Obama's brand-name: 'Trillion,' think

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Obama's brand-name: 'Trillion,' think

by Mark Silva

Every name is a brand.

The Obama brand name has found its own associations, in the minds of Americans. And they're different now than they were before Election Day.

Can you say, Limbaugh?

One hundred days into the administration of President Barack Obama, the researchers at Nielsen say the conversation surrounding Brand Obama has shifted significantly since his election.
"Change'' is sort of out of the picture these days, they have found.

"Trillion'' is in the picture.

Nielsen's ''brand association map'' charts the online "buzz'' surrounding Obama's name, searching out keywords and phrases.

"The economy and the economic stimulus package are the issues most closely associated with President Obama's tenure,'' Nielsen reports. That includes word such as "crisis," "trillion," "banks," and "tax.''

With the exception of words such as "socialist" and "blame" found in the map for the last 100 days, Nielsen reports, "there is a surprising lack of emotionally charged or negative content about the president found in this dataset culled from millions of online messages and posts that mention Obama.''

Other changes between then and now:

"Obama carries little pre-election "baggage" with him into the White House,'' Nielsen notes. "Questions about his citizenship and Kenyan roots, for example, all but disappear from the mapped discussion once he takes office.''

Post-inauguration, the names of radio personality Rush Limbaugh and former President George W. Bush are now "the most closely associated to Obama in online conversations.''

Before the election, the name of Arizona Sen. John McCain correlated most closely to Obama

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq"two topics that produced high-volume, emotionally strong online buzz" -- are featured more prominently, and closer together, in the most recent sample.

The name of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the only foreign leader's name that emerges in correlation with discussion of Obama.

And look at this, cable news moguls: "CNN is the only media outlet that appears on the map.''

But look at this, White House strategists: "Change, the mantra of his campaign, has moved further out on the map.''

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