Obama Overload? President to Do 'Full Ginsburg' Sunday

Sept. 16, 2009— -- Fans of President Obama are in for a treat this weekend. The president is going on a massive publicity blitz as he steps up his push for health care overhaul.

Obama will be interviewed Sunday on five shows -- ABC News' "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," CNN's "State of the Nation," CBS's "Face the Nation", NBC's "Meet the Press" and Univision's "Al Punto with Jorge Ramos" -- in what is called a "full Ginsburg."

In modern media lore, the first time someone pulled the five-show feat was 11 years ago, in 1998, when Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William Ginsburg, made the rounds to defend his client. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., did a full Ginsburg in 2007 after launching her presidential bid.

For both Ginsburg and Clinton, Fox News Sunday made the cut, and Univision didn't. Such is not the case for Obama: Democrats said the Fox News Sunday audience is largely entrenched in its opposition to the president, essentially beyond persuasion, and so submitting to an interview might not be the best use of Obama's time.

Polls indicate that Americans said the more they hear about the president's proposed overhaul the less they like it. An ABC News/Washington Poll last week showed 54 percent of Americans feel that way. White House officials said that's because Americans are hearing false attacks on Obama's plan, not reality -- hence the PR blitz.

Critics snipe that the president risks overexposure. In addition to this weekend's shows, he granted interviews last week to ABC News' "Good Morning America" and this week to CBS's "60 Minutes," CNBC and Bloomberg News.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden said it's too much.

"I think the worry is it's gone beyond overexposure and now we have what I would call the 'Obama omnipresence.' You almost can't escape this president," Madden said on ABC News' "Top Line." "It goes beyond just cable news and it goes into whether or not you're flipping on ESPN and you're seeing him talk about basketball or you turn on the Lifetime channel and you hear what Michelle Obama is wearing this week. And I think that begins to wear on a lot of people."