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Obama Courts Risk With Sunday's 'Full Ginsburg'
President may risk overexposure by appearing in 5 talk shows
By Caroline Miller
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Posted Sep 19, 09 11:58 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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They call it "the full Ginsburg" because Monica Lewinsky's lawyer, William Ginsburg, was the first to do the five-fecta of Sunday talk shows back in 1999. What Obama's doing tomorrow is a slightly (if significantly) modified version, Politico notes, with the president swapping out Fox for Univision in the fifth slot. But only eight people have ever pulled it off—including Dick Cheney in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2007—and it doesn't always work. John Edwards did it just before losing out as VP nominee in 2004.
Of course Obama has an unfair advantage over other attention seekers: “When you’re the president, you make them come to you,” says CNN’s John King. “Ginsburg had to go to all five studios.” But political pros on both sides of the aisle are warning of overexposure: “More isn’t always more when it comes to a president’s words,” says Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers. “This is a mistake they can, and should avoid,” adds Bush counterpart Ari Fleischer. Ginsburg himself got fired a couple of months after starting the whole thing.