President Barack Obama made an appearance on the computers and phone screens of people across the country on Feb. 12 as star of the BuzzFeed video “Things Everybody Does But Doesn’t Talk About.”
In the video, the president psyches himself up in the mirror, pretends to shoot hoops in the Oval Office and even takes pictures using a selfie stick. The point? Raising awareness about the Feb. 15 deadline to sign up for 2015 health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
However, that’s not the point many people chose to take from the video, instead using it as an opportunity to condemn the president. One BuzzFeed commenter said the president is “making himself and the rest of us look weak in the eyes of the world,” and another wishes he would “take this time to do his job and not do foolishness like this.” One even declares, “This man disgusts me. He needs to step up to the plate and be a real president.”
Negative comments say the video and the president is stupid, silly and embarrassing abound. Critics seem to believe the BuzzFeed video somehow proves that Obama isn’t doing his job properly.
While the president’s chosen method of revealing this information may be unconventional, it’s not unprofessional or embarrassing. Rather, it’s colloquial. Obama clearly had a target audience in mind: a younger generation that is known for being politically disengaged. Through this video, Obama is doing his job.
One of the jobs of any politician is to communicate with his or her constituency in order to represent the people and to make sure potential voters have the information they need to make informed decisions during the voting process and in their everyday lives. Participatory democracy doesn’t work if a country’s citizens aren’t consuming the information they need to participate.
As president, Obama needs to be able to make responsible decisions that concern issues of great national importance. However, he also needs to be able to understand and be understood by the citizens of the United States. For a generation that communicates and consumes information almost entirely online, this no longer means communicating solely through televised speeches, press conferences and other more traditional forms of mass communication.
The sentiment that Obama’s choice to use BuzzFeed as a political communication tool automatically makes his message irrelevant or silly is flawed; is any form of media that boasts as wide an audience as BuzzFeed irrelevant? Its videos, articles and quizzes are read and shared on social media daily.
Obama wanted to spread the word about the healthcare deadline, and not only did he choose a form of communication that reaches vast numbers of people, he also chose one most likely to reach an audience traditionally in need of health care: young people.
People in this demographic are no longer familiar with the traditional news media. Most of us don’t watch regularly broadcast evening news or even read newspapers. That’s not to say we don’t consume massive amounts of information. But we consume it all online, and until more politicians begin to disseminate information on online platforms young people are comfortable with, we aren’t likely to begin being politically engaged.
Regardless of one’s personal feelings about BuzzFeed as a news source or whether taking a selfie in the Oval Office is an appropriate act for the president, one has to realize that Obama is making an attempt to reach out to the young people of this country using a medium they consume on a daily basis.
The future of participatory democracy rides on the youth of this country finding a reason and a way to become more politically engaged, and in reaching out to them in new ways, Obama is trying to start that trend.
Lauren Schaffran can be reached at scha7492@stthomas.edu.
Sorry to disagree with your flawed reasoning. Well, while you may be right that the young use BuzzFeed as a news source, it is their refusal of the young to watch legitimate news sources that contribute to their ignorance of important and necessary information. While the President’s actions on BuzzFeed may have been seen by many of the young, it also did a massive disservice to the office of the President and his integrity in the many other countries that must respect him, his office and this country. There is little if anything to be gained by making the President, his office and this country the laughing stock of the world in our efforts to deal effectively and intellectually with world terrorism and other important agendas. If he deems this media important to communicate with the young, then it should have been done with the common respect that his office and this country demands from all of its citizens and the world.
Mr. Houck,
President Obama actually is one of the more highly regarded presidents in recent history by foreign nations. A CNN article (I’m hoping this qualifies as one of your “legitimate” news sources that us young folk just NEVER read) from July of 2014 reports Pew Research Center findings that say, “In 2008, the year George W. Bush left office, a median of just 19 percent in 20 nations had confidence in Bush’s handling of world affairs, compared with 57 percent that still have confidence in Obama in those same countries.” I think having a president that can relate with the people, and with the younger generation, is a great thing. I’m not too worried about a humorous BuzzFeed video undermining the respect of the Presidency.
Ahhh Dick! It sounds like you need to lighten up. First, I don’t think you can reasonably say that young people refuse to watch legitimate news sources. Just because younger generations aren’t sitting down for the nightly news on broadcast television doesn’t mean we are ignorant. I’m inclined to think that younger generations have a better grasp of reality by hearing news through multiple mediums than those stuck in the days of Walter Cronkite telling them, “And that’s the way it was.” Also, I doubt the rest of the world cares at all whether the POTUS appears in a short viral video aimed at young Americans. In terms of world terrorism, I think its pretty outlandish to say a selfie stick and a few jump shots has undermined our efforts for peace. The POTUS, first and foremost, is a human being and can’t possibly be expected to remain some stagnant, ever-serious figure. In fact we laugh at world leaders who try and act like this (i.e. Kim “I’m serious you guys!” Jong-un and Shirtless Horseback Rider Vladimir Putin). The answer at the end of the video to the President’s question, “Can I live?” is perfect. “You do you.” I agree with that sentiment Mr. President. Keep on keepin’ on.
Great work Lauren, keep on writing opinions!
Well, I did write this opinion expecting to receive such ones in opposition. As a senior, I have experience in things that the young haven’t even thought of yet. But then, the young are not ones who value the experiences of the old. Good leaders are responsible for the presentation, lifting and preservation of the highest in moral values to those who are governed. There is no benefit to bringing all down to the lowest level of moral values. This administration has challenged many if not all of the moral values of our people and country, from endorsing abortion, the traditional understanding of marriage, religious freedom, euthanasia, and now assisted suicide. The BuzzFeed incident is only the tip of the iceberg in the garnered disrespect for the leader of our country by thinking people.