Gibbs: State Of The Union Won't Coincide With Premiere Of 'Lost'

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was coy on Friday when it came to offering a date for the president to deliver the upcoming State of the Union address. He deflected questions as to whether the speech before a bicameral gathering of Congress would take place in January or February and only smiled suggestively when asked whether President Obama was waiting until health care reform was passed first.

But the press secretary did rule out one possible SOTU date -- much to the delight of a major television network. The speech, Gibbs said, would not take place on the same night as the three-hour premiere of the final season of ABC's "Lost".

"I don't foresee a scenario in which millions people who hope to finally get some conclusion with 'Lost' are preempted by the president," he said. "You can quote a senior administration official."

That response came to a question poised by a noticeably anxious ABC Radio's Ann Compton. But -- in a reflection of just how freaked out the network is about a SOTU-"Lost" duel -- it didn't put an end to the concerns.

Towards the end of the briefing, an AP radio reporter asked "on Ann's behalf" whether February 2 (the date of the premiere) "was definitely not it for the State of the Union address?"

Gibbs confirmed that to be true, while expressing his "love that all of the sudden ABC [news] is asking on behalf of ABC [the network]."

At which point a third ABC reporter, White House correspondent Jake Tapper, chimed in: "How about on behalf of the Dharma Initiative."

Comments

[Insightful]

05:27 PM on 01/16/2010

Robert Gibbs is great at lying in order to cover Obama's network of lies. The State of the Union address is such a crock anymore, I hate to see it take up 10 minutes worth of primetime. I am sure his massive and outrageous squandering of money we do NOT have to rebuild Haiti will be highlighted as some kingly gesture. What it is, is totally lacking in realistic values and concern for normal boundaries. He is over the top and into the pit as usual when it comes to considering his own country. Leave some space for other countries to make some sacrifices, Barack Hussein.

[henrypapillon]

10:52 PM on 01/10/2010

Whoa, thank God it's just that we've got 2 wars , a deep recession and we're 11.3 trillion dollars and debt.I thought I was going to miss an episode of a loser program.

[joedaplumper]

04:33 PM on 01/10/2010

Mahatma Gandhi , as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath.

This made him a super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

[Littlewords]

11:32 AM on 01/10/2010

Given everything thrown at both the country and POTUS this past year, and you find your major concern today is the potential schedule conflict of the State of the Union with your TV reality series, you my friend are the one that is sadly lost.

[bg1234567890]

02:45 PM on 01/14/2010

One: its not a reality series and two: its nobody's "major" concern. A conflict would have bothered a lot of fans, but almost all of them would have found a way to deal with it. That still doesn't mean its OK for the Whitehouse to create the conflict. Its the state of the union, not the second coming of Jesus. The thing is normally scheduled in January and could just as easily be scheduled for an evening with a less anticipated premiere. Nothing is going to be said in that speech that isn't already known by anybody paying attention. The speech has lost a lot of its significance in the modern world with the availability of internet and cable news 24/7. We shouldn't let it inconvenience us by bumping a highly anticipated premiere.

[ljc]

07:27 AM on 01/10/2010

What is Lost ? The integrity, civility and intelligence of the American people. The keyboard critics and commandos who do nothing except criticize and complain.

[suese]

12:30 AM on 01/10/2010

Who cares. They are both fiction, just like we've been told by the WH that the public option - oh, that was all fiction, all in you, the voter's mind. We never promised you a public option... even in the age of internet, they can say we never promised. At least Hillary is a fighter and would have at least put up a fight.
I refuse to watch this fiction for the next 3 years.
No more life long democrat.

[TheBaffler]

09:22 PM on 01/09/2010

Just say the speech was written by J.J. Abrams. The philistines will tune in by the millions.

[tlgeiger62]

07:04 PM on 01/09/2010

FINALLY gonna find out what is UP with that island!

[Feesister]

06:46 PM on 01/09/2010

What a comfort to know that Americans have their priorities straight.

[tlgeiger62]

07:03 PM on 01/09/2010

Sing it sister!

[cliffsiderock]

05:51 PM on 01/09/2010

They should just title the State of the Union address as "Lost". Lost jobs, lost war on terror, lost hundreds of billion in TARP, lost super-power status to China, oh yeah, come Novemeber, lost election.

[supergenius02]

05:04 PM on 01/09/2010

The White House is smart enought to know by now that their popularity with the American people is dwindling and Obama is suffering from a serious case of overexposure. Lost would have had historic ratings if all the other networks covered the SOTU and ABC had lost on which is the one of the best shows on TV.

[Nebris]

03:52 PM on 01/09/2010

This White House is aware enough to know that one disturbs The Hologram at ones peril.

[Freesia2]

03:48 PM on 01/09/2010

Sigh.

[Black Knight]

03:28 PM on 01/09/2010

It's moments like this where we should have mandatory testing for people who want to get involved in politics or vote. Or just let the country fail completely and build up from scratch.

[AttorneyAtLaw]

02:40 PM on 01/09/2010

Glad to hear that they can schedule the address so as to not interfere with Lost - the only entertainment show that I make a point to watch on a regular basis. Is the show more important than the state of the union? - of course not. It is still darned good entertainment though.

[MacQ]

04:28 PM on 01/09/2010

And you don't have to sort out for the next several days at which point you were lied to.