OVEREXPOSURE - AT 11:30 P.M. ET:  Although health care is a critical issue for most Americans, the president's press conference last night was not exactly in American Idol territory:

In a continued push for congressional support of health care reform President Obama held his fourth prime time press conference on Wednesday July 22, 2009. The conference was carried live from 8:00PM to approximately 9:00PM on 11 networks. The sum of average audience for those networks was 24,682,519 viewers and had a combined household rating of 16.3. The networks carrying the press conference were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision*, Telemundo*, BBC-A, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.
Viewing to last night’s press conference was down 14% from his April 29 press conference and down 50% from his first primetime conference on February 9.

COMMENT:  Maybe next time there could be an opening act - the comedy stylings of Al Franken, the unintended comedy of Joe Biden, Chris Matthews singing of a tingle up his leg.  You know, it might revive things.

In the meantime, the president might reflect on the fact that Americans are much more intelligent and informed than he thinks.  His rhetorical style may be superior, but it doesn't make up for the lack of substance we saw last night.  There's simply a point when even the best salesman has to have a good product to sell.

July 23, 2009