Today, the Obama White House apparently lost the leg-tingling support of NBC’s Chuck Todd. Todd, fed up with the fact that aides to Joe Biden have reportedly been editing White House press pool transcripts to avoid quoting Biden’s “they gonna put y’all back in chains” remark, has called for an end to White House issuance of press pool transcripts. “I think we’re going to have to change this sytem,” said Todd. “This is an outrage that they do this.”
Politico had already reported this morning that “aides tried to edit media pool reports for any potential landmines that could be seized on by Republicans and even hovered at close range to eavesdrop on journalists’ conversations with attendees at Biden rallies.”
The press corps is particularly upset with the Obama administration right now because Obama refuses to talk with them. Jake Tapper, no enemy to the Obama administration, wrote today that “President Obama hasn’t formally taken questions from the White House press corps in more than two months, while on the campaign trial in Iowa yesterday he made time for reporters from People Magazine and Entertainment tonight.” The last time Obama answered a question from the press? A reporter shouted a question to him after he signed an act on August 6 – and no, the reporter was not called racist by the press, since the reporter wasn’t conservative.
Obama is under the impression that he can simply ignore the press and they will continue to fete him. And to a certain extent, he’s correct. But they still have to do their job, and that requires his cooperation. If he continues to burn them, he may lose the only real asset he has left.
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