Americans Don't Fall For Spin During A Crisis

One botched crisis can make a huge difference in the public's view of a president. This week, President Obama is juggling two acute crises, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a terrorism plot in Times Square. Whether the country approves of his actions could color the rest of his term.

The Bush presidency, for example, never fully recovered after Hurricane Katrina. Jimmy Carter's poll numbers -- and his presidency -- hit a turning point during the Iran hostage crisis. Carter's approval ratings flopped permanently, but not immediately. Andrew Kohut from the Pew Research Center says the response to Carter's reaction was a very positive one at first.

"His approval ratings soared," Kohut says, "from a 30 percent level to a 55, 60 percent level. It was one of the biggest jumps we'd ever seen."

Kohut says the moral to the story is this: "The public is always willing to give the president credit for trying, especially in the initial time period when an acute problem occurs."

But the instinct to support the president doesn't last forever. Patience runs thin, and results matter. How do Americans make a collective decision about whether a president has succeeded or failed in a crisis?

Success Can't Be Spun

Among almost a dozen experts, from Republicans to Democrats, pollsters and spin doctors, each person gave the same answer.

"No amount of spin can overcome poor performance," Republican consultant Mark Corallo says.

"Bad behavior, I don't think, can actually be saved by good messaging," Democratic crisis consultant Lorena Chambers agrees.

Crisis consultant Lanny Davis, who worked in the Clinton White House, called it a "dog bites man" story that people in politics too often ignore. If you want to appear successful, he says, then you need to actually succeed.

"The misconception is that the message is the solution," he says. "And it's not only a misconception; it's a trap that crisis managers as well as people in the White House can easily fall into. You lose sight over what the American people are looking for: solutions."

Obama's Response Goes Beyond Crisis

Despite the professional consensus that results are more important than images, people inside the Obama administration are not taking any chances with their messaging"

http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/05/08/americans-dont-fall-for-spin-during-a-crisis/

The corporate media was not invested in this crisis so truth won out, but make no mistake, corporate spin is still incredibly effective.

It would be a serious mistake to discount or dismiss the effectiveness of "spin". If it wasn't effective, we wouldn't be seeing it.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Oh. MY. GOD.

:rofl:

Of all the things I have read over the years on this Site, there has never been anything MORE UNTRUE than the Title of this OP.

These days, Spin is not only the VERY thing Americans WILLFULLY Fall for during a Crisis, at the current rate our Media is going, it's eventually going to be the only kind of information they will ever HEAR or Have ACCESS to in a Crisis.

It's becoming difficult to find anything in our country, society or culture that isn't BASED on Spin anymore.

Greatest. Oxymoron. EVER.

:rofl:

is right there in you're passage "Of all the things I have read over the years on this Site, there has never been anything MORE UNTRUE than the Title of this OP" - that i.e. is DU spin and no one has to run by Snopes, nor consult with The Amazing Randi to find it out http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/media/internet/news.php?q=1227232155 either way that's fine, as I understand the heavy lift DUers are required to perform in order to the hand the whole of America over to Hugo Chavez simply because Rush Limbaugh tagged Barack Obama as the socialist leader of a chicken coop filled with roosting chickens - when the matter is de-boned with punctuation

"Americans! Don't Fall For Spin During A Crisis!" There, now its grease-orbant. Too many DUers will still believe that 'spin' had no name before someone invented a washing machine with such a cycle







You're right, spin is everywhere and in spite of the ability of others to understand the import of it http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1614680

There is more propaganda, from corporations, and yes, from our government too, than there was in the Soviet Union. And it is more effective too, because people in the USSR all understood they were being mislead and manipulated. In the US we have manipulation of the population to a science.

That is ultimately probably the biggest challenge of our time. To break the power of the newer sciences of propaganda.

The Old Soviet Union PRAVDA WISHES it had been our Media.

It rages with longing jealousy.

A whole bunch of Americans believed that crap when there was not a shred of evidence- it was all spin.

And trees cause air pollution, etc. etc.

Is this from the Onion?

LMAO

or we wouldn't have so many successful right wing media douche bags.

I see people all the time again, L&R, turning the ring till they see an image that fits comfortably inside their heads - if it doesn't fit they declare it 'spin' and dismiss it