Chris Matthews is apparently perplexed as to why President might want to bypass the national press corps with his online town hall meeting today.
Matthews: Well what's the President up to? Is he doing what he does well? Is he simply sticking to his strengths or is he trying to bypass what he sees as a problem area, meaning the national press corps?
....
Well being from the Politico you must be very proud Roger because you were the only news organization that writes as part of its work that got called on at the press conference the other night. He skipped the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal. He didn't call on any of those people but he called on you guys.
First of all, The Politico is a "news organization"?? Wow. They look more like a Matt Drudge gossip rag to me. Says a lot about what Matthews' idea of "news" is.
I can't imagine why the President wouldn't want to be calling on the likes of Chuck Todd or Ed Henry. Matthews also apparently thinks that only "real" reporters ask tough questions. Yeah, "real reporters" like the fellow Villagers he names.
I've got a list of people I consider actual journalists and none of the people Matthews named are on it. The people he named are more worried about raising their own profiles with who they have access to than anything that could pass for journalism. Frankly, I hope the President continues to irk the likes of Matthews and talk directly to the public as often as possible.
After eight years of Bush refusing to talk before anything but hand-picked audiences who had to sign loyalty pledges before they'd let anyone near him or our military, which he loved to use as props, this entire debate on how President Obama is managing his audience from Matthews and the rest of the press is pretty rich.
