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The President Vs. the Press
Ron Edmonds / AP Photo
Last night’s press conference showed Obama’s long-term thinking at odds with the media’s short-term baiting. So who’s in control here?
Viewed from above, it would be easy to cast last night as a kind of psychodrama that pitted Obama’s intentions—fixing the multiple messes he inherited from the Bush administration and reorienting America’s priorities in a direction of greater equity and sustainability in the face of a massive economic crisis and growing populist outrage—versus the press corps’ desire to exploit that outrage to get Obama to blow his cool, show some emotion, and make some noise.
The key moment came when CNN’s Ed Henry tried to stir up some trouble. Here’s his question:
Thank you, Mr. President. You spoke again at the top about your anger about AIG. You’ve been saying that for days now. But why is it that it seems Andrew Cuomo seems to be, in New York, getting more actual action on it? And when you and Secretary Geithner first learned about this, 10 days, two weeks ago, you didn’t go public immediately with that outrage. You waited a few days, and then you went public after you realized Secretary Geithner really had no legal avenue to stop it.
This is a presidency defined by cable news food-fights and Maureen Dowd-style armchair psychoanalysis.
And more broadly—I just want to follow up on Chip [Reid] and Jake [Tapper]—you’ve been very critical of President Bush doubling the national debt. And to be fair, it’s not just Republicans hitting you. Democrat Kent Conrad, as you know, said, quote, “When I look at this budget, I see the debt doubling again.” You keep saying that you’ve inherited a big fiscal mess. Do you worry, though, that your daughters, not to mention the next president, will be inheriting an even bigger fiscal mess if the spending goes out of control?
Note both Henry’s tone and content. First off, the question has no relationship to substance. Instead it’s about
a) An alleged political horserace between Andrew Cuomo and Obama that, as far as I can tell, does not exist
b) Why Obama “waited a few days” before “go[ing] public with that outrage?”
c) And following up on his bros “Chip and Jake,” he wants to know, why isn’t Obama’s budget enjoying universal praise, as “it’s not just Republicans hitting” him, but a conservative Democrat is as well.
Obama tried to explain the relationship between the priorities of his budget and the recovery he predicts, as well as the eventual reduction in the deficit he both inherited and will be increasing. But because Obama, unlike George W. Bush, decided to allow follow-up questions, which vastly reduces the ability to dodge questions he does not like, Henry was able to focus again, laser-like, on the president’s refusal to act out about AIG as quickly as Henry would have liked, and again raised the so-far nonexistent Cuomo vs. Obama contest: “So on AIG, why did you wait—why did you wait days to come out and express that outrage?” and goading him again, into a contest with Cuomo by using that most favored of journalistic weasel words, “seems.” (As Hamlet should have taught us, the word “seems” is a license to make shit up. “Seems madam?” he says to his lying mother, “Nay it is. I know not seems.”) “It seems like the action is coming out of New York in the attorney general’s office. It took you days to come public with Secretary Geithner and say, look, we’re outraged. Why did it take so long?” Obama’s answer: “Well, it took us a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak.”
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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Eric Alterman is a professor of English and journalism at Brooklyn College and a professor of journalism at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author, most recently, of Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Important Ideals.
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Eric Alterman is a professor of English and journalism at Brooklyn College and a professor of journalism at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author, most recently, of Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Important Ideals.
"Well, it took us a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."
How refreshing.
Good work E. An honest and fair assessment of the show.
The truth is the truth. A lie is a lie.
Obama is a liar. He didn't wait "a few days" for his AIG outrage. Those bonuses have been common knowledge for months. His outrage came when he saw he was cornered by the public's hostile reaction (the Professor thinks we are all stupid) and had no way to wiggle out of the mess. And he resorted to his usual M.O.
- I never heard Rev. Wright say anything bad
- I didnt know Rezko had a bad reputation
- I didn't know Ayers was a terrorist
- I wasn't aware of Blago's corruption
- No one told me about any AIG bonuses
Sound familiar?
Actually, it is better that he is lying than not knowing about them because it is worse for us all if he was unaware. What else is he "unaware" of?
It's really very simple. Obama is not going to give short soundbites as answers because he really does involve himself in policy-making. He's wonkish because he's a wonk. He doesn't have talking points delivered by Rahm Emanuel every morning, as opposed to the Bush and Clinton way of doing things. It's a different world for the journalists. They will continue to attempt their gotcha moments for awhile, under the guise of being responsible journalistss, but eventually, they will be forced to adjust. Unless they want to be universally mocked for their stupidity like Ed Henry.
The problem with the Washington Press Corps is that 60 days into a new Presidency they still think there covering the half-wit with the veeps hand up his ass. What they need to do is realize that our current President uses facts not his gut and is not afraid of being himself. And since he's not about to change its the press corps that really needs to find a new approach to dealing with the President. Faux rage and gotcha questions from the press only diminishes them and not the President.
Obama's displayed competence/stability last night, while he answered questions completly with cool & calm demeanor....But this morning, every word he spoke has been parsed, disected, and reviewed for any hint of contridiction while being attacked daily and relentlessly. How many gaffes will he make? Is he reading the teleprompter? How will he be received? This will make or break time for Senator Obama, how will he handle the pressure....oooooooh! Fortune teller journalism is all the rage nowadays. The eternal wishy washy MSM media, journalists, and political pundits who traffic these days in nothing but speculation with their capacity to dote on the negativity before a situation even materializes as slaves to the voracious 24/7 news cycle. Faux news have even brought in psychics & lie detectors to pycho analyze his tone and body movements, but this is our media today. Slow news day? Make something up. Look for the worst possible scenario. Get the Rethug talking points and go wild.
Panic everyone. The end is near.
Now, who wants lemonade?
In all fairness
We should give the press corps
a little time
to catch up
Most of them trained
during the
Mad Max years.
Refreshing is in the word.
And it was quick and sharp too.(As if to say, we're done with this) I don't think Ed ever saw it coming. This was the definition of the b.s. the media endorses.
That's a very unique (and wrong) interpretation Opedanderson.
I am 100% certain if this happened under the Bush administration we never would have heard about it this quickly and there would have NEVER been the kind of action there is from so many fronts to stop it.
And if by months you mean weeks and if by common knowledge you mean the AIG execs who new they were getting them, sure. sure. Whatever you want to continue to attempt to undermine the good work we've seen in just 2 months.
opedanderson--tired, tired, tired.
connie47--I'm with you! Last night's press conference was like a drink of cool water after the intellectual desert that was Bush II.
My husband and I were watching and saying things like, "Isn't this nice? He's explaining his entire approach methodically and succinctly. What an improvement."
It will take awhile for all of us, including the MSM, to get used to an intelligent president who actually understands the issues he's trying to deal with. His press conferences may not be theatrical enough for some people, but I'll take a wonky professor over a smirking illiterate anyday!
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
I was so disappointed that the President refused to answer the Ebony reporters question. The president gave a non answer about taking care of the homeless/hungry. He tried to sidestep the question by turning it in to a "military vets" question, when clearly it was not.
Lots of double talk from the guy that I voted for. He is just another hack we are stuck with for 4 more years. But he will be voted out after that. I'm afraid that the President is already in his bubble and doesn't have a clue about the real anger out here in the heartland.
Click212, well said, my feelings exactly. I was one of the whites caught up in the hysteria. But, I still wouldn't have voted for John McCain. It was a lose, lose election.. a rock star or an old has been .. that was the question. Sigh
@click212
I just got a new
Puppy
And I want to thank you
For supplying
The name
That I've been
FIshing around for
Cronie Brazile
It's perfect.
(Has a much nicer ring
Than black opportunistic hyena)
How nice for the Republican attack dog pack that they have opedanderson and click212 doing their dirty work for them. Thanks, Eric, for recalling what actually occurred and how desperate the media are to make controversy out of nada. Another win for the Prez, easy.
The media have lost their way. Instead of telling us what he said, they tell us what he should have said. They tell us how he should feel. Obama is a gifted communicator, and is finding ways to tell his story without the media filters. Good for him.
It took Obama several days to figure out what he was talking about in order to deliver a response to the AIG controversy? Please. That's not refreshing, it's a load of bull.
And if it's true, I'd like to know what ever happened to his philosophy of "walking and chewing gum at the same time"? He's the president. It's his responsibility to be both informed and responsive in the face of any crisis or scandal. He has been neither.
He may not be as bad as Bush, but you're doing Obama a disservice if that is the only standard you're holding him to.
Did IQ's suddenly drop while I was out of the room?
I VOTED for Mr.Obama and I am very disappointed and concerned about his performance in last night!
Every answer he gave for every question he asked was the same: the TRILLION dollars he wants for his budget!
And no, I do not buy the answer that he gave to Mr.Henry concerning the AIG bonuses and when he found out. We had already been down this road last year concerning bonuses. And after all, the president was the person who signed the stimulus bill which DID NOT limit corporate bonuses.
When he has been asked about that, he states he did not read the entire bill. He did not know that this hot button issue was included in the bill? No matter how you slice it, Mr.Obama comes off looking either uninformed, out of the loop, or continuing business as usual. After all AIG was a big campaign contributor to our current president...
We should not have blind obedience to any of our leaders. He promised more. We should expect more from him.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
A president who thinks. What a concept! He is a "tall drink of water" for sure.
i think i understand whats going on with the media, ever since monica-gate the presidency has been a constant source for news clips that are essentially entertainment, no big supprised a married man in power had an affair and then tried to deny it, but sex sells and the media made a killing off of it. Bush....well, thats too easy, i would really like to compare his presidency to going to the zoo to watch the stupid monkeys throw crap and make funny noises, your willing to pay the 10 dollars a day even though youve seen it already, its just funny (until they start flinging it at you). and during the campaign they made a killing because everyone was so excited about the possibility of a black president and republicans had to spend TONS for negative ad campaigns. but now obama is in office he hasnt embarrassed himself like clinton, and he is a thoughtful and well informed decision maker (very un bushlike). i think the media is probably just TERRIFIED of the prospect of giving up their yellow journalism campaign of the past 10 years and having to go back to thinking of stimulating articles that just might have some sort of intelligible content in it
To put it mildly the press has become a huge disappointment. During Watergate the press played a vital role in our society. During the W. Bush administration they became lapdogs. They talk about the "liberal" press. What a joke. Most of them (with a few notable exceptions) are pawns of the neo-cons. The sensationalism and focus on such non-stories as Octo-mom are just the smokescreen the neo-cons have wanted people focused on while they pilaged our economy and attacked the constitution. There is precious little real journalism practiced any more. Soon everything will be manufactured drivel like they spew on Faux News.
I think the President's response - to wait a few days so that he knew what he was talking about - was exactly the right one. In the midst of all this insanity we need someone to just stand back and look, listen, think. Somebody needs to stop and think. I suggest it be the President.
In the end, though, we're all in this comment box because the CNN reporter tried to manufacture a story. That reporter might be a little more famous today, but at what cost to the greater good of the nation has his 'bonus' come?
Both candidates talked about changing the culture of Washington. We'll never know if John McCain's approach would have worked, or to what extent. But we now know this: President Obama's approach may require much more time and effort than we anticipated and it may require more resolve than he anticipated.
Selah.
Love to RussianHatGuy, EdinNJ, gditty, Jessica150 and mbstrong for expressing the truth so ably.
HERE'S A DIME MR. HENRY. CALL YOUR MOTHER AND TELL HER YOU DON'T HAVE IT TO BE A JOURNALIST.
For those who don't recall, these are more or less the words of Kingsfield from "Paper Chase." Obama is a master of the socratic method after his years of practice as a law school professor. The press is not playing on an even playing field.
Henry's slapdown by Obama has to rank as one of the classic moments of presidential press conference. Obama's eviseration of Cheney in his response to Kroft's 60 Min. question was equivalent to a line backer getting a clear shot at a quarterback -- SMACK!
The point is that the press has become entirely too comfortable asking dumb-ass questions. Obama has the intelligence and presence of mind that he simply isn't vulnerable to the old Sam Donaldson-type crap. If you're going to go after Obama on his playing field (recall that the press conferences are conducted literally in his house and under his terms), the press better have all its ducks lined up and be ready with its A-game.
Thank you.
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