And, as Exhibit One of less worshipful NYT coverage, here are the opening paragraphs of the NYT report on Obama's press conference:
WASHINGTON — For just under an hour on Tuesday night, Americans saw not the fiery and inspirational speaker who riveted the nation in his address to Congress last month, or the conversational president who warmly engaged Americans in talks across the country, or even the jaunty and jokey president who turned up on Jay Leno.
Instead, in his second prime-time news conference from the White House, it was Barack Obama the lecturer, a familiar character from early in the campaign. Placid and unsmiling, he was the professor in chief, offering familiar arguments in long paragraphs — often introduced with the phrase, “as I said before” — sounding like the teacher speaking in the stillness of a classroom where students are restlessly waiting for the ring of the bell.
In other words, Obama was b-o-r-i-n-g. Bill O'Reilly wondered if he was boring on purpose, which surprised me. Why on earth would any pol want to be boring? Obama was trying to be calm and authoritative. But to be authoritative, you have to have the facts at your fingertips, not spin that is absurd on its face and makes no sense whatsoever. Obama actually claimed that his budget was one of "saving and investing, not spending" even as he proposed doubling the national debt in the next five years. A few reporters actually tried to ask him questions about the budget, but he filibustered the questions.
As Obama becomes just another Democratic President, will the media start to notice the yawning gulf between Obama's words and Obama's deeds? I wonder. That would be "hope and change" indeed. |
