One
recurring theme coming from the Obama White House is intimidation. In
this case intimidation of the media. As the linked article notes a
recent flap occurred after the Pleasantown Weekly, a decidedly
liberal publication with a small circulation, ran a piece that contained
a bit of content not flattering to the First Lady. Unhappy, the White
House stepped in and demanded the piece be edited to remove the
offending language. The point is not the content of the article which
was innocuous. Rather the point is about bullying on the part of the
White House. The article provides other examples of such behavior. The
oversensitive nature of the President and First Lady in maintaining
image is beneath the dignity of the office by allowing their
oversensitivity to infringe the First Amendment rights of the media.
Here is how the author concluded his piece. "The mainstream media did not carry the story about the Pleasanton Weekly or about the San Francisco Chronicle;
the blogs did. And even after the Davis and Woodward conflicts with the
White House, the MSM still fails to underscore the real threat. This is
about neither conflict nor personalities. It is about a responsible
free media in a democratic society escaping the clutches of the
authoritarian mindset: one that says the truth is what the leader says
it is on any given day. Obama believes if he says the sequester was
caused by the Republicans (it originated with the White House) and will
result in economic collapse, that is the truth of the moment and the
media need to repeat it. For those, like Bob Woodward, who don’t, there
will be regrets." http://pjmedia.com/blog/obama-and-the-media/?singlepage=true
George Burns
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