More Signs Of Obama’s Media Smarts: He Does a PSA

What do we know about President Elect Barack Obama and the new and old media? He knows how to use it. Just as FDR pioneered the effective use of radio and as JFK pioneered the effective use of TV as Presidential communication tools, Obama is showing signs that he will be a media-savvy President who’ll use these two strands and the “new media”:

1. He tapped into the Internet to raise big bucks and build a sea of cyberspace-linked campaign volunteers.

2. No one can accuse him of not holding enough press conferences. He’s holding so many and doing it so well that NBC may be tempted to offer him an hour a week slot, so they don’t have to pay for scripted programming…

3. Obama has taken the somewhat quaint idea of a President doing a “weekly radio address” on weekends when most people don’t listen to radio, and when young people are busy online or listening to iPods, and coupled it with a weekly Internet You Tube address. It may not be be as popular as You Tube’s singing cats, but it makes his ideas more accessible to younger Americans.

And now? He’s doing a PSA (public service announcement). The latest is a further sign that Obama will be a very real, vibrant multi-media presence during his term. As a famous/infamous constitutional amendment commercial in California blared, “It’s gonna happen, whether you like it or not…” The betting: most Americans will like it and it will increase his political clout. Here’s the latest:

h/t Mark Halperin