All Three Networks Agree: Obama Sounded ‘Reaganesque’ in State of the Union
During coverage of President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, all three broadcast networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, managed to compare the tone of the speech to that of Ronald Reagan. Reporters and pundits uniformly praised the supposed optimism of Obama. [ Audio available here ] On CBS, Evening News anchor Katie Couric touted how political analyst Jeff Greenfield thought it was “down right Reaganesque” and that “some” have argued “this could be his Reagan moment.” Greenfield himself declared: “He kept talking about winning the future and that was always a big theme about Reagan….the constant reiteration of optimism….he was clearly striking rhetorical notes that reminded me of Mr. Reagan.” View video below Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams noted how “The President [is] very sensitive lately, highly bothered by any kind of defeatism…that's part of what he went after tonight.” Correspondent Andrea Mitchell chimed in: “That's exactly what he was trying to get after and I think he was trying to invoke the optimism, the can-do spirit that brings to mind Ronald Reagan in these settings.” As Brent Baker earlier reported on NewsBusters, ABC This Week host Christiane Amanpour proclaimed that Obama's address was “full of sunny optimism, very Reaganesque, on and on about American exceptionalism in many, many instances and full of Kennedyesque encouragement to break a new frontier. That Sputnik moment was remarkable.” Later in the CBS coverage, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer reiterated the Reagan comparison: “[Obama's] Reagan moment was when he made that speech in Tucson. But I think he kind of built on that tonight. I thought this speech was something of an extension of that speech.” Greenfield replied: “I think you're totally right.” It got to the point where even Couric wanted to move on to talk about the substance of the speech: “I don't mean to rain on your parade in terms of how eloquent this speech was, but really, realistically, [political analyst] John Dickerson, let me ask you, while these guys are kvelling over the President. I mean, how long will this last?” [According to Merriam-Webster.com , 'kvelling' is a Yiddish term meaning: "to be extraordinarily proud." In fact, this is the example of the word's usage that is provided: "Proud grandparents who kvell over every thing that their precious little darlings do."]
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on January 26, 2011. Filed under