Is Obama overexposed?

>>> mitchell in new york. president obama continues his media blitz, but the latest nbc news " wall street journal " poll shows a third of the nation believes he's overexposed and that's not the real headline because chief correspondent chuck todd joins us. so far so good as far as the media exposure. what is your analysis?

>> underexposed, overexposed. 54% said they're seeing him the right amount. the white house saying for weeks this question of overexposure is a creation of the beltway or the amtrak corridorof new york and washington where people are thinking old school and that because of the way that the public receives information that they're going to have a different attitude and that's what these numbers confirm. the other fun fact about this, if you're a mccain supporter, guess what, you're tired of seeing the president. if you voted for the president, you can't get enough of him and you do want to see him and you do believe it is the right amount. we're seeing a little bit of a split among that but a clear majority saying they're seeing the right amount of him and probably only reinforce the white house . you can't stop. one other reason why they did this big pleadia blitz, they're sucking up oxygen and just less air for their opponents to breathe.

>> if they get the attention they want to get from it, it's true. if people don't ignore him. now, the five interviews on the sunday talk shows didn't hit all the notes that he might have wanted because he had to deal with questions he didn't like to, but david letterman , let's watch this. he hit a certain tone on the race question.

>> right.

>> is he on to something there, or is that just something to talk about?

>> well, first of all, it's important to realize that i was actually black before the election. so --

>> how long have you been a black man?

>> so the american people , i think, gave me this extraordinary honor and that tells you where the country is at.

>> that's a light way of treating a tough issue that they really didn't want to address and kind of shoving it over the side and doing it with humor.

>> i will give a hint of something you'll see more of on msnbc news. fascinating divide on a lot of these issues. on the race question itself, it's been older, more veteran american politicians who brought this up and jimmy carter and nancy pelosi and younger folks, people under 50, like the president, very dismissive of this idea. when you look at the overall numbers, a vast majority of the country personally likes this president. even when they don't disagree with this policy. it gives some evidence to the argument the white house makes which is, you know, look, there is an extreme element here that doesn't like us, but it's a very small percentage of the country. the vast majority of the country likes this guy and maybe there is too much attention being given to the small minority.

>> i'm not sure nancy pelosi will like you describing her as older. she's a veteran.

>> seasoned, wise.

>> let's talk about foreign policy . what they describe as a frank exchange. frank is diplomatic code.

>> with earnest there and earnest and frank and not so nice. basically the israelis are saying we'll freeze settlements for six to nine months and the palestinians are saying, wait, you had promised years ago, but before this prime minister that you would freeze period and the u.s. is backing the politicians on this part of the negotiations. barack obama is saying, let's get going. this is not a time to negotiate about the size of the table, this is time to get moving, but what leverage does he have.

>> the entire foreign policy doctrine , he won't describe it this way. i believe that he, himself, has an ability that he can get, this is a photo-op and what the israelis have described it privately but they felt the need to give this to the president. so --

>> forced to do nothing.

>> that's right. the white house will say, hey, that in itself is a victory. the fact that we force the photo-op. at least it's a beginning, but i tell you, not much to hang your hat on. we'll see. i think the next two or three months what the follow-up is going to be. you don't have -- didn't seem like an optimistic george mitchell the united states / middle east special honor. he came back empty handed and they're trying to make a big deal by just having the meeting and the israelis they'll take this strong stance until they know abbas speaks for all palestinians. they don't trust abbas could speak for the territories that are controlled by hamas.

>> a lot more of the complete " wall street journal " plan and health care .

>> big study on afghanistan and health care , of course. very important numbers that this white house , they think health care was difficult, wait till they tackle afghanistan.

>> perfect segue. thank you, chuck.

>> you got it.