A 78-year-old Carroll, Iowa, woman says she’s so tired of seeing President Barack Obama on the airwaves that she’s selling her television sets — two of them. Deloris Nissen, a retired nurses’ aide and former Kmart employee who was raised on a farm near Audubon, placed a classified advertisement with The Carroll Daily Times Herald for Friday’s paper. In the $5.50 ad, Nissen tells readers she has two television sets for sale. The reason: “Obama on every channel and station.”
In an interview Nissen (a John McCain supporter) said she is serious about selling two TVs — and genuine about her disgust with what she believes to be an overexposed president. “I just got tired of watching him on every channel,” Nissen said. “I thought, my gosh, does he ever stay at the White House?” When the president does appear on a channel she happens to be watching, Nissen said she quickly turns. “I have the remote real handy,” Nissen said. “I have the batteries. I’m ready for him.” Nissen’s annoyance with President Obama as a frequent presence on her television doesn’t mean she’ll abandon the medium altogether. She’s keeping a bigger flat-screen television and selling an older 20-inch Sony and possibly a 13-inch set. “It’s too heavy,” Nissen said of the 20-inch TV. “I can’t handle it anymore.”
Obama’s own advisers and political observers across the ideological spectrum have for months debated whether the now popular president is overexposed. For her part, Nissen said she expects to take some flack for the advertisement in her local paper. After all, Obama did win Iowa and Carroll County in the 2008 election. But she’s not worried about any criticism. “I’m an old lady and I don’t care,” Nissen said.
Douglas Burns