President Obama just can't win.
Last week, the president announced he would reveal his jobs plan in a joint-session to Congress on Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m., the same time a Republican presidential candidate debate was scheduled to take place. The GOP demanded Obama reschedule. Republicans invoked the debate's ill host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, to push their point. Obama proposed a new time, but after all the drama, House Speaker John Boehner refused his suggestion, forcing the White House to push Obama's speech to primetime Thursday in direct competition with the Packers-Saints game.
For station owners, the responsible and respectful decision in this conflict seems obvious: Air the president's speech until it concludes, then switch feeds to the Packers game. The White House has even promised the speech will only last 30 minutes, meaning only the meaningless pre-game programming will be interrupted. In spite of this, Joe Poss, the manager of the Green Bay affiliate for NBC, decided last week to air the Packers coverage, relegating Obama's job speech to a sister station.
Of course, this decision doesn't mean the president's speech won't be available; all other networks will broadcast it. One station's decision doesn't have much too much impact. That being said, Mr. Poss' decision sets a distasteful precedent, one that disrespects the presidency and Green Bay residents.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 13,000 Green Bay residents are unemployed. For these citizens, people who have felt the recession more than most, the announcement of a potential jobs plan is vitally important.
If every network decided not to air the speech in lieu of highly rated primetime programming, how would these individuals feel? Like second class-citizens, I would guess.
Perhaps the unemployed would assume their livelihoods to be secondary to the entertainment of the community. If this is the case, it should not be. The country's unemployment rate is over 9 percent, and it's not expected to get any lower with the next three years. At times like these, nothing should preempt a speech by the president about job creation.
Furthermore, this decision poses the question of why the presidency has become so devalued in American culture. Why does Obama have to fight for airtime to make pertinent announcements? I have a hard time imagining President Franklin Roosevelt struggling with radio stations to broadcast one of his ""fireside chats."" Imagine the public outcry if Roosevelt's WWII updates weren't broadcast on local stations. Now it seems like the public could care less what the president has to say.
Granted, FDR's addresses took place in a technologically smaller world that was facing undoubtedly greater and more imminent threats, but it seems the interest the public has in listening to public servants is long gone.
I would like to believe network heads are making these choices, but maybe these executives are just giving people what they want.
The United States' political environment is unquestionably poisonous, but has our nation become so callous and indifferent towards our leaders that we would rather watch a football game than hear about our leader's plan for economic recovery? I hope not, because if that's the case, the United States' problems run deeper than television scheduling conflict.
This decision also relates to President Obama at a personal level. The president is facing increasingly less respect. He is a leader in a nation where it seems that the entire opposing party refuses to listen to anything he has to say but instead waits for him to leave office. He faces conflict with many conservatives who filter their knowledge of his policies through Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And perhaps most discouraging of all, a small but vocal population refused his legitimacy as a United States citizen for the first half of his term. It is easy to see that the president has plenty of barriers blocking his communication with the American people.
I know Joe Poss' choice to not run Obama's speech was made for monetary rather than political reasons. Regardless, it is a shame that his decision is making him one more communication barrier between the American people and their president.
Half of the country already hates this man, Mr. Poss; at least let the other half hear what he has to say.
Ryan Waal is a sophomore majoring in English. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
