DC Tom Posted November 12, 2010 Posted November 12, 2010 http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1110/foreign_and_domestic_5c8146b5-efc7-45a6-93bd-da7cf500fa22.html The president has thin skin? nooooooo Thin skinned or not, his observations about the media's need to focus on conflict for excitement is perfectly valid and accurate.
Magox Posted November 12, 2010 Author Posted November 12, 2010 Thin skinned or not, his observations about the media's need to focus on conflict for excitement is perfectly valid and accurate. You mean to tell me that the media's focus is on conflict? Nooooo, You don't say? I guess he didn't get the memo...
IDBillzFan Posted November 12, 2010 Posted November 12, 2010 The knock on him coming into office was his lack of executive experience. He's a professor, an academic, one who can communicate but when it comes to leadership, well..... And one of the more ironic things is that the one thing EVERYONE is willing to give him credit for -- being a great communicator, speaker, orator, whatever -- is the one thing for which he blames everything when he's not blaming his inheritance. Interesting Peggy Noonan article here. (For some reason I've come to like her writing style.)She alludes to the fact that no matter what is being put to Obama, his response never wavers: This week the president gave Republicans a second unexpected gift. He reacted to the election’s outcome in a way that suggested he’s still in his own world, still seeing a reality no one else is seeing. The problem wasn’t his policies, but that he didn’t explain them well. It wasn’t health-care reform, it was his failed attempt to popularize it. His problem was that he was not political enough. He was too substantive, too serious. Americans have been under stress, and people under stress don’t think clearly, and so they couldn’t see the size of his achievements. Thin skinned or not, his observations about the media's need to focus on conflict for excitement is perfectly valid and accurate. Coincidentally, from the same Noonan article. Media bias is what we all know it is, largely political but also having to do with the needs of editors and producers. The media is looking for drama. They are looking for a colorful story. They want to do reporting that isn’t bland, that has a certain edge. We saw this throughout the past year as they covered big tea party rallies. A reporter would be walking along with a cameraman. At one picnic blanket she sees a sober fellow and his handsome family. He looks like an orthodontist or a midlevel manager. His family looks happy, normal, pleasant. Right next to them, on a foldout lawn chair, is a scowling woman in a big straw bonnet with a dozen tea bags hanging from the brim. She’s holding a sign, a picture of Obama in a Hitler mustache. Who does the reporter choose to interview? I think we know. A better question might be who would you pick if you were that reporter and had a producer back in the newsroom who wanted interesting copy, colorful characters and vivid pictures. Anyone paying attention to even a little bit of politics knows that yes, this is valid and accurate, but it's also obvious and useless to repeat, and Obama standing at a podium complaining about it is the equivalent of watching Randy Moss pull up after seeing the flag, while the ball lands on the ground in the endzone an arm's length away. "Hey, I was held! What more do you want!?!"
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