Presidents Avoiding The Press

Politics here is changing in many way. One way that I have noticed that began with the Obama presidency is the death of the politician interview by a newsperson/company and replacement of it with appearances on TV or internet entertainment sites.  This is not good for constituents who want their politicians grilled by news reporters instead of entertainers. Obama, a president who rarely gives interviews or puts himself in jeopardy of having to explain his policies or views in a potentially confrontational setting, has made an art of the trivial appearance on TV shows like 'The View', ' The David Letterman Show', 'The Ellen Show', 'John Stewart' and their likes.  For Obama, fluff over-rides substance because  it works.

Those non appearances guarantee that Obama will never be challenged by any questions, and instead will be glad handed with soft-ball and silly "questions" from the entertainer he actually does sit down with for an "interview". I give Obama credit for knowing how to hide from the voters, and for never having to personally justify his programs. Not since Ronald Reagan has a president been so elusive. President Obama has held the fewest press conferences of any president since Reagan's presidency. Among the leading newspapers in the United States, The Washington Post had its last on-the-record meeting with the president nearly four years ago, as did the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times last got to him in the fall of 2010. The Boston Globe has never had an interview while Obama was in office, nor has the Los Angeles Times. Even Obama's hometown papers, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, have never been allowed to interview him.

What Obama has also done is play ethnic broadcasters for all the support he can get, agreeing to "interviews" that are scripted to cheer lead and patronize the ethnic group's special interest topic Obama has pushed. He has mined votes at Spanish speaking TV networks Telemundo and Univision, for example. Instead of asking the President serious questions he was asked "If you had a super power, what would it be?" "What's your favorite song to work out to?" "Red or green (chili)?" "What's your favorite New Mexican food?" So much for accountability of politicians. Using important time to grant interviews with comedians John Stewart and Zack Galifiankis or with make-up diva Bethany Mota might be justified if had not consistently turned down serious interviews  because, as the president regularly declares, "I don't have time for interviews".

And now Hillary Clinton, the next anointed president has taken the Obama script even further and is campaigning for the presidency with virtually no contact between she and the mainstream serious media. Hillary trots out on a stage, promotes a phony politically correct topic, like 'The War on Women', and trots off stage having pleased her voting constituency to no end. Hmmm Welcome to a new political world in which the serious and accountable os replaced by he artificial and inane.