I'm not a television programming genius, but by not airing President Obama's 15-minute speech on immigration tonight, the Big Three TV networks are missing a ratings hit.
The President's move to "shield" at least five million illegal immigrants from deportation has energized Hispanics and Republicans, who are falling over themselves with threats of revenge. The speech should be "appointment TV."
Even by the GOP's "kill all Obama's initiatives" strategy, the party's pushback against his immigration moves has been impressive.
The shelf-life of Mitch McConnell's vow not to shut the government—made in the afterglow of the Democratic election whipping—has not expired. Good old Mitch is back in town.
Republican Senator Tom Coburn warned of violence in the streets. "The country's going to go nuts, because you're going to see it as a move outside the authority of the President and it's going to be a very serious situation," he told USA Today. "You're going to see—hopefully not—but you could see anarchy. You could see violence."
The GOP also has rolled out the old reliable call for Obama's impeachment. A renewed hunt for Obama's birth certificate can't be too far off.
The top brass of the networks say they are not going to broadcast the speech live because they feel it will be too political. Wow! That's the understatement of the year.
Republicans are calling for Obama's head and CBS, NBC and ABC won't allow him to make his case to the American people.
As "takers" of the public's airwaves, the networks do have an obligation to serve the interests of the American people.
The use of that broadcast spectrum enables the networks to air shows at 8:00 tonight such as "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS), "The Biggest Loser" (NBC) and "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC).
Would it really be too much of an inconvenience to delay the start time of those shows for 15 minutes to allow Obama to give his talk? That's the least CBS, NBC and ABC can do. They could compensate for the lost time by cutting 15 minutes from the junk they pass off as local news later in the evening.
After all, there will be more buzz tomorrow about Obama's speech than about how many pounds contestants on the Biggest Loser dropped.
If they stick to their decision, the networks will be the biggest losers.
There's still time for network executives to green light the President's speech. They should do the right thing.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, will exit at the end of the month. Ben LaBolt, a longtime Biden adviser, will take the CD post.
Cathy Cochran, senior VP in Teneo’s Washington office, has rejoined the US Dept of Agriculture as director in its communications office.
Mexico is working with the DC-based Global Action on Gun Violence to push for “impactful gun violence prevention strategies” in the US.
Douglas Farrar, who was VP-communications and strategy at the Carnegie Center for International Peace, has joined the Federal Trade Commission as PA director.
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