The Obama Presser And Mind-Numbing Analysis With The Best Political Team On Television
Hi everyone. This post is going to be short and sweet. Well, short for me, anyway. The whole Obama presser thing kind of snuck up on me. But I did end up watching. My verdict? Meh. I mean, I think Obama did fine and everything--it just wasn't a very enthralling hour. Then again, it really wasn't supposed to be. I like that he once again took questions from more than just the usual suspects.
Like probably everyone else, CNN's own Ed Henry caught my attention the most. I'm a sucker for an aggressive follow up. They're such a rare sight. Ed's been reminding me of David Gregory lately circa the Scottie McClellan days. I might have to claim him as my White House Press Corps Boyfriend. He best not go dancing with Karl Rove though. Otherwise, it's ovah!
And how great was Obama in that exchange? At first I thought he was getting a wee bit singed from Ed holding his feet to the fire regarding AIG outrage, but then he was all, "It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak." Oh snap! Ed got pwned. Somebody's off the Christmas card list.
That's pretty much all I have to say about the press conference. As for 360, well, it really seemed like just one big non stop panel. And when I say big, I'm not kidding. Anderson Cooper practically passed out trying to introduce all their names. A lot of hot air in that studio. To be honest, I tuned much of it out because as my title states, it was mind-numbing.
First of all, the gloating and back-patting regarding Ed's question totally ruined any praise I wanted to heap on him. Then there was Alex Castellanos ruminating about Obama being a one term president. Is he insane? The guy has been in office for just over two months! A gazillion and one things are still going to happen over these next four years. Obama could fix everything or we could all end up living in some Mad Max-like hell hole. That kind of talk now is just asinine.
Also stupid, was the new popular beltway narrative: Obama is becoming overexposed. The president has done a press conference and a few TV appearances. Oh noes!!! Of course the media thinks he's overexposed--they cover him all the time. I'm betting your average American hasn't really noticed. I may not be sure about everything Obama is doing, but it really astounds me how much he gets it, and how much the media...doesn't.
That's all I can tell you about 360 because, well, I sort of...switched over to Rachel Maddow. I know, I know! I didn't mean to, I swear! It's just that I knew she was live and I wanted to see if she was doing a regular show, so that I could better judge the ratings when they come out. But then when I flipped over, she said Matt Taibbi was coming up and I love Matt Taibbi and...I stayed. Yes, I am a traitor. *Sobs* Sorry, 360. That's all from me tonight.
If you haven't gotten to already, be sure to read and comment to my posts (part 2 linked at the end) regarding 360's ratings and identify issues.
Also, follow me on Twitter! If you're patient, I might tweet the secret of the world.
Like probably everyone else, CNN's own Ed Henry caught my attention the most. I'm a sucker for an aggressive follow up. They're such a rare sight. Ed's been reminding me of David Gregory lately circa the Scottie McClellan days. I might have to claim him as my White House Press Corps Boyfriend. He best not go dancing with Karl Rove though. Otherwise, it's ovah!
And how great was Obama in that exchange? At first I thought he was getting a wee bit singed from Ed holding his feet to the fire regarding AIG outrage, but then he was all, "It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak." Oh snap! Ed got pwned. Somebody's off the Christmas card list.
That's pretty much all I have to say about the press conference. As for 360, well, it really seemed like just one big non stop panel. And when I say big, I'm not kidding. Anderson Cooper practically passed out trying to introduce all their names. A lot of hot air in that studio. To be honest, I tuned much of it out because as my title states, it was mind-numbing.
First of all, the gloating and back-patting regarding Ed's question totally ruined any praise I wanted to heap on him. Then there was Alex Castellanos ruminating about Obama being a one term president. Is he insane? The guy has been in office for just over two months! A gazillion and one things are still going to happen over these next four years. Obama could fix everything or we could all end up living in some Mad Max-like hell hole. That kind of talk now is just asinine.
Also stupid, was the new popular beltway narrative: Obama is becoming overexposed. The president has done a press conference and a few TV appearances. Oh noes!!! Of course the media thinks he's overexposed--they cover him all the time. I'm betting your average American hasn't really noticed. I may not be sure about everything Obama is doing, but it really astounds me how much he gets it, and how much the media...doesn't.
That's all I can tell you about 360 because, well, I sort of...switched over to Rachel Maddow. I know, I know! I didn't mean to, I swear! It's just that I knew she was live and I wanted to see if she was doing a regular show, so that I could better judge the ratings when they come out. But then when I flipped over, she said Matt Taibbi was coming up and I love Matt Taibbi and...I stayed. Yes, I am a traitor. *Sobs* Sorry, 360. That's all from me tonight.
If you haven't gotten to already, be sure to read and comment to my posts (part 2 linked at the end) regarding 360's ratings and identify issues.
Also, follow me on Twitter! If you're patient, I might tweet the secret of the world.
posted by eliza at 11:52 PM
3 Comments:
The best part of the press conference for me was when President Obama put Ed Henry right back in his place, quick and in a hurry. If Henry and the other reporters had've been as vigilant about questioning the Bush Administration, perhaps I'd be cheering them now, but no, they wait until this President to start getting tough. I'm not saying that President Obama shouldn't be held accountable, but his not mentioning AIG during the press conference was nowhere near as heinous as the many numerous corrupt actions of the Bush Administration that much of the press corps let slide for the past 8 years.
Eliza,
At Steven Benen's Washington Monthly blog, there is a paragraph titled "The new meme takes root". There he has a link to the clip of Anderson's comments about Obama's "overexposure" at Media Matters. I watched it in disbelief. I didn't watch the pondering pundits after the news conference last night. AC compares Obama's exposure to that of "Who wants to be a Millionaire". This from a anchor of a show that has spent endless amount of coverage of Joe the Plummer and Octomom. The same anchor who while in New Orleans 2 years ago spent 1/2 of the show devoted to Paris Hilton's jail escapades. I am so disappointed with the chattering pundits, AC sounded no different from them. I feel the media bobbleheads want to frame the coverage into their veiwpoints, and force that onto the viewers. They can't accept the fact they are becoming irrelevant as sources. Please read Chris Rovzar's take on this at Steve's blog, he puts it better than I can.
Anne D.
@anonymous: Yeah, the smackdown from Obama was pretty awesome. I totally agree that Obama hasn't even come close to doing anything as bad as the last guy and yeah, the press corps was totally MIA back then.
@anne: I just read that blog post. Most excellent. Sometimes the stupidity of the collective media is truly astounding. I just hate it when I have to throw Anderson and 360 in with the rest of those that don't get it.
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