Editorial: Let’s see the numbers

Published 9:07 am Tuesday, September 13, 2011

There sure was a lot of hubbub and balderdash about scheduling President Obama’s jobs speech, a GOP presidential candidates debate and the NFL season opener.

But there didn’t seem to be much in the way of follow-up coverage concerning the TV ratings. After all, eyeballs watching TV screens was what the clamor was over in the first place.

So, in the interest of doing the job of the national media, we dug up the ratings:

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Republican debate: 5.4 million viewers.

Obama’s jobs speech: 31.4 million viewers.

NFL season opener: 27.2 million viewers.

Conclusion: Many Democrats criticized Obama for caving to Republican demands for him to reschedule. And it is a reputation he was somewhat earned. But Obama was correct to reschedule. After all, he probably knew he would garner his audience either night.

When a president can get more viewers than pro football, that’s a sign that Americans really are not as apathetic as they are accused of being. They truly care about the economy and this country.