So the president of the United States of America is coming to host a town hall meeting in Ritchie Coliseum on Friday at 11 a.m.
For some reason, he didn't yet disclose the subject of the meeting.
Who else is sad that it's during class?
Why do you think Obama, with access to so many prestigious venues, chose UMD? He is known for targeting a younger audience; this may be a chance for him to get exposure to young voters with the 2012 presidential election coming up.
Opinions please!
8 comments:
Myself, Matt, and David ran into Professor Harvey in the afternoon today. She said she is trying to get a few of us pres passes to cover the event. That would be amazing. If not, then no offense I might be a little late to class. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity even if you're a republican.
Anyways, I do think it's really cool for the president to be coming to UMD. It is a little random to visit in the summer, but he probably has a jammed pack schedule so I guess it's still a good move. Plus, there's lots of summer programs and orientations groups so there will be lots of college students around.
I think it's a very good idea to become familiar with the younger college students. Obviously he is already starting to "campaign" for re-election and everyone knows the young citizens swayed the vote in his favor last time.
I'm very interested about what he decides to talk about. Will he advise students about college and the life ahead of them. Or will he speak more formally about the issues he plans to address in the next four years I think he will go in the more friendlier direction to the life after college stuff. I'm guessing he will crack a few jokes and try to get students to vote for him next year.
Guys, I saw the message from President Loh early today, and my wheels immediately started spinning about how we could move things around on our syllabus to see if we can have a hand in this story. So please put on hold thoughts of skipping class (!!!) until we can chat about how, as journalists, we can cover this. (And yes, one way or another, we will be writing about the president's visit, even if it's by talking to folks outside the venue.) Please take a look tonight at our news bureau's coverage of Obama's last visit to campus, when he came to pitch health care reform: http://www.newsline.umd.edu/health/specialreports/healthcare/obamarally091709.htm
Our students were inside and outside the Comcast Center, writing stories, shooting photos for slide shows, shooting video, and blogging.
Stay tuned.
One more point: Please remember that you may be covering a political story this week or next. As a reporter (not a columnist), you should never be publishing your personal views on the politicians you may be covering. We'll be talking about this more tomorrow in our ethics session.
Best, Chris Harvey
Your link got cut off on my screen so I can't get to the site =[. I'll try to find it through google though. I would be soooo excited if we got to cover this!
Speaking personally, I AM SUPER SAD to not go!! I mean a) it's President Obama. and b) It's a rare opportunity, especially being within walking distance of the president of the USA. But, since class is a priority for all of us, we'll just have to miss out. But who knows? Maybe we'll get to stop by or something.
As for his reason for coming to UMD, it would most likely be for his campaign, in my opinion. It was the youth population that influenced his '08 win, so maybe he's just getting more young voters for re-election. Why UMD of all places though? No clue. But, maybe it's one of those tours where he visits from town to town, college to college, since he's gonna need all the supporters he can get.
The President has made many outreaches to younger Americans, both through town halls such as this, and also through social networking sites. A couple of weeks ago, he hosted a Twitter town hall and in 2008 was the first candidate to really take advantage of interactive technology. This allowed him to build such a large following after starting out as a virtual unknown. It is this outreach to first time voters that enabled him to upset frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, and ultimately win the presidency. It is clear, that Obama is attempting to reconnect with this base of young Americans that helped drive his initial election to the presidency.
I believe that Obama is attempting to reach out to the younger generation and he is choosing the University of Maryland campus to relate to his younger supporters. Instead of choosing prestigious venues with old men in suits, Obama is choosing a university with college so that he can try to relate with young people. I think that this is a great opportunity for young people to listen to our president speak regardless of how they feel about him. We can all be proud and excited that Obama is coming to the University of Maryland campus, and I am sure that young people around the country are feeling the same way, which is helping Obama's popularity.
When I found out that Obama was coming here I was excited because he’s from my hometown and I’ve only seen him in once, and he wasn’t the president then. Now I can see him, but I have class and can’t go. I’m hoping Professor Harvey lets us get out of class and goto the meeting. This would be a great experience for us as young journalist to have.
I don’t know why obama is coming but if i had to i would agree with Matt, Obama is trying to reach the young voters and potential voters.He’s choosing UMD as a venue because its casual place where young people like us can come and feel comfortable and not have to dress in shirt and tie.
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