President Obama is a chicken. Just a downright scaredy-cat, chicken. I'm not much for resorting to name calling but after having endured all the silliness that was the press coverage of the last eight years, I think I'm entitled. Why is the new President a chicken? Well, in his wont to manage his message, he's created rules for how the press is to be handled. Whatever Hope and Change means, it doesn't conceptually include transparency. Well, just ducky, if you'll pardon the mixed fowl metaphors.

During a recent event; you know, something as so benign as a Presidential re-swearing in,'Forty Four' did not allow really any independent press to cover the event. By independent, I mean to say, any press. If there's any one thing the press loves, it's being left out. So much so that the..."Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse refused to distribute photos taken by the White House of the new president on his first day in the Oval Office because of the dispute". (1)  Perhaps trouble in paradise? I doubt it. It's akin to a new couple having just moved in together. It will probably be o.k. and if you were to ask Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: ' "We think it was done in a way that was upfront and transparent," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a briefing when questioned why video cameras were not present.' (1) Well then, I feel better, how 'bout you? Nothing like a shot of 'trust me' to wash down the bitter pill of exclusion.

Still, it begs the question as to what's going to happen in the new Obama White House? In a kinder Presidency, Forty Four will be sure that not only will he think in terms of economic use of resources but will also be sure that press questioning will not be wasteful either. Read forth: In a recent press conference on behalf of the then Office of the President Elect, he was noted as saying to a reporters question: "Let me just cut you off because I don't want you to waste your question" (2) The question was about the Blagojevich deal. Understandably, the Federal investigators did say they didn't want Obama's folks to talk too much about this. However, it appears that when called on something uncomfortable, our new President wants to just cut the press off. It's alright if you're trying to help them. Conversely, I think it's o.k. to have the press go ahead and ask questions even if you can't answer them. Isn't that how it works now? The press asks the question and the politician dodges. It's tried and true.

Just remember that our President will manage the press and the questions it can ask because it's for their and our own good. A known theme from the campaign.

Lest we be worried, NBC Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker had this to say: "Our job is to hold him to account," Whitaker said, adding that he thinks "we're going to have to get tougher." (3) Now I feel like we have a real bull dog in the corner going after Obama. How could I not well with confidence? This stated from a man whose network decided that impartiality was optional and said so on the network's cable counterpart. That counterpart that not only left impartiality behind but became an active supporter of the person to which they just vowed that they would 'get tougher'. Doing so, I assume, will net a result of Valentines Day being just a card and the flowers now be forgone? To the extent that I find Mr. Whitaker's assertion credible, I remember Nixon telling us he was not a crook. Comparison be drawn...

What of the Obama press position? I recall that our new Commander in Chief had similar issues with the press before he even garnered the nomination. A lesson learned, keep the press at arms length. The reality is, President Obama saw what occurred to Forty Three and does not want the same. I don't much have confidence in the press with regard to political impartiality but I do have enough understanding of their vanity to know that if the President continues to throw little doggy biscuits of news items, the press will turn on him awfully quick. The press is considerably more vain than it is partisan.

It's an interesting dichotomy. They love him but President Obama knows that the press is circling and he wishes to manage that. It was o.k. so long as they were all united in the ouster of any Republican as a President but those were the good old days. Now the press has a sense of payback and none are coming. It's a cute error of a freshman Senator, which is ostensibly what Obama is. It shows that he is, well, chicken. He knows he is not up for the direct attack of the press. Forty Three wasn't either. The only material difference between the two is that Bush did not attempt to portray himself as a messiah with hallow-like visages abounding.

Obama owes the press and they know it. Obama is afraid that he will not fair well and in the face of a press certain to turn critical if he does not open up. Still, he knows that he is not up to speed and does not have the knowledge to meet the press demands. So, he coils to the safety if a managed message and heads to the chicken coup that is the Oval Office.

Right now, in the midst of the honeymoon, the press is allowing that. Then again, bull dogs used to be mean but now are cuddly if a bit ugly. Comparison be drawn.

 

(1) Associated Press (2009, January 23). Journalists spar with Obama

    over access issues. Retrieved January 26,2009 from , Web site:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28808756/

(2) Breitbart (2008, December 16). Irritated Obama Lectures Chicago

   Reporter: ‘Don’t Waste Your Question’. Retrieved January 26,

  2009 from , Web site: http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=242723

(3) York, B (2008, December 16). Irritated "Let Me Just Cut You Off,

  Because I Don't Want You To Waste Your Question". Retrieved

  January 26, 2009 from , Web site:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmNmMGYzZTE1MzRjNmRlY2MzNzZlNGY2YTg4MWNjMzI=