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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (611833)	5/18/2011 1:02:06 PM
From: jlallen	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1577594

Speaking of absurd: Obama off the deep end By Joe Battenfeld Wednesday, May 18, 2011 What are you afraid of, Mr. President? I know it must be tough dragging yourself to these glitzy fund-raisers and mingling with rich people who shower you with money and affection. Who needs an unfriendly reporter shouting an unscripted question at you, or checking to see whether any of the guests are getting government contracts? We all know Obama has an aversion to tough questions. During the campaign, he would refuse to engage with most local media, and reporters who camped out at the rope line got a stern talking-to from a campaign staffer. But using the White House press pool to possibly punish or reward media based on what the White House considers “fair” coverage? This is taking the control freak thing to new levels. I’ve been on many press pools and can’t remember getting denied access because of which media outlet I worked for. Even when the Herald was writing critical articles about former Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988, his campaign never bumped us off the plane or kept us off the pool based on what we wrote. Same goes for President Clinton. You think Gov. Deval Patrick likes having the Herald and other media follow him around all day? No, but it’s part of his job. But apparently this White House has a different view. It has a special place for perceived “unfair” media — at least 500 feet away. Even at White House press conferences, the president carefully chooses who gets to answer a question. And before this Boston trip, there were other examples of questionable use of the pool. One reporter at a fund-raiser headlined by Vice President Joe Biden was held in a utility closet for more than an hour to keep him away from the donors. Even worse, he had to listen to Biden speak. The truth is, most media dread being in the “pool” at fund-raisers. It’s tedious and exhausting and requires a lot of writing about what appetizers the president served. But the pool is important, because it gives all reporters a close-up view of what the president is doing or saying to guests paying thousands of dollars a plate. Here’s my suggestion to President Obama: Veer off your scripted schedule and come in to Boston to say hello to ordinary voters. And don’t be afraid to let a Herald reporter tag along. We don’t bite.