Posted on 01/30/2009 8:31:34 AM PST by Tolik
I don't know about you, but I thought it was a delicious moment when President Obama made his condescending handshaking visit to the press room and got testy when the reporters insisted on asking him questions.
"If you keep asking questions I won't be able to do this any more," he says, sternly, like a father saying, "Do I have to turn this car around?" He was so arrogant that I laughed out loud. And also unbelievably dumb about the press. This guy, who got the gentlest treatment by the press in any political campaign ever (while they made grossly unfair attacks on Palin), clearly despises them as a nuisance.
What does he think, that these people are like Obama's other worshipers, just because their coverage of his anointing – er, coronation – no, make that "inauguration" – was so fawning?
They don't want to shake your darling hand, Mr. President, they want to get answers to questions, especially to very hard and tricky questions, so that they can further their careers and make a cool impression on their colleagues and competitors.
Franklin Roosevelt knew this, and cultivated the press. So did Kennedy. You do this by bringing them in and having conversations with them in small groups, off the record but with enough "unattributed" stories and quotes ("a senior administration official says ...") that they are in your debt.
Inside news is the coin you spend to buy their loyalty. But Mr. Obama has never had to do this because they bestowed their support on him unearned during the campaign.
He doesn't understand that now that George W. Bush is gone, whom the press despised because he was an actual man of the people (and the press tries hard to pretend they are of the upper class, socially and intellectually), the press has to continue advancing their careers.
If they can't do it by sucking up to you (i.e., getting exclusives from you now and then), they'll do it by sticking it to you. Their career advances just fine no matter which tack they take.
It's already starting. On The Daily Show of Jan. 20, 2009, Jon Stewart and Jason Jones pointed out just how much change there really is between Bush's and Obama's rhetoric. And the clincher is the declaration that "I don't think Obama means it, which gives me hope."
It's not as though Stewart and Jones have changed their views – they still have contempt for traditional American values. They just assume, as the liberal media did with Clinton, that Obama is a complete lying hypocrite. They had their man dead on with Clinton; but who knows about Obama?
Watch the bit on http://snipurl.com/obamainaug. Long address: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=216538&title=changefest-09-obamas-inaugural
The news media have already achieved their goal – to elect the first black president and put an end to Republican rule. Now they have to make a living for the next four years, and you, Mr. President, have just announced to them that you intend to keep them in the playpen with the other children.
This is so not going to work. Unless, of course, you have a plan to circumvent the power of the press.
And who knows? Maybe the fact that most of the mainstream news media threw away their souls and their integrity during the Bush administration means that they have nothing left – no personal, inner resources that will allow them to stand up to a president who despises them.
Four years of writing about Senate Republicans trying to obstruct Fearless Leader won't cut it. They can't afford to have readers/viewers get bored.
[If the drive bys ever turn on him he is toast. Not that they ever will!]
They will turn on him, it is the nature of the scorpion. When Obamessiah turns out to be the bumbling Oz behind the curtin, they will have to turn on him or be sucked into the whirlpool. That’s not saying it won’t take a while, it will be like suddenly finding out the tooth fairy doesn’t exist.
It will be one of those “I”M shocked,SHOCKED to discover there is gambling going on in this establishment”moments!!
Hanson calls Obama’s behavior Hubris.
If Bush had 1/10 of the good will and forgiveness showered on Obama, we’d had no anti-war movement; Iraq would’ve been a success long time ago because the enemies would not see us divided and would not hope for change. etc., etc.
I think sometimes that nobody in the last decades did more damage to America than Al Gore that incited the Dems to illegitimize Bush every step in his Presidency, which gave more reasons to our enemies to believe that we are the “weak horse” and encouraged them to fight and the fence-sitters to believe them.
And now he is up to more mischief with the Global warming hysteria that can rob us blind after the stimulus robbery. And just to think that at one point I thought him more reasonable than Clinton!
He wrote a lot of good stuff after 9/11. Just follow the links at the ping post.
ever.
They will.
They may be the last ones in the country to do so, but they will.
Which, hopefully, will be this summer to early fall. :-)
“ender’s game is the best book.
ever.
“
It’s good. Some of the rest of that series gets lost, but the latest one (Ender In Exile) isn’t bad. There are 8 of them in all, IIRC.
Thanks for the ping. Orson Scott Card is correct: Obama despises the media even though they worship him and parrot what he wants them to say.
Thanks for the ping. An article by O.S. Card is always a great read.
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