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Political Hay
Obama’s Post-Constitutional Wingmen
Access, bias, herd mentality in Munro incident — the corruption of the White House press corps.
“Good evening, everybody. (Applause.) I would like to
welcome you all to the 10-day anniversary of my first 100 days.
(Laughter.) I am Barack Obama. Most of you covered me. All
of you voted for me. (Laughter and applause.) Apologies to
the Fox table. (Laughter.) They’re — where are they? I have to
confess I really did not want to be here tonight, but I knew I had
to come — just one more problem that I’ve inherited from George W.
Bush. (Laughter.)”
— President Obama addressing the
2009 White House Correspondent’s Dinner
You don’t interrupt the president.
So goes the media narrative in the wake of the media hysteria surrounding the Daily Caller’s Neil Munro and his so-called “heckling” of President Obama.
Yeah, right. This is bunk.
A pluperfect illustration of a double-standard, as was illustrated in this space yesterday with a video clip of the White House press corps not only interrupting then-President Ronald Reagan as he read a statement but then shouting and shrieking at him as he left the room.
But is there more than meets the eye in this dust-up over Mr. Munro? (Munro, by the way, a longtime professional who formerly reported for the respected National Journal has answered his critics here stating the obvious — he had no intention of interrupting the President but simply thought the President had finished his statement.)
Yes. There is more here. A lot more. None of it pretty.
Someone needs to say this: There is a culture of corruption in the media world that is the White House press corps.
Let’s be specific.
This corruption — corruption defined as not honestly reporting the news or asking hard questions of the President of the United States and his White House colleagues — revolves around three very real, very specific problems. And a looming fourth problem that we will get to shortly.
• Problem One: Access — Not unnaturally, White House reporters want access to the President, the Vice President, and the White House staff. That is, in theory at least, why there is a White House press corps in the first place. They are there to report to the rest of us — the “rest of us” defined as both the American people and the world at large — what’s going on in the Oval Office and environs.
Sounds unremarkable, yes? In practice — no. What happens in the real world is that the White House — the President personally and his band of loyalists, generally represented to the press by the White House press secretary — always have a message to get out. This fact of daily presidential necessity effectively sets up a world class game of the carrot-and-the- stick — with the White House in charge.
If the White House likes you — you being a White House reporter — then presto! You get the carrot! You get the access to the President and all that this implies — his staff, his Vice President, his wife. Even more of a bonus — the White House will signal to your news organization that someone outside the immediate presidential orbit — a Cabinet Secretary, say, or a major presidential ally on Capitol Hill or even outside the government — will talk/confide/leak to your guys.
And there’s another way White House correspondents seek the carrot. They use their skills to build up the image of White House official X — from the President all the way down to the lowliest staffer.
This reality of dealing with the White House press corps would drive then-Reagan White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan to frustrated furies. Regan had succeeded the politically savvy James Baker, but his public image quickly went downhill, unlike Baker’s. Regan had been the CEO of Wall Street’s Merrill Lynch before becoming Reagan’s Treasury Secretary, a job that suited him. But being a White House chief of staff is a political job requiring political sensibilities, which Regan, alas, did not have. He was the veritable babe in the woods when dealing with the White House press corps. He realized — too late — how the game was played. Why Jim Baker got favorable press — and he didn’t. Said Regan later in his unhappy memoir, For the Record:
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (58) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi| 6.19.12 @ 6:25AM
I seem to remember Nixon and Reagan getting a lot of snotty questions from people like Dan Rather. I have no problem with the press being adversarial. I just think it should be with both sides of the aisle. Obama does seem to get a free ride on a lot of issues.
Gary B| 6.19.12 @ 7:16AM
"Obama does seem to get a free ride on a lot of issues."
Gee, do ya' think? Where have you been? He gets a free ride on every issue.
benny havens| 6.19.12 @ 8:03AM
He has had a free ride from the time he entered the Senate.
Drunken Sailor| 6.19.12 @ 10:22AM
Free ride hell! He is running the damn train. He's in the engineer seat.
Mimi | 6.19.12 @ 7:00AM
A press that winks at all the lies coming from an inexperienced ,careless, over their head Whitehouse do not serve the people well! They must give the nation the TRUTH or they are useless !
chuck| 6.19.12 @ 7:17AM
Hell, remember how the press used to fawn over Clinton's lies? They wrote stories about how good a liar he was, and crap about how lying is actually a good thing at times.
Makes me want to puke!
Shadow| 6.19.12 @ 11:36AM
They are worse than useless, they are traitors.
Gary B| 6.19.12 @ 7:19AM
Even Stalin got a free ride from these so-called journalists.
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 7:30AM
Show some respect for the office, Gary.
It's - "Uncle Joe" - not "Stalin".
Gary B| 6.19.12 @ 10:24AM
Their very own Uncle Joe.
Hardcard| 6.19.12 @ 7:24AM
Thanks Mr. Lord, unfortunately you are preaching to the choir and the bats are still in the bellfry without a clue.
Gary B| 6.19.12 @ 10:28AM
They know that America knows all about them. They don't care. They don't live in America. They live in DC, where the economy is just fine. I'm sure they're wondering what all the fuss is about.
oldeham| 6.19.12 @ 7:44AM
Why should anyone even raise an eyebrow at the behavior of the press whores?
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 7:53AM
Is this News? Is this even worthy of a mention? Cause it sounds more like one of those "Phoning it in" articles.
The Media is Biased. (No Way) The Media Buries Stories that are less than flattering to their Chosen One. (No kidding) They will never ask a Probing Question, a Follow up Question, or point out a Contradiction, such as his statement last year, that he DID NOT have the Authority, to change Immigration Policy on his own, via the Executive Order route. They will Cover his Ass, no matter what. And they will Write, and Say, whatever they're told to, in their Morning Packet that hey receive, every day, from Media Matters. (NO SHIT)
What's next?
Obama's a Marxist?
Warrior| 6.19.12 @ 11:12AM
What's next is right in front of our faces, censorship.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/.....index.html
Stephanie| 6.19.12 @ 11:42AM
I fear this as well.
Anthony| 6.19.12 @ 8:28AM
So tell me again how we are supposed to make nice with the American left and seek accomodation in order to solve America's enormous problems?
For those lefty bloggers who told us in 08 that an Obozo presidency would deliver America into post racial nirvana, got your heads out yet? And for those RINO's who bought into it, when will you ever learn???
So Sam Donaldson, one of the most vicious, partisan, leftist WHPC members, who thought his job in life was to slice and dice R presidents, thinks Munro's proper question to "The One" was racism pure and simple..... and we are supposed to break bread with this moron and his ilk? Who remembers the vile and vicious twins of lefty media discourse, Dan Rather and Helen Thomas?Raise your hands.
The leftist rot in our institutions has reached crisis proportions. There is no accomodation with this willlful insanity and flight from all reason and rationale.
We are at war with an insane group of people who have truly lost all ability to reason. Leftism is indeed a mental disorder, that not even the civility of the Bushes and Bob Dole can cure.
Von Mises Jr| 6.19.12 @ 10:21AM
I think you reversed your sentence since it is the post-American Presidency, not post racial that was intended. We are already extra-Constitutional in our system and methods, and the GOP Establishment is fine with that as long as they get a seat at the table.
It makes perfect sense when you spend time with the liberal political class as we are subjected to in our state, Anthony. I went to a government hearing recently and the conservatives that commented made the State politicians look like morons. They could not defend their positions and shouted us down. So it is the same with the liberal MSM. They are not that smart. They are not well informed. They are the "bewildered herd."
Conservatives and Libertarians are the ones that actually think and consider alternative solutions to problems. But that is not what gets Democrats elected or MSM talking heads promoted.
Al Adab| 6.19.12 @ 11:24AM
As discussed in Dr. Sowells' column below this president and his administration are functioning as de facto dictators by way of changing or ignoring laws of wehich they disaprove. This is not the system of government under wehich this nation operates. We elect representatives and an executive to make and execute the laws, not to be temporary (hopefully) dictators. Laws must be changed by the very process of their creation not at the whim of a 'president".
In another sense we are an extra-constitutional government by virtue of the professional bureaucratic class, a mandarin class if you will, which also promulgates directives and regulations according to thei whims. Hegel spoke of gaining and consolidating power by creating issues and crises and promising solutions. This has been the pattern for many decades now and we see the results in the erection of "a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officer to harrass our people and eat out their substance". This is the very condition which caused the independance of these united States. What alternatives have we today should the ballot box fail us in the restoration of our Liberties?
Stephanie| 6.19.12 @ 11:45AM
It's not about being smart, it's about "feeeeelings" "How does it make you feeeel"
Not, "What do you THINK about something." If it feels racist, then it must be so. According to the mentally disturbed left.
Warrior| 6.19.12 @ 11:27AM
You don't reason with a rattlesnake. You can't make bear understand property rights. The leftists for all their humane causes are no better than jackals feeding on the carcass of Constitution. What are you going to do with a wild animal that only acts on emotion and warped instinct?
Louis Jenkins| 6.19.12 @ 8:30AM
The sky is falling. The press corp immediately goes into a tizzy. There are 54 states. My, how smart the president is says the press corp. I support gay marriage. The president is just and righteous says the press corp.
It seems that the press corp has become the "yes" men for Obama. Nothing he does is wrong in their eyes. We have wailed at the thought of another four years, but it will show with even more certainty just how far and out of touch these idiotic people are. It will be like a bad comedy show, and we're stuck like glue to our seats, our hands tied and our eyelids propped open with toothpicks, unable to move. Ranting and raving with each new Obama-saying. The world is flat- how thoughtful and wise continues the press corps.
squalis| 6.19.12 @ 10:08AM
Louis, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. There are 57 states.
Louis Jenkins| 6.19.12 @ 12:35PM
Yes sir, you are entirely correct. But I'm not the president either.
KennesawJack| 6.19.12 @ 8:44AM
Why get so vexed over stating the obvious. The White House press corps, with a very, very few exceptions are whores, and whores of the worst kind, at that. They have chosen to prostititue their intellect, their integrity, and, by extension, their country's well-being, to a pimp called "access".
Stephanie| 6.19.12 @ 11:47AM
And don't forget that expensive college education that we are ask they pay for themselves.
Oldefarte| 6.19.12 @ 8:46AM
TLP correctly referred to ['CYA'] the problem above, which I'll expand upon. In the corporate/business world it's called that and more appropriately ARS KISSING or even more appropriately MALE SEXUAL ORGAN SUCKING perhaps. Journalists graduate from liberal college educational institutions [like all other college graduates] having been indoctrinated and brainwashed by their liberal professors. They then become employed by historically liberal news organizations mostly that continue the environment of liberalism described by Jeffrey's editorial. When a president etc is Republican/conservative, naturally the press is going to be against this person philosophically/spiritually. Recently, due to the internet mostly, conservative news outlets like the Daily Caller, TAS etc have come into existence that provides a different viewpoint than was monopolistically immpossible in former times. Hence Munro! Does the MSM like these organizations and their reporters? Hell no....they and their readers are the enemy. Racist? Give me a GD break! It their community organizing 101 billyclub of intimidation using the falsehood of the 1800's activities against current civilization and it's all BS!!!!!!!!!!!
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 1:36PM
Hamas' Deliveror lambasted Mr. Munro! When he asked his question, that: "Now is not the time for Questions. Not while I'm still speaking".
Then, upon finishing running his Lying Fat Mouth, he turned, and LEFT, without taking any questions.
So, it would appear that, when Mr. Munro asked his question?
That was EXACTLY the time to ask a question.
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 1:37PM
I hate this IPad.
MK48| 6.19.12 @ 7:14PM
Maybe you shouldn't try to use while riding on your mower TLP.
Mary| 6.19.12 @ 9:33AM
We know the media is all in for Obama and anything he does but what I don't understand is where are our Republican representatives and senators. There is no outrage from any of them that once again Obama has usurped the Constitution and taken away their power. Their silence suggests they agree. Screw us the American people because we have no one who truly works for our interest. If I break the law as a citizen I won't get amnesty but hey I was only born here been a productive member of society and paid my taxes why should I be pissed off that my government has once again betrayed me.
Everyone who is in Congress who does not speak up and bring Obama up for impeachment should be impeached and tried for treason. Everyone of them has taken an oath of office to follow the laws of this land and we must demand that they comply.
JimW9| 6.19.12 @ 10:03AM
Excuse me, Mr. Lord, how are you any less hypocritical and two-faced than those whose actions you condemn? The clear and powerful weight of evidence of identity misrepresentation on the part of Barack Obama is crushing. At the very least any "honest" reporter would investigate the ever-expanding mountain of evidence, if nothing else, to clear the President's good name and reputation.
But yet, crickets - from you and nearly every other "mainline" conservative media outlet. Don't you think that this mountain of evidence might just be a volcano and if this volcano erupts what will you say then?
Oldefarte| 6.19.12 @ 11:26AM
'....At the very least any "honest" reporter would investigate the ever-expanding mountain of evidence, if nothing else, to clear the President's good name and reputation....' WHAT EVIDENCE? Provide an example and it's guaranteed there will be many here to refute and discredit same. The """"evidence""""" has instead been swept under the rug of his lack of qualifications for the job that he now holds well prior to 2008 by the MSM etc!!!!!!!!!
JimW9| 6.19.12 @ 11:48AM
Agreed - this entire sordid episode reveals the incredible ability of people to simply ignore reality - pretending that all is well as the building is burning down around them.
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 1:39PM
It's worse than that.
These people are bringing the Gasoline, AND the matches, to said Fire.
Oldefarte| 6.20.12 @ 10:45AM
The fire truck loaded with firemen will arrive 11/6/12, and hopefully will begin drowning the SOB's shortly thereafter!!!!!!!!
squalis| 6.19.12 @ 10:13AM
I would love to see TAS extend a public invitation to specific, prominent producers of network TV news and / or editors of some of the major newspapers in the MSM. I think the WaPo would be a great place to start given their Nixon history.
squalis| 6.19.12 @ 10:13AM
To write a response.
commonsense| 6.19.12 @ 10:16AM
Well said, Mr. Lord!
Nordlander| 6.19.12 @ 10:43AM
The problem is this administration radically changed the rules with regard to press access on the first day they took office.
Press conferences, instead of being true give and take between a free press and their President, became scripted events, with questions submitted in writing hours ahead of the event and the Administration choosing the ones to answer.
The members of the press who went along with this were then allowed to read their submitted question in front of the cameras. Everyone else was frozen out.
In other words, press conferences degenerated from genuine give and take between a free press and their President to being a staged event controlled by the Administration. Reporters who refused to go along with the program were muzzled.
It's Carrot and Stick taken to it's logical conclusion - go along with the program to get the access needed to do the job, or get frozen out, utterly blacklisted.
TW in SC| 6.19.12 @ 11:18AM
Press Corpse
The Big E| 6.19.12 @ 11:23AM
Can there be any doubt that our government has now left the constraints of the Constitution behind? This is, of course, not the first time that this President has simply ignored the laws which contrain his power. And yet, what have those with the ability to enforce those laws (namely, the Congress) done about it? Nothing. Indeed, they've not even tried. They are complicit in the dog-and-pony show designed to make us believe we still have some measure of control over our own political fates.
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 1:42PM
He is in Violation of his Oath of Office.
If he's not a Candidate for IMPEACHMENT, nobody will ever be.
Al Adab| 6.19.12 @ 2:21PM
He is consistently in violation of his oath of office and the mandate that the executive take care that the laws are enforced. Does that however constitute a high crime or misdemeanor under the law? I do not know how oaths may be enforced other than through contempt proceedings in court.
TLP| 6.19.12 @ 3:15PM
I may be wrong but, as a Lie of Omission is still a lie.
Failure to ENFORCE THE LAW, is a Crime.
And, if you're the President?
It's a HIGH CRIME.
I'm just saying.
Al Adab| 6.19.12 @ 3:45PM
If your definition is correct we may be on to something, but... "President Biden"?
Oldefarte| 6.20.12 @ 10:46AM
For six months WHO CARES? They could put forth Barney Frank and it wouldn't do 'em any good. The gig is up on 11/6/12!!!!!!
Gary B| 6.19.12 @ 11:33AM
They are laughing at us all the time. Maybe one fine day an election will matter. In the meantime we're shipping all of our money to them. They win; we lose... every single day.
Who Knows?| 6.19.12 @ 12:37PM
The word is “cocoon”.
A Nixon, correctly perceiving the media as his enemy, closed his circle’s “shell”, and is thus well known as the cocoon president.
For an MSM=Democratic Party president, topped off by Obama, the cocoon is extended to include the White House press corp. And, it’s time to press the eject button, if a member of it DARES utter the word NO!
A statesman verses a mere politician?
The former does what he believes is right, despite popular opinion. The latter panders.
Another cut---ideologue or pragmatist.
And, most essentially, there is appearance or reality.
Obama is a mere politician, an ideologue par excellence, who tries to appear other than he is---that’s reality.
Also most basic---BHO is high self-esteem off the rails, indeed shooting off into space.
Ah, naïve old me!
I remember worrying that wise pundits should keep their mouths shut. So, when a Rove, say, writes that Obama should do X and Y to save his presidency, I cringed. What if he listened!
Well, welcome to my cocoon, effectively says Obama. Not to worry he’ll overcome his attachment to ideologies.
MK48| 6.19.12 @ 7:18PM
Who Knows..........the word is caisson.
Dave Williams| 6.19.12 @ 12:55PM
...and I just LOVE it when these smarmy little hypocrites describe their job as "speaking truth to power." Yeah, RIGHT...*sarc button off*...into the sea with every single man jack and woman jill of them!
The Bruce| 6.19.12 @ 1:57PM
I don't even refer to them as the White House Press Corps anymore. White House Stenographers sounds more apropos.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 6.19.12 @ 2:27PM
“There is no accident that people like … the late Ted Kennedy were afloat in a veritable sea of favorable press.”
Since Teddy was such a strong swimmer, did he need favorable press to stay afloat?
Rick| 6.19.12 @ 2:53PM
Since when does a "professional" reporter such as this guy Munroe, show up at a Presidential address without a notepad, camera, or tape recorder? What an insufferable idiot.
Cobalt| 6.19.12 @ 5:45PM
Some people feel that Teddy Kennedy was never shown enough respect by the American public.
These same people think that given Kennedy's position in American society, his having been a member of the U.S. Senate, and his love of sailing and the ocean, that he should have been given a dignified, formal burial at sea in a black Oldsmobile.
Skippy| 6.19.12 @ 6:06PM
So Rick, is that the new rule of WHPC engagement?
No acoutrements; no respect?
As though the trappings of a journalist makes one so.
"You punks start dressing like reporters or we won't answer you".
Clothes do not make the man.
It's what's inside that counts.
Moron.
Petronius| 6.19.12 @ 3:00PM
The Presstitutes believe their influence over the Moroniverse elected Obama and hence, Themselves. They don't report anything. They make the political weather inside the beltway. And They "interpret" the Promptext of the day to reflect what They wanted Him to say. They are almost ecstatic when He lets loose veiled implications of what they want to hear. The only line They will not cross is forcing Him to do precisely that. Wag the dog anyone? Our response to the pillorying of Mr. Munro should be the same as was given to Sam Donaldson. He got bombarded with personal letters to ABC News demanding to know who elected him to anything. And the Presstitutes continue to claim that only Their votes count. So long as the Booboisie believe Them and election fraudsters are not brought to book, it's SOSPHAD for the masses.
nathan| 6.20.12 @ 11:06AM
I'm sorry but did he raise these same issues when the previous president was systematically violating the law and the Constitution too? Correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe the Constitution requires a little thing called a "DECLARATION OF WAR" before you invade another country, especially one that hasn't attacked you? Even the much hated FDR after Pearl Harbor went to the trouble to comply with that "little" detail. Bush couldn't be bothered? And no those sense of Congress resolutions don't count. But did Lord rant and rave? Probably not. Did the rest of you? I doubt it. "Saint" George you see was doing it for the best of intentions. Same with all his other unconstitutional acts like detaining Padilla for three years in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights. And those signing statements? Show the article of the Constitution that authorizes those.
And where was the outrage? None.
And when Romney expresses support for the Fifth Amendment destroying NDAA language how many of you complained? When he tells us in advance that he intends to violate his oath of office by reserving the right to strike Iran with no declaration of war, where's the outrage? Because when "your" guy ignores the Constitution, thats fine. When the other guy does it, that's evil. Sorry folks it's wrong whoever does it for whatever reason.