ODDEST. MEDIA STRATEGY. EVER…. Try as I might, I just don’t understand how Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) thinks. Today, the scandal-plagued conservative complained that President Obama, who’s personally visited the Gulf Coast four times since the oil spill crisis began in April, hasn’t been back to the region in a month.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, Vitter said the president is trying move the Gulf oil spill out of the media spotlight by not returning to the region to oversee cleanup operations. The Louisiana senator said that move by Obama was politically motivated.
“I think he has tried to deal with this problem politically by not coming back and moving it off the front page,” Vitter said.
I’m trying to understand the logic here. The president visited the region four times as the disaster grew more devastating. Was this part of a White House media strategy to get the story onto the front page?
Obama’s last visit to the region was one month ago today, and since that time, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, and members of the cabinet have all gone to the Gulf Coast. Is this evidence, in Vitter’s mind, of an administration that’s deliberately trying to ignore the region?
Thanks to the developments of the last few days, the wellhead is contained, and oil is no longer gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Vitter believes the president visited Maine so there’d be less media coverage of the good news?
If there’s a coherence to Vitter’s whining, I don’t see it.
