The media reporting on the oil catastrophe has reached heights of idiocy. They're pushing the right wing blather that says while the gulf is a disaster, Obama hosts Paul McCartney and basketball teams at the White House.
Presidents have all kinds of things they need to do, including ceremonial events, such as welcoming winning sporting teams to the White House. Yesterday McCartney received a Gershwin award.
More than anything, the most absurd criticism, which usually comes from the left, is that Obama isn't emotional enough. Donny Deutsch, an advertising guy, says Obama is head and not heart, and Deutsch wants to feel what Obama's feeling. I don't get that criticism at all and I find it kind of weird.
I don't know anyone out here in the real world blaming Obama for the oil spill. People in general are angry because we're coming out of a recession and some people are still struggling. Add to that an environmental and economic catastrophe and you're going to get more anger. People are going to be angry until the jobs come back, no matter who's at fault. They're going to be angry until the leak is sealed, no matter who's at fault.
But we could get some intelligent reporting.
The media isn't serving us. They're serving each other. They're serving the political machine. They're making things worse.
The media is saying that it doesn't look good if Obama goes on his scheduled trip to Australia and Indonesia this month. Is that what the presidency is about? Looking good? Obama has to tend to other problems, serious ones.
I stumbled over a commentary by Student Owned Press when I was trying to find a source that wrote about Robert Gates' Asia tour. SOP was one of the few outlets to write about it.
SOP's editor wrote about the sad state of journalism and the poor coverage of Obama's recent news conference and I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing.
There has to be a bad guy. There has to be Republican vs. Democrat consequences. There has to a winner and a loser. There has to be a dire consequence on the one hand and a direr consequence on the other. The anchors and pundits are like racetrack touts. Issues become jockeying for position. Somebody has to be right and somebody wrong.
The logical consequence of reporting issues of vital concern to the republic in this way is stalemate. Pretending to inform us while actually jerking us around hardens the political arteries. Compromise is seen as wimpy; the important thing is to be self-righteous and score points. Winning is more important than serving the public.
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I couldn`t help thinking of that hand-cranked ice cream yesterday as I watched President Obama`s hour-long news conference. Here we had a thoughtful president whose answers tracked, a man in command of his facts, and yet the emphasis was on the bait in the questions of the press, which were invariably less informed and thoughtful than the President`s answers.
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The press doesn`t really like the kind of calming, thoughtful responses we got from Barack Obama yesterday because they are calming, because there wasn`t much to quarrel with and his responses didn`t promise the kind of controversies on which the press thrives. read it all
