Obama's Mexican Press Conference
For a few minutes Monday, the cable news networks turned live to a presidential press conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, an event most American viewers experienced as a brief respite from the regularly-scheduled health care reform horror show--the looped videotapes of angry protesters screeching at town hall meetings, the attack ads trying to scare seniors with misleading suggestions of lost coverage and premature death, the game attempts by increasingly-defensive White House aides to regain message control.
But even in Mexico, thousands of miles away, things were not going all that much better for Barack Obama. The first and only American reporter to ask Obama a question wondered aloud how Obama would pass immigration reform given "the blows you're taking now on health [care]" and the "likely" losses that Democrats will suffer in 15 months, when Congress faces midterm elections.
Obama, appearing at once annoyed and entertained by the premise, tried to get the conversation back on track, calling out his interrogator. "I don't know if you're doing some prognosticating about the outcome of the midterm elections, which are over a year away," he said. "I think we'll do just fine."
The recent news cycle, which is turning August into a bad month for Obama, seems to discourage such optimism. News pages and television screens are plastered with signs of turmoil. In one way, it is not a surprise. Modern politics tends to comes in waves. When you are up, you tend to be way up, if only because there is a lot of airtime to fill--and a lot of blogs to write--with pundits falling overt themselves trying to out analyze the other analyzers. The same can be said when you are down, and Obama has lost about seven points in about two months, according to the Pollster.com average of major approval rating polls.
Worst of all, the trend has manifested itself in the heart of summer, a time of beached whales, shark danger, and high speed car chases, when the pundits are especially short on material. A president who promised to "change how business is done in Washington" finds himself trapped inside old divisions, distortions and structure of the typical political game.
The situation was evident in Mexico, where Obama stood on a stage besides Mexican President Felipe Calderone and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, hoping to speak about the close cooperation between the three countries on matters of health, security and trade. Instead, Obama fielded a question from a Canadian reporter about the way his countries health system had become a political football of sorts in the United States.
"I don't find Canadians particularly scary, but I guess some of the opponents of reform think that they make a good boogeyman," Obama responded, before trying to turn the page. "I think that's a mistake, and I suspect that once we get into the fall and people look at the actual legislation that's being proposed, that more sensible and reasoned arguments will emerge."
It was another attempt to get the conversation back on track, a wish shared by the entire White House team. And, as Obama said, it will happen, sooner or later, though the cost to his political capital remains an open question.
"When all is said and done on health care reform, the American people are going to be glad that we acted to change an unsustainable system so that more people have coverage," he said. "Understand, though, I'm not acting based on short-term political calculations. I'm looking at what's best for the country in the long term." In other words, this may be hurting me, but it is going to be worth it.
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1
More reporting about polls and "the conversation."
No acknowledgment of the media's role in creating "the conversation"; no effort to report facts related to policy.
The media is dying because it does a terrible job reporting the news. The Internet isn't killing it off.
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1.1
Darn tooting. I'm sure everyone here would be overjoyed if Scherer discussed how BHO's trip was a continuation of a tradition started by Bush, and BHO even promised to continue that tradition way back in Feb 2008.
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P.S. For more along the same lines, see this. I'm sure he actually forgot the "Union" part and he wasn't just playing a game for his credulous supporters!
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2
Correction, make that a triple dose of tepid nonsense from Scherer.
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I mean, you could have talked about the thousands of people in cartel wars along the border, or of Federales getting tortured to death and beheaded.
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But instead we get some mumbling about polls and health care.-
2.1
That should be, "the thousands of people getting killed in cartel wars along the border"
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3
"…the attack ads trying to scare seniors with despicable lies about lost coverage and premature death…"
There. Fixed that for you.
Which reporter at TIME is writing the cover story on this, the most cynical campaign of lies and fear since Dubya and Iraq? I remember seeing a number of self-evaluation pieces in which reporters promised they'd never again be so complacent.
[crickets]
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4
the cost to his political capitol
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A capitol is a building. You mean political "capital". For someone with intermittent stylistic pretensions, you seem to have missed out on the basic terminology of your trade.-
4.1
Unless he meant it...ironically?
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4.3
It could be the start of a whole Scherer series on how Obama has a secret plan to destroy the fabric of government - literally!
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4.4
And no thank you? What are rightwingers coming to? Godless Socialists, the lot of them!
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4.5
It probably had to do with the tone of your post. In a fast-paced environment like a blog, occasional typos can be expected. Hell, sometimes I think I see less typos on here than on official news like the AP.
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4.6
Apollyon, are you trying to tell us that the Associated Press is government-sponsored? Official news? Perhaps you need to rethink your terminology as well.
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4.7
No, I was not. That's a misinterpretation on your part.
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4.8
Dear, dear me. Poor little Apollyon is getting pouty again. I can see his chins wobbling.
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4.9
Maverick, you misinterpreted something that I said and I corrected you on it in a concise way. I don't know how else I could've said that. And, if someone was looking at our petty back and forth objectively, who do you think they would consider to be "pouty"? Unlike you apparently, I don't get unnerved by anonymous comments on Internet blogs.
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4.10
A response without content hardly qualifies as a correction, dear Apollyon. Although I daresay you've spent more time in the local House of Correction than have I. As for the idea that you unnerve me.. why yes, of course you do, in the same way that a mouse with a zimmer frame unnerves a handsome young tom cat.
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4.11
I should print-screen this and send it to be posted on Fail Blog. The "fail" part of that would include me just as much, since I regretfully participated in this.
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Well, the AP is either government sponsored or is not, so it's a yes or no question, therefore it did not merit any content. Example: Q: "Is the AP a government sponsored group?" R: "No, it is not". Sounds like you were the one who was offended, not me.
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I'd address the rest of your post and some other things from above but I bet that if I respond in any sort of even slightly annoyed way, you'll ridicule me for that, and if I continue to respond in the calm demeanor that I have been using, you'll ridicule me for being "nice" (?) Therefore, I think it's best that I stop here. -
4.12
A prudent decision, Apollyon, although you admitted your mistakes rather late in the day. You see, you have benefited from the company of those who are wiser and more informed.
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5
"Obama, appearing at once annoyed and entertained by the premise, tried to get the conversation back on track, calling out his interrogator. "I don't know if you're doing some prognosticating about the outcome of the midterm elections, which are over a year away," he said. "I think we'll do just fine." The recent news cycle, which is turning August into a bad month for Obama, seems to discourage such optimism."
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Yes, of course, Obama's single-digit drop in approval from his sky-high levels during his inauguration, and the single-digit approval rating of the Republican Party sure would (not) dampen my optimism about the mid-term elections, if I were stupid enough to be doing any prognosticating about what was going to happen over a year from now, which I'm not.
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"News pages and television screens are plastered with signs of turmoil."
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Gosh, "turmoil" on the news. And that's always bad for the President. Poor old FDR couldn't catch a break.Hacktacular "reporting" usual, Mr. Scherer.
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6
What Shepherdwong said, squared.
Hack.
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7
Mr Scherer gets lost in a vortex of self-reference. He writes an entire post describing how all of the bad news for Obama is a direct result of the nature of the news business and the need to fill space, uses the questions that reporters choose to ask during a news conference as the evidence supporting his framing and then proceeds to gratuitously pile on, agreeing that reporters asking stupid questions is indeed bad news for the President!
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7.1
Yes.
MS's antics and mischief in the blogs seem to come quiet readily, somewhat naturally.One can almost sense the gloating (the look of macabre, self-congratulatory satisfaction) on his mug - much like that to be found on the faces of carousing british s'traders at Goree Island who just got done gleefully pissing all over the widely spaced wooden planks atop the dungeon - thus purposefully drenching the stoic humans chained below.
We, the captive eyeballs which are coveted by the capitalist advertisers/propagandists, read MS's stuff.
Thus MS earns his daily bread.
Look at the situation this way: We go to the zoo to watch the antics of our favorite wild denizen. The zoo is able to feed the animal from money generated by our foot traffic attracted to the zoo.
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8
The cherry on the Sh*t Sundae is always when he replies to criticisms of his spelling and grammar, and ignores everything else.
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8.1
Well, given the mean-spirited and seemingly vindictive way many of you talk about him on here, I don't blame him.
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8.2
"Well, given the mean-spirited and seemingly vindictive way many of you talk about him on here, I don't blame him."
People have tried kindness to get Michael out of his inside the beltway thinking. It doesn't work. Trust me. He simply doesn't give a sh*t. He won't think beyond CW. He will simply will not prod the beast that feeds him. He constantly thinks critics of his writing want him to be a liberal or progressive. While the truth remains far beyond his grasp.
There is a truth and there is a lie. Some times you have to look beyond the lie to see the truth. And when you do, you have to reach down and say it. Michael does not do that.
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8.3
Cliff, you have to remember that Apollyon is invariably an apostle of sweetness, niceness, reason and humanity. How can we possibly respond to anything so perfect a human being might offer in the way of criticism?
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8.4
See there's that tone again. I didn't say criticism is not okay. There's a difference in constructive criticism and criticism given in a mean-spirited and vindictive way.
And while we're on the subject, thanks to gysgt213 for offering constructive criticism!
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8.5
Oh dear, I have made dear little Apollyon go all pouty again. How the chins quiver and the lip wobbles.. or is the other way round?
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9
A summary of each paragraph:
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1. Obama losing control
2. Dems losing next election
3. Obama's bad month
4. Obama's broken promises
5-6. Canada angry with Obama
7. Cost to Obama's pol capital
8. Health care reform hurting Obama
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And this is main-stream reporting on Obama's Mexican press conference... no wonder the public is so ill-informed.-
9.1
Dund: thanx for the great summary.
I'm generally a little worried that any criticism of the present administration is met by the knee jerk reaction "you're a kook wingnut" without due considerations of the issues raised. This is certainly not he case with MS' posts. This particular post is just embarrassing, really really silly.
The sad part is there is little chance for improvement because he sees himself as the balance in a left leaning forum so he sees the criticisms as proof of a job well done. At the very high risk of wasting my time MS, this does not have to do with right or left, the reactions to most of you posts result from the shame that you are bringing to your profession.
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10
This is a ridiculous post, Mr. Scherer. It never amazes me how the media loves to twist and distort things through a sensationalist lense, peddling as "objective reporting" nothing more than its own slanted reading of the news. The fact of the matter is that the NYTimes reporter's questions were ridiculous--trying to anticipate events in over a year's advance and framing the question so as to hit Obama over the head. Gotcha!--that's all you people have been good at recently. I saw the press conference in a completely different light than yours--Obama answered forcefully and didn't seem at all on the defensive. Governing is difficult, and taking on such a gargantuan, risky and politically complicated issue such as health care reform is indeed a rough ride. No one expected otherwise. What I am seeing here is an attempt to repeat what was done to Bill Clinton, when the media literally tore him to pieces when he attempted the same thing. I even remember a headline on your very magazine with a reduced image of Bill Clinton--"The Incredible Shrinking Presidency". Instead of lauding Obama's efforts to take on this giant hornet's nest, all you do is throw stones at him and highlight all of the discord--the outright lies such as Palin's "death panels"--and you don't even bother to fact-check them for the public. Shame on you and your MSM colleagues, Mr. Scherer. Luckily many of your readers can see through the bull.
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10.1
Melissa, you are absolutely right in your assessment of the slavish dishonesty habitually exhibited by Scherer, but I have to correct you on one point:
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Bill Clinton, when the media literally tore him to pieces
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Recent evidence rather suggests to me that the former President is intact and even flourishing. Unless, of course, there has been a remarkable conspiracy and the man who has just saved two journalists from Kim Jong Il's clutches was just a body-double. Not so "literal" a tearing to pieces by the media jackals, perhaps? -
10.2
Aw, c'mon. Everyone knows that "literally" actually means "figuratively," just as "not-government-run" means "government run" and "family physician discussing living will" means "death panel."
And what do we do with "sanction"?
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11
I just looked over Scherer's last eight posts. One of them was on the Swine Flu, and was helpful. One of them was on Obama's inconsistencies with regards to the drug companies, and was helpful.
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Two were videos - one of Clinton dancing and one about John Hughes.
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The other four were ill considered nonsense. In one he says it's impossible to compare Obama's and Bush's first six months in office, and then does so without noting any of the major conditions that prevailed for each President.
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In another he is unable to declare that Palin was lying about the death panels.
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There's this one, of course, where he miraculously avoids to present any clear information on the state of Mexico, health care, or the press.
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And there's the one where he can't figure out the differences between various organizations appearing at the Congressional town halls, and then he quotes The Page.
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So he's got a 75% rate for posting stupid nonsense. At that point I think I get to declare that he's posting drivel and he's hurting our discourse.-
11.1
Well, by the standards of the GOP a 75% nonsense rate is actually rather better than average. Low standards, yes, but that's what junk journalism is all about.
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12
No surprise that the Garret's and Tapper's of the world continued their anti-president attacks in another country. Way to show patriotism...
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12.1
The pious excuse for vigorously harassing and sabotaging the command and stature our POTUS with idiotic contentions of idiotic elements on the domestic scene while he is dealing with foreign policy issues on trips in foreign lands is that we are showing those third world countries 'how a democracy works, how critical a well-informed informed citizenry is, and the part played by a free media in the process'.
Or is that 'how a democracy doesn't work and the part played in the process by the media' (owned by ruling elites who are stakeholders in the drug/insurance industries)?How would the population, of the supposedly well-informed, be so wrong and unaware about Iraq and the crimes against humanity wreaked on god's children there? The slaughter of mostly innocent kids, women and men Afghanistan? Taliban? Gosh! Like Americans who have little to do with the terrorist "KKK"/"Aryan Nation", almost all those citizens dead in Afghanistan since our invasion hardly knew, and cared even less, about the purported Taliban-Al-Queda link before the citizens' violent slaughter by the coalition of foreign invaders!
And that is only for starters.
{Right to bear arms? Protection and defense of self and family in badlands? Suppose an alien presence went around our great USA KILLING all found to have any weapon(s) - any gun or grenade, including the home-made ones - and piously declaring the killed kids, women, kids as game "terrorists" after the act?}
And the complacent free media may as well be actively complicit (by vigorously pushing the false spiels about "OBAMA BILL" and that the bill is in trouble) and/or passively complicit (by failing to vigorously inform the population about what IS or IS NOT in the bill.)
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13
It's no wonder that we have so many ignorant Americans in this country. We have the Media obsessed like high school students on who is more popular, who's going to be Home coming queen, who likes who,
Except they like to gossip about the latest political turmoils, who's in trouble, who's going to win the election or nominee.
My god the sheer amount of crap written about whether Palin is still a viable nominee for 2012, whether she will run.
That's what's important to know/??
Health Care is such a complex and important topic, the role of Pakistan to the outcome of Afghanistan, and the entire middle east, the complex topics aren't addressed or explained.
Instead we get idiotic dribble like this.
No wonder Americans are so stupid. When Fox's "So you think you can dance" is more popular in ratings than the President's press conference explaining the need for Health Insurance reform, you know you have a country full of morons.
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13.1
One thing that I have to give (disdainful) credit to the bulk of the Republican party for: their ability to settle with the idea that American's are relatively uneducated and disengaged, and that the only true motivators for the majority of the populace are greed and necessity. That necessity being defined most accurately as immediate pain. I tend to be too much of a dreamer, and as such get frustrated and dismayed by our ability to work against our own well being, just because the easier option of short term gain is so much more appealing.
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This is very much the "smokers demise". A substantial amount of evidence and warning of what your actions shall cause in the not too distant future, but an unwillingness to give up the short term "fix". Sad and ironic we duplicate that same behavior as both individuals and a collective on such a wide array of issues. You'd think we'd get "smarter" culturally considering how fast we advance in other areas as a species. Ah well. /sigh
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14
"Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine. "
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~ Walter Cronkite-
14.1
WK was (probably) a Christian - and devoted one too.
There is plenty in that Bible that would please the most debauched, the most lecherous and the frightfully sadomasochistic - all covered by a godly license.
How about genocide after genocide that please a god {much like a father who sheds a tear in vindicated fatherly pride when a country is gratuitously invaded (by a creepy gung-ho junior), multitudes of innocent people slaughtered and a civilization destroyed.}
How about a god who revels in the rape of the under-aged and the virgins?
If all this is new and shocking, then maybe you should find out about that Bible of our predominantly Christian nation.
[Search online under 'evil verses', 'inconsistencies' 'contradictions in the Bible'.
Note: The Christian devotees can explain the evil verses in their holy book with as much conviction (and just viciousness) as the Muslim devotees can explain the evil verses in their holy book ... ]
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15
Jeez, I don't want to be a dick. I know this is just a blog post and not an article, and reporters just blab whatever when they need to get a post up...but really, Mike.
Yeah, you're right: August is a time of stupid news and juvenile who's up / who's down stuff, but how about being part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
For instance: Who among your readers do you imagine should give a sh*t that some dumbass reporter from who-knows-what outlet needles BHO by ridiculously speculating that Dem losses are likely in 15 months? (Maybe you could ask that guy who's gonna win the World Series this year so I can get some early bets down.)
Instead of focusing on poll toplines, maybe you should talk about who's behind the nonsensical "death panel" ads, and how BHO is showing a great deal of political courage going up against the huge corporate powers who've been stymieing healthcare reform for 40 years with blatant lies and distortions which get too infrequently debunked? Or about how he could just say "screw it" and leave the nation's biggest problems up to the next guy, like his predecessor did?
These sort of things seem a lot more relevant than a single dope needling BHO.
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15.1
That brings up an interesting question for me, that I started thinking about once I saw the rabid lunatic crowds pop up at town halls.
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What happens if Obama does kick the can down the road?
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I mean, let's talk worst case scenarios. What happens if Obama diddles the pooch so hard that everyone throws up their hands and says, "forget it."
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What then? (And for the sake of simplicity I am mostly interested in what happens in the health care arena for this question.)
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16
If that happens I'm going to sell my house and donate the proceeds to every primary challenger to every Blue Dog in the Senate, starting with that lickspittle, Bayh.
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17
If absolutely nothing is changed, Cliff? Higher premiums, higher deductibles, and more people being dropped for "hiding" pre-existing conditions.
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17.1
I understand that things will get worse. But will they become catastrophic?
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Do we have any other examples of an industrialized nation going through this? Does anyone think conditions will stabilize, or will health care costs drive us into bankruptcy?
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And please understand, I'm not asking these questions as a prelude to advocating that we give up. I want health care reform.
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But I'm seeing sizable numbers of people and organizations that think things are just dandy now. So I'm wondering, what happens if they win? -
17.2
" .. I'm seeing sizable numbers of people and organizations that think things are just dandy now. .."
Would most Americans, who rarely read a literally book in any year, sit still long enough to analytically read 1000 pages of policy?
A sizable number of the people who are violently demonstrating against the bill don't have a good idea about what is in it. The sponsors of the organizations giving them the sound bytes and egging them along stand to benefit immensely (in $$ and/or political clout) should the HC reform effort and the public option fail.
Some of the clueless among the rioters who are on welfare, MEDICARE and VA programs (who may as well perish much sooner without the government's 'meddlesome' programs) state (with a George Will demeanor) that they are demonstrating against government option in health care since government programs don't work.
{That reminds one of the clueless multitudes who demonstrated for the invasion of Iraq out of the fear instilled in them about Iraq's WMD - while the organizations and governments that were vigorously whipping up their bloodthirsty passions appreciated the WMD-ruse and had only $$$ in their eyes.}
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18
" .. The recent news cycle ... seems to discourage such optimism. "
That fast?
How long ago was BHO declared, by a usual suspect, to be a 'normal' president? -
19
Obama's Mexican Press conference and the blog soon "blogs down". Getting bogged down in Swampland... some of the bloggers are playing tit for tat again, oops, have I taken "that tone" again? Is there a moral high ground when mud wrestling? Here in Mexico the news reflects the international interconnections, mutual interests, problems and challenges as befits a conference of the leaders of the three countries of North America. What? The journalist didn't use international air time to question Obama about his birth certificate AND the reporter gets questioned about "Palin's death panels" research! It isn't from lack of news, or even bad reporting that we are suffering here... BLAHG me with a spoon.
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20
Not to stone your frog, Michael, but this kind of piece is surely not the best use of your writing talent. I think you lifted this one straight off the cable news networks, absorbing some network floozy's take on the thing. You would be well-served to stop allowing yourself to be conditioned by the Scarboroughs and the Drudge's in the beltway by inundating yourself all day every day with CNN.
Your best talent evidently doesn't lie in "straight" reporting. I like your prosy ruminations and your insightful analysis pieces, but your political gossip writing is just kind of toxic. I think it's a common hazard of political reporters, and the White House Press Corps is the worst of it.
Even so, it isn't that hard to do a straight news piece from the stuff you get as a WHPC. Look at Steve Collinson's work, and Laurent Lorenzo and Olivier Knox, for an example of competent and excellent White House reporting.
Here's a couple of examples of first rate reporting from Collinson and Knox:
Obama slams Honduras critics at North America summit - Yahoo! Newsand
White House: Healthcare reform foes not 'un-American' - Yahoo! NewsWhy not try that approach, and see how it works for you. How about it?
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21
A big part of the point that has Michael and many of the MSM excited is that Obama has "lost seven ponts" in recent months - I actually don't think that the media is particularly right or left, but it is definately desperate for a close horse race of some sort. What I wonder, though, is how much of that seven point slippage is due not to people believing the crapola being put forth by the Republicans but people on the left who are increasingly disillusioned. Like, well, a lot of the bloggers one finds here. I have yet to see anything that suggests that Obama's slippage translates into more people buying into the Palin/GIngrich voodoo medicine. What do I see is more rhetorical steam coming out of everyone's ears, left, right and center.
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22
If you look at those approval rating trends by party ID, you will see that the loss of approval is almost exclusively by Republican disapproval. You may have a point or two loss by Ds or Is, but its the Rs where you get most of the loss of approval.
Look here at the weekly approval trend by party ID
Daily Kos :: weekly approval trendsNoting that and writing about that would not fit into the beltway prevailing narrative, which is that Obama sux and everything is good for Republicans. The beltway cocktail circuit has settled on this narrative, and you can't be one of the Kewl Kidz unless you are in on it.
Most of that loss in Republican approval, besides from the Palinite whackos is the Republicans, after 8 years of profligate credit-card spending by Bush, has suddenly found those "deficit hawks" who seem to go MIA during any Republican administration.
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23
The notion that anyone knows what will happen in mid-term elections that are still 15 months away is just silly. How the White House is handling this week's press cycle has exactly zero impact on 2010 congressional races, so why talk about it? Oh yeah, it's much easier to talk horse race (even ones that are over a year-away) than try to understand and explain policy choices.
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