With the help of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communications and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, we take a look at President Obama's Oval Office speech from last night. Jamieson analyzes the president's rhetoric, looking at whether it was effective in communicating his control over the Gulf oil crisis and setting up the changes in the country's energy policy.

From the Gulf region to the Beltway, everyone has an opinion on President Obama's eighteen minute long speech about the BP oil spill last night, including Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. That story and this morning's headlines.

From television, to talk radio, to the newsstands, Americans are inundated with news about the sorry state of politics. But are the media merely covering the story of D.C.'s gridlock, or are they creating it? For the second installment of our series, "Frustration Nation," we examine the role of the media and its impact on the political divisiveness in America and Washington, D.C., today.

President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address last night, covering a broad range of issues from our wars abroad, to the devastation in Haiti and the stalemate on healthcare reform at home. We talk with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, to review what the President addressed in his speech.

President Obama completes his first year in office today, and the excitement and euphoria that characterized his inauguration has turned to skepticism and doubt about his agenda.

Since the health care debate began, advocacy groups, including the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, have been arguing for a public option and for health care that's affordable for all their members. But will they be successful in using a civil rights organizing platform to affect the health care debate? For a primer on whether or not affordable health care can be considered a fundamental human right, we turn to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. We also hear from Hilary Shelton, the NAACP's senior vice president for advocacy and policy and director of its Washington bureau. And we talk to Jennifer Ng’andu, deputy director of health policy at the National Council of La Raza.

President Obama appeared on no fewer than five media outlets over the weekend, trying to get the word out about his health care initiative, the war in Afghanistan and his missile defense plans overseas. For a look at the impact of the president's media blitz, we speak to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tonight the president will trade in his policy-wonk hat for (hopefully) more comedic fare when he appears on "The Late Show with David Letterman." We are creating our own Top 10 list of things the president should not say on the show. Send us your suggestions and we'll make a list of the funniest.

There was a moment during the president's address to Congress last night when all eyes were not on President Obama. As the president called "untrue" the canard that health care reform would provide coverage to undocumented immigrants, Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) broke a decades-long tradition of comity and heckled the president, shouting "You lie!" The room booed his poor manners. To find out who Joe Wilson is, we talk to Mark Quinn, host of South Carolina ETV and Radio’s Public Affairs Program, The Big Picture. And for a look at the history of congressional comity we speak with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Watch Wilson's outburst in this clip from last night's address:

When we talk about health care reform, we're talking about a process of government: it's messy, it's complicated, and the tone changes week to week. For Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, this health care debate is a lesson in exactly the way government should work.

Now that the Pentagon has lifted its 18-year ban on press coverage of the return of America's war dead, will the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan return to the national conversation? Or has the moment passed us by? Is the American public war weary and ready to move on? For a look at what exposure to Dover Air Force base means, The Takeaway turns to Kathleen Hall Jamieson. She is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of numerous books, including Presidents Creating the Presidency and unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation.

He’s the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show. He’s been on the cover of GQ and Vanity Fair. His weekly “radio” address airs on YouTube and his emails are still going out regularly to supporters. President Obama is using the media in a way no president ever has. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of Presidents Creating the Presidency, joins John with an analysis of how the President's communication strategy is working.


Obama's most recent media appearance was on 60 Minutes last night. The first part of that interview is below.