Obama and Russert Have Genial Sunday Sitdown

Karmadillo

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Mon Nov-12-07 08:50 PM
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Obama and Russert Have Genial Sunday Sitdown

The Corporate Media sure seems to like him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/12/obama-and-russert-have-ge_n_72220.html

Jason Linkins
The Huffington Post

Obama and Russert Have Genial Sunday Sitdown

To say that there's a surfeit of skepticism about the journalistic practices of NBC's Tim Russert would be an understatement. Over the weekend, the Atlantic's Matt Yglesias offered up a concise text for the Russert Watcher:

Russert doesn't care -- at all -- about whether or not his actions inform the American electorate. Rather, he cares about creating a "news-making" event -- likely something embarrassing for the politician -- and about burnishing his reputation for toughness. He attracts a circle of admirers who share his perverse and unethical lack of concern for whether or not his work helps produce an informed public, gobs of less-prominent television journalists seek to emulate his lack of concern with informing the public, print journalists eagerly court opportunities to appear on the non-informative shows hosted by Russert and his emulators, and down the rabbit hole we go.

Flashing back to the last Democratic debate, which Russert co-moderated, it didn't escape our attention that Barack Obama got something of the soft-pedal treatment. MSNBC more or less went into the debate looking to write a plot-pivot where Hillary Clinton's "inevitability" was concerned, and they by and large achieved this end, nailing her for supporting Eliot Spitzer's driver's license program. Obama, who's opinion is said to be in line with Clinton's on Spitzer's licenses, didn't get tarred and feathered for his stance. He got to answer questions on UFOs and his Halloween costume.

But with Obama set for a Meet The Press one-on-one with Russert, the question was: would the gloves come off? Well, yes and no: some tough-sounding questions were asked, but Russert's softball treatment of Obama basically continued.

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Over the course of the exchange, you can't help but notice how often Russert appears to move towards a kill shot only to pull back. Obama emerges from a line of questioning on his past acceptance of special-interest monies largely unscathed. He bats back inquiries on his dealings with a supporter under indictment without Russert making what should have been an obvious rhetorical connection to Whitewater. And when Obama responds to an inquiry on his attachments to controversial "ex-gay" gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, by saying "part of what I hope to offer as President is the ability to reach to people that I don't agree with," Russert fails to note the difference between "reaching out to people" that he doesn't agree with and actively having those same people campaign on his behalf.

In the end, Obama said, "It was terrific being here." And, compared to many candidate's experiences, it certainly was.