Everyone knows that the death of Osama Bin Laden is a gigantic story, but evidence of how big it really is comes from the fact that 56.5 million Americans watched Obama’s address on the death of Bin Laden despite the fact that it aired late on a Sunday night.
Complete data is not available yet, but Variety reported, “Despite airing after prime time Sunday in about 80 percent of the country, President Obama’s 9-minute address to the country announcing the capture and death of Osama bin Laden drew about 56.5 million viewers, Nielsen said Tuesday.”
Both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attracted more that 60 million viewers for prime time news conferences, and Bush’s speech on the economic crisis attracted 52 million viewers in 2008, but it is unprecedented of a president to attract 56.5 million viewers at 11:30 PM (ET) for an address.
CNN proved again why they are the go to network for breaking news. While Fox News had Gerald Rivera at the anchor desk, and MSNBC had their weekend anchors, at least until they cut to the Brian Williams led NBC News coverage, CNN had Don Lemon who was soon joined by Wolf Blitzer and John King. Americans turn on CNN when news breaks and ten million of them did so for Obama’s address on the death of Bin Laden.
The President’s remarks on Sunday night were the most watched speech of his presidency. Obama’s inauguration, the most watched since Ronald Reagan, drew 37.8 million viewers. His speech on Sunday night drew almost 20 million more. What was even more impressive is that 80% of the nation watched the impromptu speech in non-prime time. For most of the country it was closer to bed time than prime time, yet America stayed up to watch history being made.
This has been a big few days for Obama. C-SPAN has reported that their YouTube video of Obama’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is now their most popular clip ever. Almost 6.2 million people have viewed Obama’s monologue since it was posted late Saturday night. C-SPAN previous top clip was Obama’s inaugural address which has been viewed by 4.7 million people in two and a half years.
The ratings and media attention will continue as President Obama visits Ground Zero tomorrow, and will sit down with CBS’ 60 Minutes for an interview that will air on Sunday night. To say that Sunday night’s speech is the defining moment of the Obama presidency is an understatement.
Obama is on a roll, and he is one set of good economic data away from being unstoppable in 2012.
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Reynardine
May. 3rd, 2011 at 11:26 pm
That is why I am afraid the corporatocracy will really be Hell-bent to pull the economic rug now.
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Mark
May. 5th, 2011 at 7:33 am
That’s why the GOP must go forward with anti-regulation, the removal of nearly all corporate taxes, and will not touch a jobs bill with a ten-foot pole. They have to double-down now in rhetoric because they’re losing the game.
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Sarah Jones
May. 3rd, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Wow -that’s amazing. I am so proud of President Obama’s courage on this matter. If this had gone wrong, his entire career would be over. But he did the right thing for his country – put his country over his career. And of course, the men and women who executed his strategy put their lives on the line, showing courage each day. Lots of great Americans to be proud of.
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nk007
May. 4th, 2011 at 1:53 am
Very Well said Sarah! Although Republicans have rushed to make sure that George Bush shares in this successful mission of finally getting Bin Laden, the fact remains that this was an operation authorized by President Obama that was well executed by the courageous men and women in the military.
I am quite sure that if the operation had failed Republicans would be out there, non-stop, loudly proclaiming that the President is a failure. I doubt that, had the operation failed, as was the case in Tora Bora under GWB, any Republican would be out there giving President Obama credit for his courage in taking the risk the notorious “terrorist.” In fact, I am quite certain that if this mission had failed, the GOP meme, enthusiastically repeated by the MSM, would be that President Obama is the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter.
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boil
May. 3rd, 2011 at 11:49 pm
i heard one of the rightwing jokers today, say that the celebration in front of the w.h., was staged by obama, and they also thought that obama gave out those flags the kids were waving, because kids today who like obama wouldnt be patriotic… this is how paranoid and schizo the rightwing has become.
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Moongal6
May. 4th, 2011 at 1:40 am
“Patriotism is the LAST refuge of a scoundrel”…..Samuel Johnson. Sound like anyone you know?
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Sarah Jones
May. 4th, 2011 at 7:52 am
That’s one of my favorite quotes lately.
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LeahJ
May. 4th, 2011 at 1:19 am
How petty and sad for people to be so partisan. It just shows they have no character.
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Mark
May. 5th, 2011 at 7:34 am
Worse. It shows they are amoral. Amoral people can commit atrocities at the drop of a hat. That’s the core value of the GOP.
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Gilbert Jennings
May. 4th, 2011 at 2:19 am
The decision made by the President that netted Bin Laden was a blow to those who’ve said he is a weak president. It especially makes Donald Trump look foolish. While he was riding the President’s back with his gibberish and thirst for attention, and continuing to play the Birther Card, the President had to leave crucial Bin Laden meetings to deal with him and the gleeful media. Trump crowed that he had done a great service for the American people. In reality,it was the President, and not Donald Trump, who did a great service for the American people. The same media that gave such an unworthy personality as Trump plenty of undeserved camera time, while basically ignoring the president, is now clamoring for his time.
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C.L.
May. 4th, 2011 at 3:26 am
President Obama usually gives excellent speeches, but his speech that night was as riveting in its content, as it was in its emotional complexity and maturity. He conveyed all the emotions that Americans were feeling on the news of OBL’s demise: righteous sense of justice finally served; fierce pride in promises kept and a job well-done by security/military personnel; sadness at the suffering endured over the last nine years; cool, calm clarity on who’s the real enemy (terrorists, not the religion of Islam); determined resolve in continuing our vigilance and protecting our security; renewed confidence in our collective identity as Americans …. and the list goes on.
GWB and his administration became so caught up in conducting two wars that they simply lost touch with the fact that the American people wanted OBL brought to justice as badly as a man dying of thirst in a desert. On May 1st, 2011, President Obama kept his promise to get OBL; he handed out the water……and it was so sweet after nine long years.
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Realist
May. 4th, 2011 at 4:33 am
The media team of the 2012 campaign is on the way to yet another set of awards from the advertising industry. Just a warm up, folks! No wonder he needs a billion dollars!
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DannyEastVillage
May. 4th, 2011 at 10:49 am
no wonder right wingers are such losers.
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cheers
May. 4th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
C.L. @ 3:26, Great Post and worth repeating:
“President Obama usually gives excellent speeches, but his speech that night was as riveting in its content, as it was in its emotional complexity and maturity. He conveyed all the emotions that Americans were feeling on the news of OBL’s demise: righteous sense of justice finally served; fierce pride in promises kept and a job well-done by security/military personnel; sadness at the suffering endured over the last nine years; cool, calm clarity on who’s the real enemy (terrorists, not the religion of Islam); determined resolve in continuing our vigilance and protecting our security; renewed confidence in our collective identity as Americans …. and the list goes on.” Frankly, the Americans who are denying the fact that OBL was killed and requiring proof are dishonoring not only our president but the military they so espouse to support.
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Anne
May. 4th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
I also watched the speech, and the president hit exactly the right note. Since it was about a murderous sociopath who finally met the same fate he meted out to others, it was an appropriately somber speech about justice finally being served. With his characteristic calm and deliberative approach, he made it clear that a lot of thought and planning went into this operation. It reminded me all over again just why I voted for him, and he kept a campaign promise into the bargain.
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