Many people take advantage of a fine Sunday in September to tour Washington, but not like President Obama. He is planning to embark on a whirlwind pundit tour, hitting the Sunday gabfests on NBC, CBS and ABC, and tossing in visits to CNN and Univision. Not on the tour bus schedule: Fox.
This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC, Meet the Press on NBC, and Face the Nation on CBS are the regularly-scheduled programs on the tour; the other two stops will be for interviews.
It is not uncommon for an in demand newsmaker to hit the three network programs on Obama’s schedule, but a five-stop television whirlwind is thought to be a new record for a president.
According to the New York Times, by the end of the day Obama will have participated in 114 interviews since being sworn in, compared to 37 for the reticent George W. Bush at a similar point in his tenure, and surprisingly, only 41 for the more loquacious Bill Clinton.
The next day will find Obama on The Late Show with David Letterman (see related story).
RBR/TVBR observation: Pundits are sure to start speculating on whether or not Obama is making himself too visible. Odds are, though, that he will help boost viewership of these particular programs, and the networks should be thrilled that he’s going onto regularly scheduled programming rather than forcing primetime preemptions.
