Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, author of The Fix, illustrates Obama's surprise trip to Iraq as an example of priming (as an extension of agenda setting):
In a mid-March CNN poll, just six percent named the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as the nation's most pressing priority -- roughly one tenth the percentage of people who chose the economy (63 percent).
With that as a backdrop, Obama's decision to stop off in Iraq seems to be aimed at reminding people of the struggles and sacrifices still happening in the region as he prepares to ramp up America's military presence in Afghanistan.
...
This side trip -- coming at the conclusion of Obama's eight day foreign trip -- effectively pushes Iraq back into the front of peoples' minds (at least for a day or two) and reasserts the continued need for sacrifice as the country seeks to deal with its continued economic problems.
HuffPost had this story as their top headline this afternoon, showing a spread of Iraq-related news headlines as the featured picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment