Mueller had perished at the hands of the Islamic State.
鈥淭hat makes it truly distasteful,鈥� Mr. Krauthammer said聽in a Fox News appearance.
on her own Fox show.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so tone-deaf and bad taste,鈥� she said.
Obama鈥檚 defenders note that it鈥檚 possible for him to handle more than one subject per day. If terrible news precluded a president from doing anything else for a period of time, the Oval Office would see lots of inactivity.
Obama did issue on Tuesday after Mueller鈥檚 death was confirmed.
Still, why would the White House bother with the BuzzFeed taping? The right has long complained about what it sees as Obama鈥檚 undignified forays into alternative media, such as his interview with YouTube comedian GloZell. The controversy over the selfie-stick video was practically preordained.
We鈥檒l tell you why: 23 million. That鈥檚 the number of Facebook views the video had received as of midday Friday.
That鈥檚 a lot. It鈥檚 more than two days of the total viewership for "NBC Nightly News," to use a Brian Williams-related example. It鈥檚 a number equal to more than 7 percent of the entire US population 鈥� all in a format over which the White House had some measure of control.
Even people who follow the ad industry were impressed by the video鈥檚 popularity.
鈥淣ot bad,鈥� .
The hit status of 鈥渟elfie stick鈥� may indicate the future direction of political messaging, . Digital-only outlets are covering politics more at a time when a fast-rising number of young Americans are getting news only from social media sites. These trends are combining to make the old press release/press briefing model of media management seem creaky, if not obsolete.
The video 鈥渕arks a sea change in the way political campaigns are being run,鈥� writes CNBC鈥檚 Catherine Boyle.
Sheer numbers don鈥檛 equal acceptance of the message, of course. Lots of comments under the BuzzFeed video were critical. The true test of effectiveness will be ACA sign-up numbers.
But skill at social media may now be an important way for politicians to make themselves seem more human, in the way that kissing babies and other tools of personal campaigning have in the past.
