I do agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message. Trenholm (2008) states, “he was expressing the beliefs that the channel through which a message is transmitted is as important as the message itself and that the channel, in fact, often determines which messages will be transmitted and which will be ignored” (p. 307).
This leads into McLuhan’s coolness factor. The usage of U.S. Presidents in the text was helpful in understanding this. JFK is considered “cool” enough to use the channel of television. He speeches were directed toward the audience’s issues not only was it what he had to say but his looks captured the audience as well. On the other hand Richard Nixon is classified as “hotter” his approach is to “hard-edged and direct” for television and would have probably achieved higher ratings if radio was the channel for his messages to the public. McLuhan’s idea of television as a “cool medium” is correct in my opinion. In fact our current President, Obama, has the coolness factor that allows him to be effective using television as one of the channels of communication.
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I like the links between presidents and being cool medium and cool. Messages are carried through the person and the connection they have with people they are delivering it to. We can see that people carrying such a message has it easier than others and it can be used as a strength when planning future messages. President Obama is considered cool because he has an image that represents hip for you youth, change for the hopeful and brains for the educated and informed. He is the ideal new era of leadership that need to not only engage with our large country but the international issues that he needs to address everyday.
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