Why Is Obama Afraid Of The Press?
My first thought was that they might catch on to the fact that he hasn’t anything to back up that hope and change line. Am I wrong?
For all the positive press Barack Obama receives, as he moves closer to clinching the Democratic nomination he is establishing himself as the candidate who keeps the most distance from the national media.
Reporters covering Obama can no longer move freely among the thousands of zealous supporters at his events ” unless the reporter receives a staff escort through the security gates. (In one city, that meant using a port-o-potty outside because the route to the indoor plumbing ran through the crowd.)
And the traveling press corps has been shut out of monitoring Obama’s satellite interviews with local media outlets, which is a normal practice on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign.
On top of that, the traveling media has been tussling with Obama aides to keep conversations with the candidate on his campaign plane on the record.
In any other campaign year, the media strategy might not raise eyebrows since it is standard practice for a front-runner. But this is a year when the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, has set a new standard for press accessibility, creating a potentially stark general election contrast between a reticent Democrat and the most accessible GOP nominee in decades.
How does he comapre to Clinton:
Obama is gregarious on the occasions when he interacts with the traveling press corps. But he largely remains a distant figure to most reporters, appearing more removed from the national media than Clinton”who has never been noted for her coziness with the press.
Indeed, after losing Iowa, Clinton upended her approach. Once reluctant to engage the traveling press corps, Clinton began holding availabilities roughly every other day. She dined with reporters at off-the-record gatherings, and chatted with them on her plane almost daily until they insisted the conversations be placed on the record. The frequency of the plane visits has since tapered off.
The Obama campaign, on the other hand, is mimicking the 2004 campaign playbooks of President Bush and Democrat John Kerry, who often bypassed the national press in favor of local media, which tended to focus on local issues and yield more favorable headlines.
Obama does between six and a dozen local interviews a day, according to the campaign. By contrast, he usually meets with the national media twice a week.
This past week, however, was unusual. Following a press conference last Monday, he answered 10 minutes worth of questions Saturday in Ohio – the same amount of time reserved earlier in the day for an unthreatening interview with Entertainment Tonight – to respond to harsh criticism from Clinton about one of his mailers. He went back for more questioning Sunday
It might be that Obama isn’t even aware of what is going on in the campaign:
One reporter, sensing the rare opportunity to fire off a question, asked Obama about McCain’s criticism of his pledge to talk with Cuban president Raul Castro.
“I didn’t hear John McCain,” Obama said, even though his campaign put out a statement on that very topic 30 minutes earlier.
A second later, the Illinois senator disappeared behind the curtain – off to do an interview with US Weekly, the entertainment news magazine.
Based on the coverage to this Memeorandum link, both the WaPo and MSNBC feel that it is time for the press to be scrutinizing Obama.
February 26, 2008 - 09:25 AM on February 26th, 2008
Barak the empty suit is beginning to be exposed, but too late for “the Bag” to win the nomination.
February 26, 2008 - 09:28 AM on February 26th, 2008
On Money Trails And Campaign Trails 101: ‘Obama, Rezko, Auchi, And Saddam’
Is there a connection between Tony Rezko, Barack Obama, and Nadhmi Auchi (a financial and personal connection to Saddam Hussein) ? It’s not the Clintons asking the question, it’s The Times Of London. It turns out that The Times has been doing some in…
February 27, 2008 - 09:58 PM on February 27th, 2008
Thats funny i though the press was the best freind the demacrats ever had