Fresh Politics, New Media

In case you haven't seen it, here's the video of President Barack Obama's appearance with Zack Galifianakis on his Funny or Die web series, Between Two Ferns: Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama from President Barack Obama Folks can argue about the quality of the humor present in the clip. I personally found key snippets like the reference to North Ikea or drones funny, but it's hard to deny the fact that the clip has been viewed 12 million times in just one short 24-hour period or the level of meta-coverage for the piece as a wide range of news outlets including The New York Times , The Washington Post , and even the PBS News Hour have covered the President's effort to inject humor into his marketing of the Affordable Care Act. The video itself was the leading source of visits to healthcare.gov yesterday according to an update from The Washington Post . Whether the video will actually lead to additional sign-ups by those in...

Ever wonder about the impact of those political parody videos you were watching during the 2012 Election cycle? While you might have found it funny to see Barack Obama or Mitt Romney made fun of, were others finding these things funny as well? Was anybody else watching? A new article I just published in Human Communication Research addresses these questions and more by applying the disposition theory of humor to the study of both political parody appreciation and the effects of humor exposure. First, a little background: The Pew Research Center reports that 55% of all registered voters went online during the 2012 Election cycle to watch political video . 37% watched humorous or parody videos dealing with political issues. So yes, you weren't the only one watching those YouTube clips. The research featured in the HCR article is based on an experimental study that asked subjects to watch one of three sets of videos: a set that featured Democratic-directed humor, one set that inc...

There's a great article in today's New York Times about the influence of SNL during a competitive election season. As we've been learning in my TSEM class(Popular Culture and Politics: Comedy, Entertainment, Celebrity, and Democracy) this semester, journalists and the public alike look to the cast of SNL to offer their parody version of each general election debate. Parody is a reinterpretation of an original text -- a mockery that is easier to understand if you're familiar with the original event or script. According to the SNL writing team, this past Wednesday's debate failed to offer genuine comic inspiration. From the NYT article: "But the debate itself turned out to be a challenge. There were no big gaffes or obvious springboards for comedy. Instead, the first debate of this election offered up a blizzard of policy details and a lackluster performance from President Obama. At home Wednesday night, Seth Meyers, one of the show’s head writers, watch...

I'm happy to report that I've published a new piece of research in the latest issue of the British Journal, Celebrity Studies . The article, originally a part of my dissertation, examines the influence of celebrity issue advocacy messages (both video and text) on political engagement at the issue level. This new research emphasis on celebrity politics represents a new direction for my research on the impact of political entertainment. The case study for the research is Angelina Jolie's involvement with the global refugee crisis and the impact of exposure to her celebrity advocacy efforts vs. exposure to advocacy efforts of an expert on situational involvement, complacency, and apathy toward the refugee issue. The experiment discussed in the article presents some interesting findings about the relationships between receptivity toward celebrity politics and apathy and complacency, and the relationships between situational involvement on the issue and political disaffection....

Apologies for the lack of recent posts, but here's a really great political comedy clip. Check out Barack Obama slow jamming the news on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (from Tuesday's broadcast). The Barack Obama slow jam was followed by an interview with Jimmy Fallon. The interview focused a bit on politics but primarily allowed Obama to appear as the cooler candidate for President (at least when compared with Mitt Romney). Jon Stewart rehashed the Obama slow jam on last night's episode of The Daily Show. In fact, Obama's appearance has drawn a considerable amount of attention from traditional and new media outlets -- it serves as the latest political comedy moment. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Endless Suffrage 2012 - The End of the Beginning's Middle www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook The general consensus is that Obama did a  pretty good job ...

Here's a great "picture of the day." It was featured in the print edition of today's New York Times  in the National section. Look at Obama's excitement over the marshmallow launcher. What a cool science fair project! If only I could have made a marshmallow launcher back in my day. And for more on the Obama administration's plan to promote STEM education, check out this post on the NYT's blog, The Caucus.

President Obama continues to "evolve" with respect to his stance on same-sex marriage. In recent months, he's repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, instructed the Justice Department not to defend DOMA, and supported the statements of surrogates like Hillary Clinton and others who are championing the cause of gay rights, in this case on an international stage. Whether Obama shows his support for same-sex marriage before the November 2012 election remains to be seen, yet speculation abounds. While recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage , it may be more prudent for Obama to wait until 2013 to reach "total evolution." Much of this will of course depend on how his poll numbers look among key groups of swing voters. In the meantime, look for federal agencies and cabinet officials to pick up the slack and champion a more inclusive outlook.

Jason Zinoman offered an interesting critique of presidential caricatures on SNL in yesterday's NYTimes. According to Zinoman, Armisen has less to offer in his portrayal of Obama than Carvey did with Bush I or even Will Ferrell with Bush II. One reason for the critique of Armisen's portrayal -- Obama gives comedians less to "work with" than his predecessors. He just doesn't say that many funny things or have that many compelling gestures. Despite Armisen's less than hilarious version of Obama, Saturday Night Live still presents some very important political satire and is poised to play a pivotal role in the 2012 election. In 2008, Tina Fey's version of Sarah Palin grabbed more attention (especially virally) than the actual Vice Presidential debate. Interestingly, Zinoman mentions the importance of Saturday Night Live as a venue for politicians -- making appearances in an attempt to charm voters with some self-ridicule or self-directed humor. My own r...

Emerging research by Cornell University sociologists (set to be published in the journal, Science ) tracks the mood of Twitter users over time. Analyzing a large corpus of tweets, the researchers found that patterns in mood follow a general rhythm across cultures and countries. The highlight of the study was published in an article in this week's  New York Times: "Drawing on messages posted by more than two million people in 84 countries, researchers discovered that the emotional tone of people’s messages followed a similar pattern not only through the day but also through the week and the changing seasons. The new analysis suggests that our moods are driven in part by a shared underlying biological rhythm that transcends culture and environment." The study offers a true analysis of mood patterns using text analysis -- a growing area of interdisciplinary research that has computer scientists, social scientists, and communication researchers working collaboratively ...

Jon Stewart's mug graces the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone.  Highlights from the interview with Stewart are available on the Rolling Stone web site along with a fun gallery of behind the scenes photos .  For those who need even more Stewart, check out this video segment with Rolling Stone Executive Editor Eric Bates: Some highlights from the Rolling Stone interview: Stewart says that the Daily Show has a lot in common with Fox News. "We are both reactions to the news and to government," he says. "We're both expressions of dissatisfaction. Obama has been a disappointment to Stewart. "He ran on this idea that the system and the methodology are corrupt," he says. "It felt like the country was upset enough that he had the momentum needed to re-evaluate how business is done. Instead, when he got elected, he acted as though the system is so entrenched that it has to be managed rather than – I don't want to say decim...

Jon Stewart kicked off a new week of The Daily Show  with a strong start. Here's a very funny opening segment on the Obama jobs speech. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook My favorite part of the segment is the focus on the "awesome cutaways to uncomfortable Republicans." John McCain and Mitch McConnell do look pretty uncomfortable, right?

In Thursday's New York Times , Nate Silver discusses two fundamental qualities voters look for when evaluating candidates in a presidential primary contest: (1) electability and (2) a candidate who will promote an agreeable (in this case conservative Republican) policy agenda. Often times, it's electability that matters most to primary voters (aka the party faithful) because they seek a candidate who can ultimately win in a general election. As Silver notes, Perry does well in promoting a conservative agenda but is lacking when it comes to perceptions of electability. Romney on the other hand may not appeal to the policy preferences of more conservative Republican voters but he does give off an air of electability when it comes time to think about the general election. The importance of electability was especially evident during the 2004 Democratic primary. In the early days of the primary I worked with a team of pollsters hired by a candidate who was promoting a very cred...

President Obama and his family have plans to vacation on Martha's Vineyard later in the month. Some have questioned whether the President should take a vacation while the country is experiencing such economic uncertainty. I offered some commentary on Obama's pending vacation for an article in the Christian Science Monitor  today. The bottom line: Obama should go on vacation ... perhaps it's the American public who needs a vacation from Congress and all things Washington?! In keeping with the theme of this post, I too am about to head off on vacation. See you at the end of the month. In the meantime, here's a picture from Obama's vacation on Martha's Vineyard last summer. I'm glad to see he's wearing a helmet.

Stanley Greenberg offers a very insightful column in the Sunday Review section of today's New York Times . Greenberg, Bill Clinton's former pollster and principal of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, offers some useful suggestions for Democrats seeking to regain the faith and support of voters.  Recent polls show that the majority of Americans support President Obama, the Senate Democrats, and their efforts to handle the debt ceiling debacle. Moreover, voters are disappointed by the sentiments of Speaker Boehner and House Republicans and their support of proposals like "Cut, Cap, and Balance."  Unfortunately, even the voters who have a pretty good understanding of the ins and outs of the debt ceiling debate have short-term memories. By the time November 2012 rolls around, Obama and the Democrats' actions will seem like relics of the past, especially if unemployment continues to hover around 9%.  What Democrats need to do is follow Greenberg's advice: If th...

This weekend, New York State will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- this Sunday to be precise. Many New York judges have volunteered to work on Sunday in order to expedite the issuing of marriage licenses according to a story in last week's New York Times . An Op-Ed column by Frank Bruni in today's New York Times  highlights how the new law will change the lives of one New York City family. The story about  dads Jonathan Mintz and John Feinblatt and daughters Maeve and Georgia is heartwarming. The piece emphasizes the personal nature of the issue  -- an angle that proved important during the debate over the bill's passage in New York last month.  In fact, some would argue that the framing of the same-sex marriage debate has shifted. News coverage focuses less on moral and religious objections to same-sex marriage and instead emphasizes concerns about equality and civil rights and the influence of personal and social contact on public opinion....

One of the best parts of attending last week's Twitter Town Hall at the White House -- shaking the President's hand. That's me in the black and green!

Today I was one of about 30 "tweeps" in the audience at President Barack Obama's Twitter Town Hall held in the East Room of The White House. For those of you who don't know, the "tweeps" were asked to attend and chronicle the event on Twitter. The session was moderated by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey  and featured questions from average Americans, politicians, and journalists alike -- all that were submitted on Twitter using the #askobama hashtag. My fellow tweeps represented a diverse group -- from PR professionals to public school teachers to bloggers to academics to college students. For my detailed impressions of the event, please check out my live tweets from the session. And for some news on the event itself, here's a summary from Politico . One of the coolest parts (besides shaking the President's hand) was being a part of the audience to watch as Obama sent the first "presidential tweet." Here's a video of this historic occa...

While audience members won't be able to ask questions at tomorrow's Townhall/Tweet-Up, I did take the time to post some questions about the economy and jobs on Twitter using the #askObama hashtag. While I have questions about other issues besides the economy and jobs (same-sex marriage, politics of science, foreign policy, etc.), I'm trying to stay on topic. Here are my questions. It's actually a fun exercise. Try posting your own on Twitter. Just don't forget to add #askObama . amybree   Amy Bree Becker   How do we reform public pensions without going back on promises made to retirees and those already in the system?  # AskObama 3 hours ago   Favorite   Reply   Delete amybree   Amy Bree Becker   How do we educate the new generation and also potentially re-train Boomers for opportunities in science and technology?  # AskObama 3 hours ago   amybree   Amy Bree Becker   How do we stimulate the economy while balancing the ne...