The President priming

This story is about the speech President Obama gave on October 19 in North Chesterfield Virginia promoting his Jobs Act.  His began his speech by letting the audience know that he is aware that they feel as though their voices aren’t being heard.  He speaks of the troubled American economy and the idea that to begin to fix it “everybody pays their fare share.”  Touching on the fact that his plan, The Jobs Act, won’t cost 98% of American tax payers anything; it would be paid for by a tax increase on the top 2% earners in the country, including himself, which he says he will gladly do. His speech is riddled with references to Congress’ lack of action, and more specifically, the Republicans in congress. He lets his audience know that 63% of Americans support his plan and that the Jobs Act is composed of things Republicans have supported in the past, yet when it came to the actual vote, every Republican in the Senate voted against it.  The President also spoke of his willingness to hear the Republican’s alternative to his Jobs Act that they weren’t willing to vote on.  He informs his audience that the plan presented by Republicans included eliminating clean air and water regulations, deregulating Wall Street, and ending the healthcare reform that covered 30 million Americans that would otherwise be without health insurance.  He makes very clear distinctions between his plan and theirs saying of the Republican plan, “It’s a plan, but it’s not a jobs plan.”  Reinforcing the idea that he is willing to debate the ideas in their plan, but that the American people
need something that will produce jobs now, intimating that the Republican plan has nothing to do with creating jobs.  I think this is a great example of priming. The President wants the American people to conclude that the thing they are most concerned about, JOBS, is something the Republicans in congress aren’t concerned about, but he absolutely is.