Day: March 25, 2009

Pres Presser: Chuck Todd Reveals Beltway Cluelessness about Americans’ Sacrifices

Jon Ponder

As Beltway insiders go, Chuck Todd has a well-deserved reputation for solid reporting, keen analysis and fairness. Because of this, NBC elevated him to the White House press corps, one of the media’s top posts, earlier this year.

“Why, given this new era of responsibility that you’re asking for, why haven’t you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?”
– Chuck Todd

Reporters who work in the White House are the ultimate media insiders. This can be troublesome because they are also the Fourth Estate’s first responders in our democracy’s defensive ring around the government.

They can become compromised, however, by being forced to choose between playing their watchdog role and protecting their access to power and information. Who can forget the White House press corps’ collective silence — even obsequiousness — in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, when none of them dared challenge Bush on about his push to lead the country into what was clearly an unnecessary war.

Based on the inane question Chuck Todd asked at the White House news conference last night, it appears that his elevation to the media elite’s inner sanctum may already be corrupting his values, not to mention his perception of reality:

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Some have compared this financial crisis to a war. And in times of war, past presidents have called for some form of sacrifice. Some of your programs, whether for Main Street or Wall Street, have actually cushioned the blow for those that were irresponsible during this — during this economic period of prosperity or supposed prosperity that you were talking about. Why, given this new era of responsiblity that you’re asking for, why haven’t you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?

As the Daily Beast put it, “Chuck Todd wants to know what more Obama thinks American public should be sacrificing for the sake of the economy. Because losing jobs, homes and heath insurance apparently aren’t enough.”

[…]

Schwarzenegger Tamps Down Talk of Senate Race: ‘I’m Not Running for Anything’

Jon Ponder

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times today that he is “not running for anything,” meaning he won’t run for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, next year.

Schwarzenegger has a nearly insurmountable problem in the state: He has no base among California voters.

The statement came just a few weeks after he fueled speculation — and incited a few chuckles — in an offhand remark that seemed to leave the door open for a run against Boxer:

“I have my hands full with all the stuff I’m doing now,” he said, referring to his campaign to pass a package of budget-related propositions that are on a special-election May 19 ballot. “I’m concentrating on that and not what I’m going to do next,” he said.

“You know,” he added, as he signed autographs, “I’m not a politician. I’m a public servant.”

With his polling down in the low 30s for months now, as they were in 2005, some in the state have speculated that what the governor meant to say was, “I am not a good politician.”

The only people pushing Schwarzenegger to run are national Republicans in Washington who like his 100 percent name recognition and access to cash. What they don’t seem to grasp is that Schwarzenegger has a nearly insurmountable problem in the state: He has no base among California voters.

The state’s hard core GOP distrusted and disliked Schwarzenegger because of his liberal ways before he broke faith with them and proposed raising taxes as part of his plan to eliminate the state’s $42 billion deficit. In the Times interview today, the governor cited his broken pledge as a central reason he will not run.

[…]