Orson Scott Card: Obama and the Press

rhinotimes.com ^ | January 29, 2009 | Orson Scott Card

[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.

[Tolik]

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[ontap]

O is so arrogant that he thinks he got elected by himself. If the drive bys ever turn on him he is toast. Not that they ever will!

[The Sons of Liberty]

and the press tries hard to pretend they are of the upper class, socially and intellectually...

Funny, when I was in school, those that majored in journalism did so because they were thought to be generally fairly stupid and couldn't do much else. I guess today's journalists confirm that assumption.

[Billthedrill]

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.

Yes, otherwise known by the somewhat misleading term "access." The Clinton people had to learn this lesson early on, but fortunately for Obama he has a number of their top professionals protecting him. Hillary's people, protecting him.

Heh heh.

[Tolik]

related to the subject of MSM integrity:

Featured on Rush Limbaugh 10/22/08:

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?

and discussed here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2110339/postss

 

[Jeff Head]

Obama is an abject socialist...even a marxist ideolog when you consider his past assocciations and look at his 2001 NPR interview...and he believes he is a cut above everyone and should not have to be subjected to demeaning and searching interviews.

He is a true demagogue and he meant it (and is proving it) when he stated time and again during the campaign that he meant to bring fundamental change to America. He is going about doing just that and it reaches far, far beyond our deployment in Iraq.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

BARACK HUSEEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS

NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES

OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING

[OneWingedShark]

Dang! I knew I liked Ender’s game, and the other article he wrote about the press’s horrid bias... Orson Scott Card definitely paints a good picture here.

[Locomotive Breath]

“Franklin Roosevelt knew this, and cultivated the press. So did Kennedy.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, so did Sadam Hussein. cf. CNN.

[TChris]

OK, one more time, Orson...

Why are you a Democrat???

[bgill]

They’ve invested too much in him to turn on him this soon. It will eventually come, but not until late in his term.

[sinanju]

The good professor has hit it on the head. Something none of us has picked up on beforehand.

Of course Obama is by nature arrogant and entitled. Of course he’s grown accustomed to the MSM fawning over him these past three years. Of course they want him to succeed.

But the beast still has to be fed. They HAVE to write about something these next four years and if he won’t graciously take them aside and feed them tidbits like a skilled operator, then they will HAVE to turn on him; simply to have something to report on and keep their phoney-baloney jobs.

[Darkwolf377]

This guy, who got the gentlest treatment by the press in any political campaign ever ... clearly despises them as a nuisance.

The members of the press believe Obama sees them as a braintrust with whom he will consult and give marching orders on mutually-agreed-on policies.

Obama actually sees them as Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction--use 'em while needed, then get rid of 'em...before they start shrieking "I won't be ignored!"

[pabianice]

The fact is that the Press Brothel tripped over one another to give The One their love and will NEVER turn on their vacuous creation. Newspapers today qualify as organized prostitution rings. It is the public that will soon decide they’ve had it with The Messiah.

[The Sons of Liberty]

I can’t wait till that happens. Usually, when a zero like 0bama is built up the way he has been, it isn’t long until there is a dramatic fall.

[GreyFriar]

Card ping

[higgmeister]

cause his grandiddy wuz!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Flightdeck]

“Usually, when a zero like 0bama is built up the way he has been, it isn’t long until there is a dramatic fall.”

This has been working its way into my expectations. I think the phrase “The higher they are, the harder they fall” will be very relevant in due time.

[SparkyBass]

O has slipped the Press a special nefarious serum. They've drunk it right up... and that Chrissy Matthews gal had herself a full on kegger! :)