I'd have much more sympathy for Politico's deafening, "Obama the puppet master" whine if the White House press corps hadn't spent the better part of the last decade not asking questions about, say, the run-up to the Iraq war, or the lack of regulatory oversight, or just how in God's name a couple of immense tax cuts were supposed to avert re-ballooning deficit worries.
The press often seems damn near if not utterly indifferent to topics of pressing importance to everyday Americans, and then loses its cool only when it can't cover Obama's golfing with Tiger?
Indeed one thing more infuriating than this White House's lack of transparency is Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen's journalistic indignation. Try doing your real job, boys, rather than whining about it.
I heard one reporter clarify the issue with something like, "Well, the networks spend a lot of money following the president around to end up with no footage."
Network news, including our favorites, are entertainment for profit. I watch a lot of MSNBC, but I never forget it is one step away from WWE wrestling.
I console myself by telling myself that I tune in to watch Eugene Robinson, Howard Fineman and the like. Oh, and I used to buy Playboy to read the articles.
So, I have watched Lawrence O'Donnell go from being a smarter, saner version of Keith Olberman to losing his spot to losing his spot to Ed Schultz to trying to pick a lieteral (faux)fight with someone (I forget whom).
Keith was and is smarter than all of us.
The press is not the problem. The problem is that we continue to assume their job is investigative journalism.
What was the last investigative news STORY that you saw on NBC Nightly News, MSNBC or any of the rest?
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | February 19, 2013 at 02:02 PM