[Infowarrior] - OT: 'Lost' v. Obama's SOTU

[Richard Forno]

(Disclosure:  I've never seen 'Lost')


‘Lost’ episode: Did couch potatoes really bump Obama speech?
The White House backed down on the date of Obama's State of the Union  
address when ‘Lost’ fans tweeted their outrage. Western civilization  
and American politics survived.

http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/272888

By Patrik Jonsson Staff writer
posted January 9, 2010 at 12:31 pm EST

Atlanta —
The decision by the White House Friday to not preempt the season  
premiere of the psychedelic crash-drama “Lost” for the State of the  
Union address reveals the surprising power of that much ridiculed  
stereotype: the American couch potato.

Give ‘em a Twitter account, and the President just better back off  
that remote.

“OBAMA BACKED DOWN!!!! Groundhog Day is OURS!!!!!!! (God Bless  
America),” wrote one “Lost” producer on Twitter.

Usually presidents, even this one, will steamroll regularly scheduled  
programming, taking over, as Obama did, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on  
Dec. 1 to announce his new Afghanistan policy. (To the chagrin of some.)

But Charlie Brown apparently can’t hold a candle to Jack, Sawyer and Co.

The hugely popular ABC drama involves a group of mostly good-looking  
plane crash survivors who travel through time via a magnetic island –  
or something like that. It is gripping TV, if a bit overbearing and  
unbelievable (a smoke monster?) It has enough mysteries (“Obama in a  
Dharma jumpsuit!” one fan tweeted hopefully, referencing the  
mysterious overlord organization that runs the island) and has managed  
to grip the imagination of a war-weary, economy-clobbered nation  
looking for relief.

(The Toronto Star headline this morning is very telling: “When it  
comes to country’s future, Americans would rather be Lost.”)

The State of the Union Address is usually held in January. But the  
White House has signaled it wants to push it back, most likely to make  
sure congressional Democrats have enough time to polish off a  
healthcare reform bill.

But when Feb. 2 popped up as a possible date, Facebook and Twitter fan  
groups revolted. One group, “Americans Against the State of the Union  
Address on the same night as LOST,” got huge traffic, as did the  
Twitter hashmark #NoStateOfUnionFeb2.

Presidents like John Kennedy and Bill Clinton innately harnessed the  
power of television like few others, understanding that TV “changed  
what presidents do and how they do it … and affected how and why  
voters vote and for whom they cast their ballots,” according to an  
essay by the Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Obama, too, is a made-for-TV president, his historic ascent from  
junior senator to White House occupant played out in countless hours  
of primetime news coverage. But polls tell us he’s now in hot water  
with much of his TV constituency. The conclusion for the White House  
was probably a no-brainer: Why rejigger the “Lost” universe more than  
it already is.

Whether a president should worry about preempting a show featuring  
time travel to do that inconsequential little speech called the State  
of the Union can be debated, but the reality cannot: Couch potatoes  
rule.

“I don’t foresee a scenario in which millions of people that hope to  
finally get some conclusion in ’Lost’ are pre-empted by the  
president,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs glibly said Friday,  
then requested with a smile that reporters attribute the quote to a  
“senior administration official.”

In response, ricknroll tweeted: “TV and Twitter now have more power  
than POTUS – Awesome!”

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