By now you may have heard all the buzz about Barack Obama aborting yesterday’s press conference once it became clear that the assembled reporters wanted to ask about the Goolsbee flap and the Rezko trial, instead of hopeyness and changitude. Or you may have seen the video.
Ed Morrissey, among others, noted the contrast with how the legendarily temperamental John McCain handled his press conference about the bogus NYT sex innuendo story. But I have not seen anyone write about the two Chicago reporters who led the questioning.
Obama tried to paint Carol Marin, political editor at NBC5 in Chicago and columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, as simply miffed that she had not been granted an individual interview. But it is likely that Obama refused that request because Carol Marin is a multiple award-winning journo whose focus has been political and judicial corruption, organized crime, and the government. Indeed, she is second only to the semi-retired John “Bulldog” Drummond as an expert on such issues. And what her NBC5 bio omits is that she once left that station at the top of her game in protest when management hired Jerry Springer to do commentary, which says something about her professional ethics.
Marin was backed up by Sun-Times DC bureau chief Lynn Sweet. Given that Lynn Sweet has written of her regret that she could not follow Obama into the locker room at Chicago’s East Bank Club after a workout, she cannot be accused of having some axe to grind. But even Sweet has started to balk at the lack of access to and arrogance of Obama’s inner circle regarding the press. ÂÂ
Obama consultant David Axelrod may be regretting his televised claim that Sweet was wrong to say that Obama has not sat down with the Chicago reporters who are most familiar with the Rezko case, particularly now that Sweet has published her rebuttal of Axelrod and Obama communications chief Robert Gibbs. Camp Obama seems to have at least temporarily soured an otherwise friendly reporter.
Yesterday morning, I noted that the media would have to get more aggressive if they want to get Obama to budge on answering their questions. The media finally treated Obama as they would Hillary Clinton or John McCain. They have not gotten answers to their questions (yet), but Obama’s reaction was revealing in itself. Having criticized the media for falling down on the Obama beat, it is only fair to note that on Monday, Marin and Sweet stood up.
Update: The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, however, gives the press far too much credit for treating Obama like the political candidate he is. If Milbank thinks that the Obama press corps has been in a “slumber,” pretending that they suddenly became “menacing” only lays the groundwork for the media — and Obama — to later pretend he has gotten rough treatment. The reality is that he was asked a handful of questions that would be asked of any poilitical candidate in these circumstances and Obama’s response was to personally attack a reporter and stalk away.
Pingback by The Daily Brief: Military Musings and Thoughts Less Filtered » Election Day with Thoughts on Obamania on 3/4 @ 6:43 am #
[...] interesting to see the some rifts in the great clouds of swooning adoration surrounding B. Obama, though. Nothing puts the whole Obamania thing into better perspective than an [...]
Comment by Mike on 3/4 @ 7:10 am #
Thanks for the splendid aggregation effort – my day’s reading is sorted! I don’t have the time/brains to handle trackbacks, but I’ve linked you here:
http://monkeytenniscentre.blogspot.com/2008/03/rezko-this-guy-really-is-bad-news.html
Comment by alppuccino on 3/4 @ 7:20 am #
What about the inherent danger to Barack in meeting with these reporters? They could be assassins posing as reporters. That’s how it will happen y’know.
Comment by Patriot1776 on 3/4 @ 7:30 am #
http://www.counterpunch.org/gonzalez02292008.html
The Obama Craze – A MUST READ!!!
Comment by Pablo on 3/4 @ 7:31 am #
I’m reminded of Kerry’s brilliant ‘I’m not gonaa talk to anybody’strategy of 2004. Speechifying isn’t going to be enough.
Trackback by Right Wing Nut House on 3/4 @ 7:32 am #
“C’MON GUYS. I ANSWERED LIKE 8 QUESTIONS.”
The Prophet of Change:
Toward the end of the press conference, the question of Goolsbee’s meeting was raised again. Obama answered curtly and then walked out after a staffer called last question. The press erupted with shouts, but Obama cont…
Comment by Slartibartfast on 3/4 @ 7:40 am #
It’s all about the Audacity of Running as the “Hope” Candidate against Mrs. The Man From Hope.
Comment by BJTexs on 3/4 @ 8:17 am #
Methinks Barry is going to learn a hard lesson: One doesn’t continue to curry favor with the press by accusing reporters of asking tough questions because they were denied a one to one sitdown.
What a colossal blunder. Perhaps he’s been Obamatized by his own changytudinous.
Comment by Percy Dovetonsils on 3/4 @ 10:02 am #
“that she could not follow Obama into the locker room at Chicago’s East Bank Club…”
Wait a minute, he’s a member of the East Bank Club??? For you non-Chicagoans, the East Bank Club is a downtown health club known for its nouveau riche (and seriously “riche”) clientele – think wealthy traders, lawyers, overly made-up women trolling for rich husbands, etc. Let’s put it this way – annual dues and fees would cover most of my annual mortgage payment.
I didn’t think I could dislike this guy anymore, but I continue to be surprised.
(Seriously, when exactly did the Democrats become the rich urban douchebag party?)
Comment by B Moe on 3/4 @ 10:19 am #
It is only 300 bucks a month, Percy.
http://www.eastbankclub.com/memberservices/membershipinfo.php
More like a car payment than a mortgage.
Comment by Al Maviva on 3/4 @ 10:25 am #
First, please stop writing the name of He Who Shall Not Be Questioned. Every time you say his name, I swoon, and my maple desk at work is getting a big dent in it. Plus my head hurts.
Second, you are missing the whole point of the campaign: changeiness. You see, in the past, reporters have always asked questions of political candidates and presidents, even when the press was totally in the bag. The He Who Shall Not Be Named campaign is going to change this. From now on, nobody questions the president. Got it? Good.
While we’re on the subject of unassailable pronouncements… Did you ever stop to think… the change in your pocket is the change you’ve been waiting for all along? Well, it is. That, or the change the girl at Wendies gives you from a sawbuck when you pig out on a couple Classic Doubles with Cheese.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 3/4 @ 10:42 am #
Achilles heel sighting?
i think Farrakhan an Wright wont work acuz of the black thing.
it becomes a personal attack like the muslim innuendo.
(whether that is fair or not)
but…rezko is financial and NAFTA is political so he shud be vulnerable there.
but not to the true Obamotaku.
;)
still…ayres and the weatherman arent a black thing…why isnt that working better, Karl?
Comment by MayBee on 3/4 @ 10:47 am #
why isnt that working better, Karl?
Because the card section loves the leader too much to care.
Comment by daleyrocks on 3/4 @ 11:00 am #
B Moe – Being a Perfesser and all at the U of C its not like he didn’t prolly have access to their athletic facilities gratis, but maybe chess isn’t his idea of an aerobic workout. I’m just thinking what with he an Msclles struggles to get by, saving $3600 a year ain’t chump change to most people.
Comment by Carin on 3/4 @ 11:04 am #
but…rezko is financial and NAFTA is political so he shud be vulnerable there.
but not to the true Obamotaku
Because facts are no challenge to teh changiness.
i think Farrakhan an Wright wont work acuz of the black thing.
So, if Hagee were black, you wouldn’t be troubled by his endorsement of McCain? Does being black make you impervious to criticism? I mean, I understand … being from Detroit. The mayor can use the city’s credit card (to the tune of over $200,000) for personal uses, lease his wife a Lincoln Navigator on the taxpayer’s dime, and fire two police officers who were doing their job – and still get re-elected.
Comment by JD on 3/4 @ 11:11 am #
y’all are a bunch of racist mouth breathing knuckle dragging homophobic sexists.
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 3/4 @ 11:13 am #
carin, if hagee and mccain were BOTH black it wud work the same.
Comment by Carin on 3/4 @ 11:20 am #
No, I get it. You can’t criticize a black man or woman, because in doing so you are simply revealing your racism.
So, when I say Kwame is a two-bit thug, who rode his mother’s coat-tails into office, and has since used his position for self-aggrandizement … it simply proves I’m a racist.
And, when I say that Wright’s afro-centrism, and Obama’s devotion to Wright’s church makes O the wrong man to be Prez … again, my racism.
Of course, if I were black and making the same criticism, I’d be an Uncle Tom. Neat how that works.
Comment by MayBee on 3/4 @ 11:36 am #
I think what she’s saying, in a totally non-racist way, is that black people aren’t expected to not be corrupt or not be theo-cons or not be racist.
Or at least Obama isn’t expected to not be any of those things. Cause people just don’t care. He’s O.BA.MA
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 3/4 @ 11:53 am #
pfft
im sayin that the MSM is gonna treat it like that.
not about wat i think.
Comment by happyfeet on 3/4 @ 12:06 pm #
Obama just seems a lot more eager to talk to Ahmadinejad than to American reporters.
But really, I’m thinking he’s not really proving to be the man to send into a PR debate if he cuts and runs at eight questions, and if he gets all flustered when his own narrative is pressured, I don’t think he can be entrusted with the whole country’s. Maybe he should take some of those assertiveness training thingers. That might could help, and there’s still like 8 months for him to practice.
Comment by happyfeet on 3/4 @ 12:08 pm #
My link went aways. It was
“not worried about losing a PR debate with some tin-pot dictator…”
What can help also is role-playing exercises.
Comment by MayBee on 3/4 @ 12:15 pm #
Is there any kind of ‘Press Conference Hero’ game for the Wii?
Comment by MayBee on 3/4 @ 12:24 pm #
but not to the true Obamotaku
nishi- this is talking about the MSM?
Comment by nishizonoshinji on 3/4 @ 1:01 pm #
oh noes
my life for his
thats personal
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Comment by Ralph Phelan on 3/4 @ 1:40 pm #
(Seriously, when exactly did the Democrats become the rich urban douchebag party?)
They’ve been a significant fraction of the party for a long time (the term “Limousine Liberal” isn’t exactly new). The takeover was gradual, so it’s hard to put a solid date on it, but I’d say the “tipping point” was somewhere in the mid to late ’90s.
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[...] Dems 2008: Who dared to question the Obamessiah? [Karl] [...]