After Democrats were swept out of the executive branch by the 1952 elections, Neustadt took a teaching job at Columbia - where he soon began to realize that "current theory" of presidential leadership did not mesh well with his experiences in the White House staff.In 1960, Professor Neustadt published his transformative study of the presidency, called Presidential Power. In it, Neustadt suggests that that formal powers of the presidency, as outlined in the Constitution, are "rather minor" and that the Presidency "amounted to little more than a clerkship, by which the occupant of the White House is in the position to provide services to others in the Federal government" (Shea, 222.Neustadt's book is also a prescription: it's a guide for presidents to understand the true breadth of their informal powers. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, and Clinton sought Professor Neustadt's advice; Neustadt's book was required reading among President Nixon's aides; and it is said that both Presidents Kennedy and Clinton kept copies of Presidential Power next to their beds in the White House.
Does information available to the public via the Internet (generally) and social media sites (specifically), make it more or less difficult for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described? (Explain with a connection to Neustadt's work!)
134 comments:
I think social media sites make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive. Neustadt said the president's power is the power to persuade. He also said there are party links that root each branch of the government together in the benefit of a certain party. These links are used by the Republican party to criticize President Obama which find their way into social media. If you click on an article about the President on Yahoo, you will see that the vast majority of comments are generally hatred towards the President. This is why the President might have a hard time persuading due to the negative feedback on social media.
The internet and social media give President Obama more persuasive power than previous presidents as described by Neustadt. This is because the common goal of the president and his workers is still to be in good favor with the American people, but because of the internet, modern presidents face more and faster criticisms than the presidents that came before them. With constant criticisms via the internet, President Obama is able to continually persuade the men and women who work for him of the next task they must do to try and secure President Obama’s popularity and subsequent their own political futures.
Alex.w
I think that President Obama has taken advantage of the social media and is possibly one of the most persuasive Presidents we’ve had. The bad part about the media either on the internet or through the TV it allows counter persuasive argument against the President. Yet President Obama has done a fairly good job of counter acting his criticism by keeping his mind and the eyes of the people moving forward and working towards his vision.
I think that social media makes it both harder and easier for a President to persuade people to vote in favor of him. It is easier in a sense that the President has many more avenues to explore when convincing people of his ideas. Between commercials and the internet there are many more ways in today's world to get a message across to the people. These same things could also just as easily harm him. This gives the opponents an easier route to attack Obama's plans. They can just as easily make a commercial about the negatives of Obama's ideas or post a website or any material online that persuades people against him.
I think that the advancements in social media over the past years have increased the difficulty of President Obama to continue to be persuasive. This is because Neustadt said in his study that the power a president has is the power that they have to persuade. In his study he also linked in that the parties play a large role in each branch of the government. With this whenever something hits social media about the president, there are more people from the opposing party that give response why he's wrong and take lessen his political persuasiveness. Because of this, i feel that the President has a harder time today than before the advancement of social media to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neaustadt described.
Neustadt described the powers of the president were to persuade the people of America and the people of the government. To do this in a succssesful manner, Obama's reputation must be one that positively influences people. The social media can play a huge roll in this. With politics via internet being larger than ever, Obama's every move and decision is under a microscope. So depending on the decisions Obama makes it can be a whole lot easier to persuade with a positive reputation, or near impossible with a less than impressive reputation.
Internet and social media will make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. Professor Neustadt said in the reader, “The power to persuade is the power to bargain. Status and authority yield bargaining advantages.” (220)If this is true, I feel that President Obama will be challanged more into getting his point across. Although his status will catch the eye of many viewers, others will try to manipulate what he is saying, making it harder for him to be persuasive.
I believe that social media sites make it a lot harder for President Obama to be persuasive. As we learned from Professor Neustadt the Presidents main power is persuasion. Social media makes it a lot harder for Obama to be persuasive due to all of the negative talk, videos and cartoons that are seen by citizens from the internet. If all of the negative talk on social media was gone the president would have a lot easier time getting his points across because the other party would be spending all of their money bashing those using social media.
Neustadt claimed that the main powers of the president was his ability to persuade. The social media has made it very easy for the people to follow Obama and know primarily his ideas. However, the media following every move can make harder and easier on his campaign. President Obama can have persuasive ideas and good stuff on these medias sites, but so do opponent candidates and people who are not found of Obama. So the effects of the Social Media sites can have positive or negative effect on the way he can persuade. Neustadt believed that this was one of the main goals for a President to acquire, but the social media can also create less or more persuasion for political leaders.
I think social media and the internet make it harder to President Obama to be persuasive. News spreads faster than ever, which has taken a good resource and used it for the negative, with the president spending more time defending than persuading. The media casts a negative light on the president by using social media as a constant attack method. It is hard to weed through the lies or one sided stories to find the core of the president’s message. Because the negative is often more entertaining than the positive, this is what media focusses on, creating a barrier limiting the persuasion of the president.
Information available to the public via Internet and social media sites does make it difficult for President Obama to be persuasive. Neustadt argues that presidential power is the power to persuade, yet if there are many negative things streaming the Internet at any second. Therefore that would make it somewhat hard for Obama to be persuasive. Neustadt also argues that Presidential reputation is a major factor in a president by stating a president general reputation will be shaped by signs of pattern in the things he says and does. These are the words and actions he has chosen, day by day. His choices are the means by which he does what he can to build his reputation, as he wants it. Therefore as long as he has a good reputation then that could help in is his presidency.
Social media in todays society most definitely make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive. The internet and social media are very powerful and influential to people. As easy as it could be to make a positive advertisement for himself on the internet, it is even easier for an opponent to make a negative advertisement on President Obama. Professor Neustadt says that presidential power is the power to persuade and though President Obama's commercials and advertisements may do him some good, they can also be manipulated to make him sounds bad and not get the point he was wanting for the public. Most people our also more attracted to the negative advertisements more than the positive so that limits the presidents ability to persuade the people.
Social media helps and works against the president in persuading votes. The president is able to get his messages and beliefs known much easier, but his every move is being watched even closer. Politicians from other parties are also able to work against opposing parties much more easily and can sway the way people think about the President with must more ease. The presidents ability to persuade Americans is greatly increased by the media and that was a factor that Neustadt talked about.
Social Media makes it much harder for President Obama to persuade the public. Back in the 60's in Neustadt's days the public got the majority of their information from presidential adresses. Now a days, anyone can find anything on the internet which offers thousands of more views contrary to the President's. This allows people to form their own opinion based on internet information. Neustadt said, "The Presidents power is his ability to persuade". Not only are their thousands of other views contrasting the President's, but there is also mountains of negative talk that tears apart any opinion the president might have. This makes the President's job of Persuasion much more difficult because he is heavily out numbered when it comes to the internet.
Social Media definitely eliminates almsost all of Obama's room for error, especially when he is trying to be persuasive. It is obvious that presidents twist things around and make slight changes to things when trying to persuade people and/or give speeches. But with Social Media becoming one of the biggest factors in just about every aspect of our lives today, lieing or twisting words around is almost impossible to go unnoticed with. Also, Social Media is persuasive in that the people who write blogs, comments, etc. express their own opinions and give other people their own ideas and opinions, which makes the President's attempts at persuasion much more difficult.
Social media makes it more difficult for President Obama to persuade the public. The millions of websites, tv shows, political ads, analysts, and newspapers make people see way more than just Obama's perspective. Everyone posts and writes about their own opinions, and that makes it harder for Obama to pursuade the majority. Neustadt wrote, "The power to persuade is the power to bargain." This means that if the president really wants to get the peoples' support, then he needs to bargain with them so that both sides are content.
The media serves as a significant advantage in regards to the Obama administration. President Obama is an eloquent speaker and has the strong ability to persuade his audience about politics. On the other hand, the media does in fact posses a vast amount of negativity towards the Obama administration. With so much attention directed toward the president and his actions, any small error is blown out of proportion and over analyzed. Fortunately, President Obama has shown great strength, leadership, and maturity by counter acting his criticism and persisting towards his end vision of a strong economy.
The social media has and always will continue to make it more and more difficult for President Obama to persuade the public. The media has such an influential voice on the people today that it will be hard for the media's voice to ever decrease. Now a days it is easy for anyone, anywhere to voice their opinion. "The power to persuade is the power to bargin." This is how the president should use his voice as well as the media's voice to his advanteage. If he can create mutual agreements then he can strive in a situation that is difficult to succeed in.
Social Media today has clarly made an impact on the way that the President does his persuasion. The way that the President uses his persuasion is connecting to a mass amount of citizens to get his ideas around. Today,social networking is used by almost all Americans. So,the President has easy access to a large mass of the citizens to talk to directly. Also, if Americans are going to be on socuial media sites then why not put ad's for the President or even make pages that allow the President to post ideas or updates. Thios allows for all citizens to instantly connect with the President. By using social media, the President can fully utilize his power to persuade the American public wioth his ideas.
Advances in social media in the last decade have made it both easier and harder for President Obama to be persuasive because messages and concepts are spread with the click of a button. anyone can post anything they want on the internet and within a few seconds millions of people have access to it. The Obama administration can access sites such ass facebook and twitter and persuade possible voters in a matter of seconds. The Republican party can upload information benefitting the party or attacking the president just as easily.
The growth in information technology has caused the president to be more open than president's before him. Today, politicians are constantly on twitter, facebook, or another website either sending or receiving information non-stop. Obama has been more open than bush. Today, news reports will use his tweets as a primary source of what he says. The persuasiveness of Obama is limited, but is also more complex. The use of facebook and twitter have made the government seem a bit more human and thus complex while being weaker in staunch opinions (because the internet is a forum for all the world to see and thus anything written must be kept in general terms for the global audience to read).
Ian M
In my opinion, Professor Neustadt has made it clear that the president's power is described as, "power of persuasion..." (218). This being said, social media makes it harder for the president to be persuasive, due to all of the critics and haters who are able to put their word up against a supporters word, possibly changing their mind. Negativity is a contributing factor to many voters in who they vote for, some might even base their decision based on a comment they saw on Facebook! This is completely appalling but a contributing factor in today's social media packed world.
The rise of the internet and social media has made it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways Professor Neustadt has described. According to Neustadt, a president's powers to persuade is "to convince such men that what the White House wants of them is what they ought to do for their sake and on their authority" (219). Although it is easier for President Obama to get his message out of what he believes is right for the people of America, it is equally accessible for an opponent to get out a message with the task of convincing Americans that President Obama's plans for the country are more detrimental than good. In this way, the President is open to more criticism and has a harder time persuading his audience of Americans.
The main principle, in my opinion, which Neustadt assertion was, was that of persuasion. With Obama already being one of the best speakers of our time and his ability to persuade in that sense, with the creation of social media, Obama has been able to persuade even more so. With the president having dozens of personal media websites, he is able to reach out and to communicate with so many more people, and give a direct perception on the problem(s) at hand. Although some may say that since the internet has developed so much, and that there are so many more views and opinions out there on certain policies it detracts from Obama’s opinion and view on the certain problem. I do not believe that this is the case. With the development of social media sites, Obama is able to more directly and more personally portray his perspective and is able to persuade more efficiently than any other president we’ve had.
Today's growing media world can prove to be a hindrance upon the influence of President Barack Obama's administration. Although social media sites and other avenues of communication prove to speed up the process of influence, they can also serve as a curse. With this rapid rate of influence comes a rapid rate of the spreading of false information and "attacks" upon Obama. All of these negative influences burdens the president and makes it even harder for him to get his true persuasive point across due to the public's frequent disability to look past all of the media's portrayals. According to Neustadt, the president must be "more skeptical than trustful"(220) and therefore should be wary of all of the media, just as the American public should.
The internet and social media sited make it difficult for Obama to have the power that he needs. Since his power is the power to be persuasive, he does rely heavily on this power. However, then there are social media sites discrediting him and pointing out every mistake he makes and every minor logic flaw of his, the n people tend to be more skeptical of the president. Neustadt claims that the only powers the president has are persuasion and authority. But when all of these social media sites are constantly criticizing the president, then people begin to doubt him and ignore his authority due to the fact that their view of him is corrupt.
I believe that social media will hut President Obama's ability to persuade. Professor Neustadt said, "There is a widely held belief in the United States that were it not for folly or for knavery, a reasonable President would need no power other than the logic of his argument...." (doc 2). When a person is reading an article about an issue, there will be two sides. However, it used to be only the President who could voice the issue and was able to persuade the audience. Social media will definitely hurt the President's power of persuasion due to many different opinions floating around instead of just his. Even though some comments or blogs may be filled with biases and "knavery," they could possibly affect the way people could perceive an issue.
The use of social media in the world today has made it both equally difficult and beneficial for Obama. Even though this comparison relates essentially to females, when we look at magazines and read stories about celebrities we don't know that what the publishers are saying about them is true or not, but we keep reading them for the entertainment. However, when this happens to the President it isn't taken as lightly as reading a rumor about a celebbrity. One person can take one tiny thing the President said and make it totally go against is original thought. That is the most negative aspect of what social media does for the President. On the more positive aspect of the media, it helps us keep intact with what the President is doing to help further improve our country (even if nothing is improving) through sites like twitter, facebook and other social networking websites. In relation to what Neustadt is saying, it's hard to be able to maintain the true essence of his paper due to modern media. Any sort of influence that Obama has on his nation can b interpreted in many ways and that neither good nor bad in some cases.
With social networking and internet today, it is easier than ever for President Obama to follow the ideas of Professor Neustadt. First, it is easy for Obama to talk to the public at large. By simply logging onto facebook or twitter, Obama can talk to almost 3 million citizens with the click of a button. Second, it is easier for Obama to target a larger age group. Obama can easily tell youth voters one thing while simutanusly adressing the older voters through the news. The new technology has made all these ideas easier.
I think social media makes it harder for President Obama. There are always two sides of the story in the social media, making it more difficult to completely agree with President Obama. Neustadt says that one aspect for the President to succeed is to be persuasive. However, if we do not fully agree with President Obama, we are less likely to buy into everything he says, making him less persuasive. Also, another factor that might make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive is the controversy that is always happening over the internet. There are always good comments and bad comments about the President. More than likely, there are more hateful comments rather than supportive comments. With all the hatred out on the web, it makes it harder for the President to persuade us to listening to him.
Information that is publicly available through the Internet and social media sites make it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive: "more than charm or reasoned argument" (219). The Internet has a great amount of information from people around the world. Although the Internet writers may not be known as well as the president, their information can still help to persuade some people against the president. The President today needs stronger arguments in order to persuade people. Also, social media is able to capture the President at all times. The president must always be aware of his actions because "A President cannot abolish bad behavior" (220). The Internet and social media has made the job as president even more difficult.
Information available to the public makes it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. Social media has made it much easier for people to get information out about Obama, whether true or false that can discredit him. Neustadt said that, "reputation, of itself, does not persuade, but it can make persuasion easier, or harder, or impossible" (Excerpt #3 from Ch 4). The president needs a good reputation or he can't gain the trust of Americans, and, therefore, he has no influence or power within the nation, and social media can make a president's reputation questionable and raise doubts about him, and this would make it extremely difficult to be persuasive in the ways that Neustadt described.
Personally, I believe that social media sites make it less difficult for President Obama to be persuasive. It helps him target younger voters, like us, to vote for him and see what his policies are and what he plans on putting into action for his next term. He had a very solid turnout with young voters when he ran in 2008 and appealed many of them with his policies of more liberal ideology. As for adults, most of them use Facebook, and some even on twitter and other social so it's a benefit for him attracting adults as well. But for the most part the adults tend to have a bit more time to stay up to date with the news, and watch it, or what not. For students it's a bit harder and whatever free time we do get we tend to spend on social media sites, so this is a really good way to get Obama to get our attention.
I believe that the advancements in social media over the years can make it both harder and easier for the president to persuade the people. Neustadt described the power of the president is to persuade the people and through social media, the president has several options to explore. Social media can be positive for the president because he can make his beliefs and ideas well-known via the internet but on the other-hand, everything said on the internet about him can work against him. More people can form their own opinions about his actions and this can be very negative. People can come together on social media and trash talk the president and try to convince others of their opinions. Social media can both help and work against the president.
I think the Internet generally makes it difficult for President Obama to be persuasive. The Internet is a harsh place and is similar to the news on TV in the sense that people are interested in the bad instead of the good. For example, the general public would be more interested in a bribing scandal within government than a bill passing. It is sad, but true. Neustadt states that, “Power is persuasion and persuasion becomes bargaining.” Obama is a great public speaker and puts out his ideas to the people in a confident manner, but has struggled with bargaining. Without compromise, it is hard for things to progress and get done.
The core idea behind Neustadt in Presidential Powers, is that the President must use persuasion to help align the desires of the people with his own. He is to communicate with them in such a manner that does not seem selfish, but suggestive in that his beliefs will be in best interest for everyone. With social media rapidly working today, the President I believe is to an advantage. It is easier now more than ever for him to illuminate his ideas and persuade the public that they are good ones at that. With television, radio, mobile devices (among countless other technological tools) the President is able to effectively reach out to the people of our country through the use of these.
“The ability to persuade has more or less always been central to a successful president.” (222) As Richard Neustadt argued, “Presidential power is the power to persuade.”(222) I personally believe that the large stride that we have made in social media in the past few years can in fact hurt the President’s ability to be persuasive. I believe that now, everything goes on the World Wide Web within seconds of being said publically. This means it can be immediately shot down by the opposing party. There are now so many different forms of social media to get criticism out to change people’s point of view from the president’s point that he is trying to get across including, Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler, Blogger, and many others.
Preston Klein^
The influence of the Internet on politics, specifically social media sites, is very similar to the power of influence described by Neustadt as informal strength in the White House. Both are underestimated; they hold a multitude of opportunities, either detrimental or beneficial to presidency. However, because most Americans have access to the Internet and are able to view a wide range of campaign videos, candidate websites, politicians' Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, social media sites overall are making it more difficult for President Obama to properly exercise that informal strength of influence and persuasion. Not only opposing candidates, but anyone with access to the Web can attack Obama's ideals via social media sites. While so many people offer alternatives to Obama's arguments, it is much harder for him to be persuasive and convince Americans that his policy exceeds others, or his standpoint is the best standpoint. As depicted in the cartoon on the blog post, the reality of politics is that it is a constant argument between Republicans and Democrats. Neither party will always receive what they want or what they think is best for the country, and information available to the public through social media sites simply worsens this problem.
Internet gives President Obama an advantage and a disadvantage. It gives him an advantage because social media sites help him widen his perspective and give him an incite on what people want to see happen for the nation. He can use that information to focus on certain points to persuade the people. However, these resources can be just as harmful. They make targeting Obama easier as commercials and advertisements travel quickly through the World Wide Web stream. If they are negative towards the president, it will only push people away from him, for online material has the ability persuade people against him and give him a bad reputation. As Neustadt said, "reputation, of itself, does not persuade, but it can make persuasion easier, or harder, or impossible" (excerpt #3 from ch 4).
I believe that the internet and social media give President Obama even more persuasive power than he already has and it gives him more than previous presidents, as stated by Neustadt. The goal of the president and his staff is to be involved with the wants and needs of the American people. Because of the internet, President Obama faces many more criticisms than the president's that came before him and it is easier for him to correct the criticisms and persuade the public in the direction he sees fit. President Obama is able to maintain his popularity because of modern day social media.
I believe social media, mainly the internet and TV, gives President Obama a disadvantage. Neustadt describes that the president must be persuasive through his reputation, his ability to bargain, and his influence over the people. The social media has become so large that every little detail that President Obama does is documented and shared with the world. One small mistake could be catastrophic. Also, his ability to persuade could decrease with all the opposing arguments people say on the various forms of social media. Neustadt says, “Power is persuasion and persuasion becomes bargaining," but to bargain President Obama either needs fear or leverage, and creating fear could be more difficult due to people sending opposing arguments all the time causing his leverage and power to decrease. Neustadt also says, “fear is his advantage" and if people see his mistakes and are not afraid of his power and threats, his power will decrease.
Today, the Internet and social media sites make it simple to share an idea with millions of people in a matter of minutes. With this supreme communication, the Internet and social media sites can provide a positive as well as a negative effect on President Obama's persuasive efforts. For the positive side, Neustadt says, "Persuasive power, thus defined, amounts to more than charm or reasoned arguments" (219). Without social media, we would only see President Obama speak his opinions on national addresses, which in these we can really only see and hear his "charm" or "reasoned arguments." Social media provides President Obama to use many more resources to connect with the with the American people than just his charm and arguments. However, on the negative side, anything the President does is open to everyone on the internet. One mistake is blown out of proportion to make the President look bad. Also, with all the social media sites, opponents of the President can also easily write against the President which will make people less acceptable to the persuasion of the President. Overall, social media sites and the internet win-lose situation for President Obama.
Social media and the internet makes it harder for President Obama to be persuasive because the people now have a louder voice politically. If the President was planning on making a decision and had been bargaining with others to see it happen, but then it went viral and the people didn't approve, the American people might cause an uproar about the issue. This could lead to the President's opponents using the people's voice as an advantage to help their side and override the President's decision. The media also allows more criticism to be made towards President Obama's administration which can lessen his power over others. The President has a bigger target on his back for social media jokes, debates, arguments, and discussions. Social media and the internet do not help President Obama and his administration be persuasive.
Today in the social media makes it easy to get your thoughts out to the world and expanded, possibly over night. WIth this type of communication, there are pros and cons to the way the social media puts information out; they can twist and turn the information, where the audience perceives it to be true. Nowadays, every inch the president moves, is televised rapidly across the world wide web. Neustadt says, “His general reputation will be shaped by signs of pattern in the things he says and does. These are the words and actions he has chosen, day by day. His choices are the means by which he does what he can to build his reputation as he wants it. Decisions are his building blocks. He has no others in his hands”, he explains that the President's reputation, and ultimately his power, will be determined by what the President does and how the people react to it, therefore, now with the internet, people are able to make the decision whether to support the President or no much faster, and sometimes with a pre-thought biased attached to how the information they receive is created, and by whom.
The information on the Internet and social media sites spreads like a wild-fire, either hurting or helping the President. However, President Obama has taken advantage of social media, allowing his ideas and accomplishments to grow, but also allowing criticisms to quickly follow. President Obama can use the criticisms to save up his “future influence while making present choices-“looking toward tomorrow from today,”” ( Neudstat 221) and find out which issues he really wants to push and use his influence on those rather than those unimportant issues. President Obama can use the criticisms to gain approval by changing his policies to gain credibility from those who once opposed him.
Neustadt would argue that the internet and social media give President Obama more persuasive power than previous presidents. The role of the President and his workers has always been and still is to be in good favor with the American people, however, the internet creates an easier outlet for criticism for modern presidents than those who came before them. With the internet and other media created more and more criticism, President Obama is able to continually persuade the people who work for him to try and secure President Obama’s popularity and subsequent their own political futures. Neustadt argues that a President's own choices are the only means in his own hands of guarding his own prospects for effective influence. “He uses his continuing relationships in the degree that he can capitalize upon the needs of others for the Presidency's status and authority” (Ex. 2). It becomes an “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” mentality, which media can help with.
The internet and social media make it easier for President Obama to be persuasive because the media will transmit anything that will get that company more ratings and popularity. Though the president may have made choices that can make him less trustful and popular, the media is still popular and increases surrounding the lives of the American citizens. Neustadt’s example of “the press, for one, in Douglass Carter’s phrase, is a ‘fourth branch of government” shows that the media is just as important as the government. Though the government may have cut relationships with fellow Congress members, there is still a chance the president can be part of the media without him even knowing it. Paparazzi include as media and many know how sneaky they can be so media, whether they like the president or not, will still make him popular since all media is in competition.
The media has a large influence on many people, consciously or unconsciously. Through social media sites the President as been able to increase his popularity with the general public and through it has gained persuasive power. Just as the President gains power to persuade he also loses it. The opposing party will try to make the President unfit to play the role. The negative comments people may leave about a President may ruin his reputation or reduce his power of persuasion.The President is in a constant struggle to maintain his power of persuasion. According to Professor Neustadt writes how persuasion is key to bargaining, so the media platys the role of giving and taking power from the President.
I believe that social media has hurt the prsidents power to persuade people across the world. People today can look at anything that has been posted about the president, fact or fiction. This can cause huge issues for the president and his "War room" to deal with. Furthermore, this social media has caused the president to have to divert more time to focus on his approval rating and taken away time from him worrying about important issues. In Neustdat's own words “His general reputation will be shaped by signs of pattern in the things he says and does. These are the words and actions he has chosen, day by day. His choices are the means by which he does what he can to build his reputation as he wants it. Decisions are his building blocks. He has no others in his hands."
I think that all of this has made it harder for the President to be persuasive due to social media. One big reason is because that Neustadat said that the President role is to persuade and over social media it is harder to do that when you don't have that face to face connection. Most of the articles in todays society about the President are criticizing what he does in office and that's not good for him to persuade people.
Jeff D.
I believe the social media has not helped Obama become a persuasive president. For example, if Obama says one thing about healthcare, someone on the web will give evidence supporting that Obama does not mean what he has said. Neustadt also supports this when he claims that "the press, for one, in Douglass Carter's phrase, is a 'fourth branch of government.'" (218) Leading the country is very difficult when social media is constantly battling whether the president is persuasive or not since every little thing the president has said is on the web 24/7.
Information available to the public via the Internet and social media sites make it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive. On the internet, people alter what other people say all the time. Because of this, people can't be entirely sure if Obama really said what social media says he said. Also, people use social media to attack the President. Neustast said, "The power to persuade is the power to bargain" (220). It is very difficult for Obama to be able to bargain with people and make both polictical parties happy when people are twisting his words and the people he is trying to persuade aren't sure what he really wants to get across.
with the increasing popularity of social networking sites it is obvious that they have an effect on the influence of the president. The president can use sites such as twitter and Facebook to spread information quickly and efficiently. These social networking sites can either help the president to gain positive reputation or they can be used to criticize the president, but there is not doubt about it that these social networking sites increase the spread of information about the president greatly.
I believe that with the development of the internet and social media websites, the unbiased truth is more easily accessible to the public and makes it more difficult for the president to persuasive. All of this new information being revealed allows for the president to not have to be as persuasive as in previous times because a majority of citizens who are active in the political process are also very informed about the issues. A more informed public lets the president simply persuade those individuals who are not yet preformed. This does however take away from one of the president’s job that Neustadt says, “The power to persuade is the power to bargain” (220). This means that the president gets most of his power from persuading and bargaining with the people, but when the president is unable to do this because all of the information is already on the internet, then it will make is much more difficult for the president to be persuasive.
In modern day society, the internet and social media have expanded the ability to provide both positive and negative information about the president in a faster, more efficient way. In other words, the media, such as the news, has the power to criticize or praise what the president has to put forth, right after the president presents his ideas to the public. Due to the continuous growth of the internet and social media, over the past couple of years, this has caused President Obama to have more persuasive power than the previous presidents described by Neustadt had, had. There have been many social media sights that have become popular over the past couple years and this has caused the president to become an easier target to attack. Due to the fact that the internet has made way for criticisms to reach the public faster, this has caused President Obama to have to think of his next step quick so that he won’t lose any votes or support going forth into the 2012 election.
The internet and other forms of social media makes it more difficult for the President to be persuasive in the ways described by Neustadt. Neustadt argues that persuasion is power, and in order to effectively persuade the people, he must appear sympathetic and understanding of the public. He must present his ideas as beneficial to the American public, not solely beneficial to himself. Neustadt states, "The essence of a President's persuasive task with congressmen and everyone else, is to induce them to believe that what he wants of them is what their own appraisal of their own responsibilities requires them to do in their interest, not his". As President Obama can present his ideas in a manner where it seems he is doing it out of the best interest of the people, others have every right on the Internet to make comments attacking his claims. The comments commonly negatively impact the message, and can manipulate his statements into seeming selfish. Therefore, the Internet hinders the successfulness of President Obama’s persuasion.
The internet and all other social medias have the ability to make it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive. Neustadt states “Presidential power is the power to persuade” which means the President could not get anything done without an argument. He does not get results by simply just giving orders. Obama has to worry about every little thing he says because usually the bad things end up all over the internet. Social media has its advantages but it also does not always help him be persuasive. -Megan Reynolds
In today’s society, the internet and social media allow us to connect with people all around the world in a matter of seconds. This amazing form of communication allows us to follow every move that President Obama makes whether it is positive or negative. Neustadt shows us how persuasive power can spark a powerful argument and without social media we might only see President Obama in situations where everything is prepared and rehearsed. Social media also gives us the opposite of this and a negative side as well. It can be negative when people are able to constantly evaluate you. If President Obama makes a mistake or blunder it can be captured and replayed totally out of proportion. In conclusion, the internet and social media are both good and bad for President Obama.
With all of the forms of social media we have in society today it is very hard for a President to be persuasive in the ways by which Neustadt says. I believe that this can harm the persuasiveness of President Obama. The fact is that Neustadt said that being persuasive gives you power. If you can be persuasive then more people will support you because they will feel that you are the right fit for the country. Although now that we have social media it can actually hurt the credibility and persuasiveness of the President. Social media creates a situation where the President as to always know that he could be being filmed or recorded or being quoted. This means that a President now has to be very careful because one thing he says can be put out in the media or on these social media sites and then he is no longer liked by the people. If people no longer like him then that means trouble for him because he will not be able to persuade people. Social media in today’s society can only hurt the President.
Social media, though opening many new pathways from which presidents can communicate, is a double-edged sword. As the amount in which a president can positively persuade increases with the new forms of communication, so does the amount in which he or she can negatively persuade. For every twitter-sized policy update or online campaign blog there are leaked audio-tapes of the president cursing or scandalous youtube footage of a an obscene gesture. Sometimes more communication than necessary is a bad thing for presidents. There is a limit to the benefit of President communication and social media has the potential to cross it.
Neustadt states that the president's power is the power to persuade. He also states that there are party links that root each branch of the government together in the benefit of a certain party. It is hard for any president these days to have the power to pursuade due to social media. Social meida has never been as influencial as it is today and it is only getting more and more influencial. Due to freedom of speech and the natural tendnency to voice one's opinion in the most severe way on social media, most of what is said about President Obama is negative. Social media makes it hard for anyone, especially the president, to be pursuasive.
I believe that though technology in general can help a president, the internet can also be hurtful because it doesn't always tell the truth. Social media today has many more negative things to say about Obama than positive. If President Obama is trying to use Neustadt's way of persuasion, it is extremely difficult for people in general to ignore all of these negative things and no positive things will ever be achieved. If Obama doesn't succeed in persuading people, he will never succeed in getting things done and no benefits will come to America during his time in office. For every positive thing a president does, there are twice as many negative things to say about it.
Social Media is beneficial and detrimental for President Obama. Neustadt said it is the President's job to persuade. Not all productions in the media are control by the President or in favor for him. I believe regarding the social media that are relevant and in favor of Obama are persuasive and helpful. That is my opinion among many viewers, so it is always a topic of debate. There is always someone or something out there in the media and in life that will try to make someone look bad or ruin their reputation. That is a risk not only the President has daily but the people of the World face the same enemies.
In my opinion, in this era where social media and internet play a enormous role in society, it is very hard for President Obama to be pervasive. According to Neustadt, the presidents biggest power is the power to persuade. With all the criticism and analysis in the media today, it is almost impossible for the president to use the media to successfully persuade the public. There is constant criticism towards the president, and there always will be. All of these factors prohibit the President from being a successful persuader through the media.
I am confident that social media sites make the task of persuading legislators and the general public far more complicated and therefore more difficult. Due to free speech in the United States, millions of Americans can communicate with their internet community instantly. Unfortunately, everyone has a political agenda and social media tools make it easy for an individual to comment on a president with poor regard. Citizens enraged by Obama's actions and policy are far more likely to speak openly about it, and when such a large portion of the population has similar opinions it becomes hard to defend the president. According to Neustadt, "Power is persuasion and persuasion becomes bargaining." How can a president bargain with millions of unanimous internet users?
The internet has made the entire world and all of its vast information available at a click. Because of this I believe that having the internet and social media sites available to the President to persuade the public to his views is a valuable tool. Using this tool to his advantage can help him reach a greater number of the public. Without the internet he isn't utilizing all of his advantages that he can to persuade the public toward his views.
Information available to the public, by means of social media and the Internet, has proven to be extremely disadvantageous to the President and his ability to persuade. Although the Internet and social media sites are powerful tools for communication, they have become the source of negative and constant attacks on the Obama Administration. According to Professor Neustadt, "A president's persuasiveness with other men in government depends upon something more than his advantages for bargaining. The men he would persuade must be convinced in their own minds that he has skill and will enough to use his advantages." However, social media and the Internet has the power to shed, both negative and positive, light on the President and his actions. In this way, the Internet has made it far more complicated for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. Attacks on Obama via the Internet shed a negative light on his presidency and obstruct his power to persuade and succeed as president.
Social media is a drawback to President Obama and his ability to persuade the people, which according to Neustadt is the "informal strength" of the presidents. Through the Internet and many other sources, modern social media is growing to be more critical and negative towards individuals of high rank. For example, negative information, which is at free access to the public, makes it difficult for President Obama to maintain his persuasive capability and will not help him thrive as president.
I think social media and the internet has harmed President Obama's persuasive power because the internet reaches so many people worldwide and can be very hurtful to the reputation of the president. The internet along with social media sites can exploit every detail of Obama's life whether it be political or otherwise to try and put a negative spin on his reputation. If and when his reputation is tarnished, that will diminish his persuasiveness because a major part of his power to influence people is tied to his reputation.
Social media websites makes it harder for President Obama to be persuasive. While such websites such as Facebook and Twitter makes it easy for the President to communicate his
thoughts and for him to see the opinions of the masses, but the same websites can display dissatisfaction for the President. The drawbacks of social media outweighs the benefits. According to Professor Neustadt, the President is supposed "to convince such men that what the White House wants of them is what they ought to do for their sake and on their authority" (219). This is hard when publishing one’s own, usually diverting, opinion is just a click or two away., The internet, especially social media websites, is a breeding ground for opposing opinions. A seed of doubt is planted and ideas cannot be killed once set in motion. Social media makes it easier for like-minded people to gather and form groups- a few individuals gaining momentum quickly.
Neustadt states that status and authority are some of the most helpful advantages that Presidents have when it comes to the game of bargaining. With the rapid spread of social media use, the people voice has become louder than ever. Social media has given the people a higher status making them a hard force that the president must bargain against. The information available to the public has given the people a higher status, making President Obama's persuasive power over the people less effective.
I'm reading some contrasting views here - which I enjoy!
For example, Lauren E writes: "...having the internet and social media sites available to the President to persuade the public to his views is a valuable tool..."
Sara Mac offers a completely different take: "... the Internet has made it far more complicated for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. Attacks on Obama via the Internet shed a negative light on his presidency and obstruct his power to persuade and succeed as president."
Great job, everyone!
I believe that the internet and the social media make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive due to the fact that there is no governing body on the internet. The internet gives other opposing entities the ability to distort and redirect the President's ideas and views. There are so many websites that could aid other candidates in ways that could potentially minipulate or change the perception of the public. As Neustadt explained, the social media could ignite a dominate opinion on how people should view Obama. One little slip-up or mistake by Obama could be played in such a way that is totally out of context and could completly undermine his message. In conclusion, my opinion of the social media is a negative for any government official or presidential being.
-Donovan Owens
As described by Neustadt, the internet and social media would give President Obama more power to persuade than past presidents. A common goal of the president and his workers is to be in good standings with the voters, and because of things such as the internet and social media, the president today would face more online criticism than any other past presidents. Because of this online criticism, President Obama will be able to persuade the people who work for him easier, to secure his popularity among voters.
Social Media defiantly makes it harder for President Obama to be persuasive. Even if there is just as much positive feedback as negative people remember the negative feedback more than the positive. Neustadt said that there are party links that root each branch of the government together in the benefit of a certain party. The republicans use the link to criticize Obama and his ideas. That makes it really hard for Obama to gain more support. Social media has too much negative feedback towards Obama making it hard to persuade people.
ZEEV FOSTER
I believe that social media sites make the Presidents task of persuading the people far to difficult. Due to all the criticism on every form of social media, it is nearly impossible for the president to even attempt to persuade the public. Neustadt believes that in order to maintain power, you must be persuasive. With the freedom of speech, anything can be said in the media; therefore causing the President to possibly lose power. Social media does nothing but hurt the President and his motives.
Cassidy H
Having access to social media and the internet does two things for the president, both good and bad. This is an advantage is a gateway to more people than president’s have ever had access to. This allows President Obama to give his standpoints and everything to the majority of the public. With more of the population to persuade, he gains more voters. Similarly, these gateways are also available to other candidates when it comes to the presidential race. They have this same opportunity. More importantly, in regard to solely President Obama, these gateways allow for mass disagreement and therefore cause negative persuasion. People across the internet can be almost as persuasive as the president himself and therefore can change peoples’ minds through their criticism. Overall, there are pros and cons alike in regard to social media and President Obama.
Social media has definitely made it harder for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt described. He states, "But adequate or not, a President's own choices are the only means in his own hands of guarding his own prospects for effective influence." Even if the president were to make one small, seemingly benign error, social media has a tendency to be a breeding ground for hate comments and blowing things up way out of proportion. Small mistakes now have the potential to escalate into widespread disapproval due to the intense scrutiny that the president will undoubtedly undergo by social media every day that he is involved in government. Overall, social media disadvantages President Obama because he is not easily able to make general "persuasive" statements without undergoing heated debate, opposition, and rejection by members of social media.
-Erika I
Information available to the public via the Internet and social media sites makes it more difficult for President Obama to exercise what Neustadt says is his presidential power: persuasion. Although social media allows President Obama more paths for mass persuasion, it also allows for more public and mass criticism of him. Negative talk in social media can easily negate his power of persuasion by tearing down any opinions he may have. This might put him in the position of being out numbered by negative opinions than positive ones about his ideas/opinion.
Chandler N.
The emergence of social media and the internet have complicated the process of Presidential bargaining. The voices of individuals have been magnified and broadcasted, allowing public opinion to swing more easily and for individuals to either praise or criticize the President in public. Thus, a President's prestige and status can change drastically and affect his current and future bargaining power.
Social media can only help a leader with persuasion because it allows an audience to have more information. Neustadt talks a lot about reputation, and the spread of information has the possibility to give a leader a better information. People like a leader who seems to do a lot and sharing information through media makes it much more convenient for people like Obama to share his actions with people. These actions later give a president a reputation, good or bad, which can affect how efficient a president can be. The power of a leader to communicate with an audience can only help his or her persuasive powers. Communication is obviously required to persuade someone and the bigger audience and ease that media provides can only help a president.
The usage of the Internet and social media opens up many corridors for information about politics to be discussed. Specifically, President Obama is especially a topic of debate. While Obama is subject to favorable discussion, he is also presented with a massive market for those who oppose him. This makes it increasingly more difficult for Obama to use the tactic of persuasion, which Neustadt believes is the president's power. It is easy for Obama to receive praise for his actions, but social media is a breeding ground for those who do not like Obama, and who frequently bash Obama for the things he has not done or done poorly. Neustadt also says that a President can be perceived a certain way based on his action or non-action. Either of these situations put may put the President in a situation where his reputation is in danger. The overall use of the information on the Internet and social media hurt, more than help, President Obama's efforts to persuade.
The social media will always make it harder for prominent public figures. A story about a "Huge Scandal" will always attract more attention than an article titled "President is doing good". False stories are easy to come up with, and are used more often than they should be. For those too gullible to understand the falsehood of these articles, that icon will then be considered a bad influence.
Information that is put on the Internet and social media sites make it harder for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. The Internet has many things about the president and not a lot of it is a good thing about him. Professor Neustadt said, “the power to persuade is the power to bargain. Status and authority yield bargaining advantages” with that being true president Obama is going to have a hard time getting people to lesson to what he has to say because people are still going to say what they want to on the internet or media.
Information available via the internet and social media will make it easier for President Obama to be more persuasive. If Obama is able to do his job correctly, which is to persuade, it will immediately be trending among these social media websites. Generally, President Obama's actions frequently discussed and are a focal point among today's conversation. These social media websites (Facebook, Twitter etc.) just makes it easier for President Obama to persuade the citizens of the United States.
Neustadt believes that the President should reflect and “reinforce his logic and charm.” (219) The Internet and social media make it more difficult for Obama to be persuasive. There is no way a person can reflect their logic and charm through websites that can be changed, copied, and pasted. His words could turn into something completely different. There are pictures of Obama and posts on Facebook that point out his flaws, not his special characteristics. People must hear Obama in person, not through electronics. Obama can’t be as persuasive on the computer because he never knows where his video or speech will end up. It could end up being something totally different and not what he intended, which will not show his true logic or character.
According to Neustadt, to a president, his power lies in the power to persuade. I think President Obama has effectively taken advantage of social media and technology to promote himself positively. Commercials, ads, websites, and videos all contribute to different ways of promotion that the president can access and use to advertise himself and ideas. Not only can the president promote himself and ideas but others can too. "The men who share in governing this country are inveterate observers of the President," says Neustadt. This means that the observers who work with Obama can have access and have accessed social media networks such as Twitter to promote President Obama. Internet and technology has made sharing ideas and thoughts fast and easy; it is also very accessible as now most all phones have internet access. As long as the president does not do anything to tarnish his reputation, then social media and technology can work in his favor as a way of promoting and advertising himself.
In my opinion, social media sites are making it more difficult for Obama to pose a successfully persuasive argument. Professor Neustadt states that the President's power is "the power to persuade." Because Republicans typically oppose the ideals of Obama, their criticisms move through social media by way of the party links that Neustadt says bring each branch of government together to benefit a specific party. Therefore, because of the excess of negative comments towards the President, his status can be dramatically affected by social media.
katy w
In Presidential Powers, Neustadt talks about how a president is more likely to succeed if he has good powers of persuasion. President Obama has made good use of social networks, like Twitter, to present himself in a positive manner. He has done things like personally answering questions people had during the elections on Twitter, which was a good way to get peoples attention and to better his reputation. By using social networking sites, President Obama has effectively made himself have a better reputation which makes it easier for him to be persuasive in his arguments and in the past election.
I believe the amount of information readily available to the public makes it easier for President Obama to be persuasive and influence America. In chapter 1 of Neustadt's work, Presidential Power, Neustadt discusses the "informal strength" of a president and where this influence is derived from. Nowadays, with the plethora of information readily available, it is easy for presidents to get their ideas out in the open. It is easy to find videos and manuscripts of speeches given by presidents and there are plenty of articles written daily about the president and his decisions in the White House. All of this information can make his power greater, because more people know what he is doing. This is parallel to when Neustadt reflects on the importance of a president's reputation. President Obama can use the information that is available to keep his reputation positive. When there are good articles written about him, his reputation is maintained, and people can more easily be persuaded to like him and support his further decisions.
Information from social media sites makes it easier for Obama to be persuasive. People will criticize him on social media sites, but he can see what the popular opinion is on him and his issues. Different sites could help him understand what they people want from him. If Obama wants persuasion from the people he should see what people are saying about him and try to fix it.
I think that social media sites can hurt the presdient. Neustadt said that "There is a widely held belief in the United States that were it not for folly or for knavery, a reasonable President would need no power other than the logic of his argument....The best of reasoning and of intent cannot compose them all." This means that anyone can write and article and can mislead people and make them oppose the president. The power of the president can me damaged if he is not influential, his "informal power." His reputation is important and if he has a bad reputation from a site then it can hurt his ability to be persuasive.
Because Neustadt states that the president needs the "power to persuade" the social media only gives him even more outlets to do so. Twitter, Facebook, and the news only allows even more areas for Obama to spread his message and persuade even more citizens about his goals. Not only are the people looking to his persuasive speaking skills, they are seeing adds designed by his tech teams and Facebook posts by his PR representatives. His message may become watered down because it is being shared through so many medias on so many levels, but this also provides him with a wider range of audiences.
-Catherine G
I think there are two possibilites that can happen with the use of social media when sites are used gather voters in an election. With the proper use and manipulation of social media a candidate he or she can rally voters around the candidate. The other side of the social media manipulation can damage your reputation and your electability. It is how a candidate manipulates the social media is what determines his success or failure.
I think some information available to the public makes it harder for the president to do what he wants. Now, instead of a structured pyramid of order, more people are aware and make their opinions known. According to Nedstadt, the president uses his vantage point to persuade other. But if other people have a vantage point that is the same vantage point, then he no longer has as much power. Also, senators and other elected government officials are more pressured to follow the people’s readily available opinion. He must work harder to persuade and change people’s mind about things due to the constant stream of data. People will begin judging and discussing before he is even finished talking. But in other ways, it is easier. The president can put his ideas on the Internet and gather support from people who wouldn’t normally pay attention.
Tori Chitwood
Social media and the internet definitely play into how President Obama is persuasive. However, the press is mostly liberal so they help and support what Obama mostly says.
According to Neustadt, the president's persuasion is represented through his actions more than his words. He also says that the judgement of the people and other men in government is a factor in the president's influence with them. The president knows that people will have opposing opinions with him so me he must make a difference through his actions to make them agree with him.
The information available to the public via Internet and social media sites make it more difficult for President Obama to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt has described. Though the President has his "vantage point" that Neustadt refers to, he is not the only one that can use his views and charm to persuade the country. The President does have authority over the country, but not always what is written or tweeted about him- pleasant or not. Over time, if people continue the slander about President Obama, he could lose his charm and eventually lose his power over the people.
The use of social media is one of the most popular ways to obtain information on our President, and for him to gain information about our opinions. He can use this to an advantage by seeing what he needs to do in order to more easily persuade the American People. Because his power is mainly "the power to persuade," as Neustadt says he should take advantage of another source of information on his citizens. Although, there can be negative information and opinions of him out there he knows he cannot please everyone. Otherwise I believe he is able to use social media in order to see if he is being efficient with is persuasion, or how he can improve his persuasion of the American people.
Social media can truly help and hurt the President as he searches for ways to use his persuasive power. However, he is able to take advantage of social media to better his image and be more persuasive. He can use social media to further express his opinions and see which ideas are gaining popularity, while he can also see which of his views are unpopular. Social media as well lets the president connect better with the american people, which is also another outlet for the president to use the persuasive power Neustadt describes.
Yes I do think that the information generally makes it a lot harder for the President to be persuasive because there is so much bad publicity out on the media sites. These sites are so accessible, and many just see the one video of him instead of what was actually said. Although the “Presidential power derives primarily...from the president’s personal ability to persuade people to do what he wants” (Neustadt 217). However, he is given a harder task than the Presidents ten years before him, because of amount of interaction with media. What he actually is pursing can be lost in those countless videos. He can have many of advantages, but the media is not one of them.
--Abby J.
The emergence of the Internet as well as social media sites has put the president at a disadvantage. While social media may act as a forum for praise and collaboration, it opens a large window for criticism in which opposition can capitalize. The current generation, especially, experiences this 'window' first hand through Facebook, Twitter, etc. Regardless of the site, the amount of criticism and "trolling" seemingly outweighs any positivity. The president may be able to use social media sites to critique his agenda, however, these sites are generally bogged down by senseless opinionated garbage. Therefore, the power to persuade becomes far more difficult due to excessive negativity shared among social media sites.
I believe that the information to the public via the Internet and social media sites have the potential to help President Obama. As Neustadt said "the power to persuade" is one of the president's greatest powers, it is President Obama's job to utilize via internet and social media networks in a proper fashion that will make him become more persuasive.This does help the president become more efficient in providing information to the public much more quicker than it would have in the past, and it also allows him to read information from the general public and their opinions on the ideas he has for this country. The new technology provided in this day and age is only helpful if people use it properly, which I believe President Obama can successfully do.
Social media makes it much ore difficult for the president to persuade public opinions. Since the internet offers such a wide variety of analysis and information, it allows tons of room for people to argue against Obama. Also, everything Obama does is broadcasted all over the internet, so every move he makes is thoroughly analyzed and criticized. As Neustadt stated, "the power to persuade is the power to bargain." In other words, regardless of the president's actions, he cannot please everyone. However, he does have the ability to help others understand his philosophy behind his decisions. While this may not completely solve the president's issues, it can at leaste help his people understand, and therefore, respect his decisions.
Internet and social media sites make it easier for the president to be persuasive. Neustadt says that the president’s power is mainly the power to persuade and the social media makes it easier for the president to do that. He can see if the people agree or disagree with him and from that he can alter his ways so he can be more convincing. Social media nowadays helps connect the president with the people and even though he will get a lot of criticism he can use it to better his presidency.
I believe that it makes thing both more or less difficult for Obama. Through TV he can address the entire nation and can be re-watched on the internet. This can appeal to his supporters in the country and boost his approval rate in citizens. But if he wants to appeal to his fellow politicians he might do something that might not be liked by the masses, and he cannot keep the things he does out of the spotlight. Everything Obama does is public knowledge from what bill he vetoed, to what issues he is concerned about to even where he is on vacation. Also is he makes on mistake it will come back and bite him in the butt because his opposers will spread it to the masses and play it over and over until the country knows he made either a small mistake or a huge one. Public media is a both a burden and a blessing on Obama he just needs to know how to use it to his advantage.
I think that Obama has an easier time accessing the public but it can also be a bad; if he says anything wrong or screws up the people, on the internet, will destroy him. Professor Neustadt would agree with me, that Obama is more well-known, but should not say anything he will regret. On page 220 Neustadt said “A president depends upon the persons whom he would persuade.” Neustadt thinks that a president needs to persuade politicians and the politicians are there because of the people. If president Obama can persuade the people, than he persuades the politicians.
I believe that it is risky for the President to access the social media to reach the public. It could be useful to persuade the public and reason with them through the media but it is also volatile. I agree with the fact that different situations call for different people to persuade. The President must be careful what he communicates to the public and should think about what the reaction will be from them before he says what he wants to say. Overall the general access to the media has the potential to be useful and harmful for the Presidents power to persuade.
I believe that social media makes it harder for the president to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt describes. Although the President is able to communicate through the media some of his ideas and persuasive thoughts, so are his non supporters. According to Professor Neustadt,“Presidential power is the power to persuade", but the president is unable to do this when every word he says is being criticized (222). Too many people on the internet are able to persuade you against the president, and the president is more likely to be criticized in the media than be supported.
I believe that it makes things more and less difficult for the president to use social media. When the president uses the TV, he is able to address to everyone what he wants to get out to the country. If someone misses it, they would be able to get it off the internet as soon as it's put up. The down side of social media, is people can change words that the president may say. If it wasn't spoken on tv they are easily able to change the words, also they can interpret what he has said different from what he was trying to say. Social media does have its ups and downs for the president. In the end he must be careful on what he says. Overall the access to the media has the potential to be very useful to the Presidents power if it is used the right way.
I believe that social media makes it harder for the president to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt describes in his writing. The president has to be careful on what he puts on the social media sites because his words are out there forever and can easily be twisted. In Professor Neustadt’s excerpt three he mentions that a president is not only persuasive by his words but also by his actions. So when the president is speaking to the people through his speeches, his actions along with his words helps him to be more persuasive. The social media sites do help get the word around faster but the presidents words can easily be twisted by the people on the internet. Social media can be a good thing for the president for some reasons but when he is trying to be persuasive it is best for him to stick to his speeches.
In my opinion, the information that social media brings available to the public makes it much more difficult for the President to persuade. Yes, it does make it easier to get his word out through sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., but at the same time, his every word is being manipulated and twisted to make him sound as bad and negative as possible. At this point, the President isn't the only one trying to persuade. Anyone from your mom, dad, sister, or brother can write articles deceiving the public in believing false information. All thanks to social media and how attached the people have gotten to it recently. All it takes is a single website or blog to go viral, leaking people's negative opinions making it that much easier to manipulate. Reputation is everything in the eyes of the people. A damaged reputation is like a damaged economy, nobody wants it, especially in their president. It takes years to build a solid reputation, but one site to ruin it.
The presence of social media makes things a bit harder for the president. If the president says anything that is marginal controversial, the media will try to crush him. The president must be very careful on what he says to the public these days. But there are some advantages to social media. Whenever Obama is on T.V. he can spread his message to millions of people worldwide. This is can help Obama gain support, and fans of his political views worldwide. I believe that social media overall can hurt the president more than it could help.
According to Professor Neustadt, the president needs to be persuasive. I believe that the Internet and social media sites make it easier for President Obama to be persuasive. For example, the social media website Twitter makes it easier for President Obama to be persuasive. His team can post articles or post ideas that President Obama supports and then people can re-tweet them and spread his ideas. While the Internet and social media sites can help the president be persuasive, it can also make a negative image of the President as well. Still using the social media website Twitter, someone could tweet something that the president did wrong. Once the tweet is made, many people can re-tweet it and then whatever the president did would spread extremely fast. There are negative things of using the Internet and social media sites, but over all I believe that these websites help the president to be persuasive.
I think the internet, in a general, makes it harder for President Obama. I think the media does this to make it harder for the Americans to like him, because they are always looking for some flaws to point out in him. They take the smallest things and blow them way out of portion. In a sense it has no effect based on what Neustadt said because the people have voted n officers to speak for what they want. So the current effect it can have with the Americans has very little impact until next eletion period.
-Jazmine Williams
I believe that the information available to the public via the internet and social media sites make it difficult for President Obama to be more persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt describes. In Neustadt excerpts he mentions that the president is only persuasive by his would and his actions. The President can benefit from social media sites by informing his supporters and by making it easier to know what he wants to do for our country. Also at the same time the social media sites can affect the President in a negative. On the Internet there are many bias sites that do not support the President and that can put facts out that the President never said. With these bias sites it is easier to dislike the President and to have a different opinion of him.
I surmise that it is more difficult to persuade American citizens via internet or social media due to the bias and selective quoting. Many article writers script with a bias feeling towards the President whether against or with. In theory, if the author of the article disagrees with Obama, that person would talk people away from supporting the president. If bias articles are against the President, it makes it difficult to persuade American citizens. Also, selective quoting is a conflict when it comes to social media. Authors, anonymous comments, or anyone else can take a quote from the President out of context to make it mean another thing. When social media is manipulated and picks Obama's quotes out of context could help people go against the president, which is the opposite of what Obama needs. The point of Presidential Powers is to persuade Americans, but social media makes it hard to gain supporters when they're are false facts all around about the President.
I believe that social media makes it harder for the president to be persuasive in the ways that Professor Neustadt describes in his writing. Although the President is able to communicate through the media some of his ideas and persuasive thoughts, so are his non supporters. Citizens enraged by Obama's actions and policy are far more likely to speak openly about it, and when such a large portion of the population has similar opinions it becomes hard to defend the president.
As Nuestadt thoroughly explained, the president has a powerful influence on the will of congress and of the public. He can persuade each parties on what the country needs to do and why it needs to do it. Some might say that today the president is more exposed to the public opinion with social media and can be easily swayed to the public’s will. I respectfully disagree. It is the other way around. The president uses social media as an extra tool to sway public opinion. If there are two sides conflicting, one being the president and the other criticizing the president, due to his reputation people will side with the president. He can use social media as a tool to persuade a congressman about a certain bill, or as a mean to convince the public why a certain bill will work/ not work. No matter what angle you look at it, the president will always have the edge when it comes to social media.
The availability of social media increases the presence of bias. "The essence of a President's persuasive task with congressmen and everyone else, is to induce them to believe that what he wants of them is what their own appraisal of their own responsibilities requires them to do in their interest, not his." With millions of others opinions, he not only has to change one persons opposing opinion over to his, he has to change hundreds and thousands of opinions attacking his from multiple angles. He doesn't get that fair "one-on-one" persuasive task, he gets him vs. everyone else. And everyone else includes normal people to serious activists and more. Basically, social media is just this giant opinion composed of thousands and millions of other opinions, thus the President's opinion is just 1 out of a million.
Having social media would in a way make it harder for the president to try and persuade the general public he once in office should spend most of his time trying to persuade congress and the senate. While the president does need to remain aware to what the public is thinking it is also important that he knows that congress are the people he needs the most support from while trying to pass a bill. Social media could also play a big role in helping the president because he is able to connect with the public faster than he was able to earlier.
Social media makes it way more difficult for the president to persuade. It becomes easier to find information that makes him look bad. Neustadt said, "reputation, of itself, does not persuade, but it can make persuasion easier, or harder, or impossible" (Excerpt #3 from Ch 4). It makes it harder to keep the president's reputation clean.
Social media makes it more difficult for the President to persuade his target audience. Neutstadt says that the President has ties to every branch of the government and so if the President were to try and use social media to reach his audience he would be stepping into a line of fire from his opposition. These days it is very easy to expose the wrong things to the world or have your thought process twisted by the media. Therefore the President should use his ability to persuade differently because speaking to his target audience is better than putting his message out on social media where his opposition could use it against him.
The current media flurry makes it extremely difficult for Obama manage power and persuasion in an ideal way. Neudsadt argues that members of the public “base their expectations on what they can see of him. ” (Chapter 4) What they can see of him is widened significantly by social media. He now has less control of the political information available to the general public. All though an increase of information may contribute to the marketplace of ideas upon which our governmental system is built, specifically in terms of presidential power it makes it more difficult to persuade because he no longer controls (to the same degree) the information and message sent to the public.
In today's society, we are constantly bombarded with social media. In classes, at home, on the radio, we are consumers. We are constantly reading and excepting other people's opinions of our President, and developing our own. I think social media has the ability to present an unbiased opinion, but only if we make an effort to see all sides of the argument. It is the citizens responsibility to develop their own opinion based off the information that is presented to them. The media can present good and bad articles on President Obama, making it a great tool for knowledge. The President has the power to make an impact and to persuade the public at any point. The accessibility of social media makes it easier to find the negative criticism, but it also presents the public with the opportunity to listen.
-Meredith T.
I believe that social media makes it more difficult, and easier for the president to be persuasive towards his specific audience.He can easily communicate, because millions of people watch Youtube and news videos online every minute. This makes it easy to relate to them, and he seems more appealing to the audience. It is also sometimes difficult, as people can sometimes interpret this information differently. People can easily argue against him depending on how they receive his info. Every move he takes is also criticized, and he has no room for error through social media.
Neustadt constantly promotes the President's power of persuasion in his works. The ability for a President, infamous as a leader of the United States, to convince people to believe certain ideas is vast in comparison to that of an average American. However, with the development of social media, other opinions are being published almost more frequently than those of the President. If the President doesn't take advantage of the social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, then his power to persuade others could be lost amongst the millions of other stories circulating on and off line.
Social media plays a huge role in politics and prevents a lot of people from hiding. it makes politicians much more aware of what they say and do because they know of the ridicule that are likely to receive if something controversial is said. although this seems to be helpful for people that view politics it also hinders people because of the lies that can be made up. with the truth being easily shown to the public, lies can also be spread much quicker and much faster distorting what politicians say. social media is on the verge of having a negative effect on politics and losing the authenticity of what people say.
-i shared the google doc that proves i did this january 21
President Obama needs hold up a positive reputation, and with how quickly things spread on the internet, this can be difficult to do. A false rumor or embarrassing picture of the President can circulate extremely quickly around the internet, and it can spread to the very legislators the President has to convince to vote for his plan. Neustadt describes this need for a positive reputation a necessity for Presidents so that they can have a smooth easy road during their office as the President. Also, those who oppose the President might use social media to their advantage, and push back against the President. Not only can social media be used to weaken the President, it can also be used to strengthen his enemies.
The power of social media can easily be used against the President. Neustadt claims that is essential for a president to maintain a positive image throughout his presidency. Trolls on the internet have access to all sort of negative images of Obama. Propaganda can spread like rapid fire through social media cites and blogs. On the other hand, the President can attempt to persuade his audience through online advertisements. However, we all know bad news spreads faster than good news.
I think that social media can be used against the president in his efforts to persuade the public. As Neustadt claims, the power the president has is the power to persuade, and with the amount of coverage each party gets through social media the president is criticized by more people and more publicly than ever before. The media can put Obama in a negative light easily because of its prevalence throughout the nation. Although social media can cause difficulties for the president, his ability to reach large audiences through the use of sites such as Twitter allow for his ideas to be made clear quickly to several groups of people.
Social Media in Modern government definitely makes it more difficult for Obama to be persuasive. Everywhere Americans turn, there is some form of social media or marketing persuading us to buy something or believe a certain way. This goes for government as well. As simple as it is to make a positive, clean campaign, it’s a lot easier to make a dirty, mean campaign about one’s competitor. This complicates the clarity and persuasiveness of social media used in politics because citizens don’t know what or who to believe. On the other hand, social media can benefit the President greatly. With social media, he can communicate to almost all of America and get his point across clearly and easily.
-Reeve Reinsborough
Post a Comment