Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on March 15, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
This one is probably more specific to the White House press relations staff, but it’s amateurish enough to qualify for a slot in the series. Time’s Karen Tumulty expected to do some reporting while following Barack Obama to Arcadia University on his “Shut Up, He Explained” talking tour to tell people that the time for talk is over. Little did Tumulty realize that the time for reporting anything other than White House talking points — or perhaps talking-is-over points — was also over:
When I go to political events, I generally like to talk to people who attend them. You learn a lot that way.
Not today. I arrived at the President’s health care speech at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., about 45 minutes early, hoping I might chat with some of the Pennsylvanians who were here. No such luck. The press was stuck behind two sets of barriers. I tried asking several times (nicely, I promise) to wander a bit and talk to people, but was told I would have to wait until after the event. (Both the crowd and I had been through security screening.)
Okay.
So after the event, I attempted to talk to people as they left. That effort, too, was shut down by the security people.
What was the White House afraid that Tumulty would learn? Presumably, the people who attended the event showed up of the own volition because they agree with Obama on the health-care takeover. Unless Obama’s folks started rounding up people at gunpoint and told them to look cheerful while Obama told them to shut the heck up, Tumulty would have been able to report on the enthusiasm of the attendees for Time Magazine.
Instead, she got to report on how the White House attempted to muzzle the press. Great job!
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
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Nothing this evil Narcissist in Charge says or does surprises me anynmore. Odamna will lie, pretend, cajole, compell, villify and subourne perjury if he thinks it reflects better on him. As to the truth? He knows it not and the truth is not in him.
Crusader Rabbit on March 15, 2010 at 8:11 AM
heh
how’s that hopey changey feeling now?
cmsinaz on March 15, 2010 at 8:13 AM
I think we might be jumping to a conclusion here. It is possible the WH was isolating the reporters for reasons of health, keeping them from a disease that might have been spreading among some of the crowd. Perhaps said malady was “skepticism.”
apostic on March 15, 2010 at 8:13 AM
Can’t have reporters delute the propaganda.
kingsjester on March 15, 2010 at 8:14 AM
Just keep clapping until we tell you to stop, even if your hands bleed.
Disturb the Universe on March 15, 2010 at 8:15 AM
The amazing thing is that Time’s ‘reporter’ on the scene, Karen Tumulty, would even tell the story since it does not bolster the WH profile.
jarhead0311 on March 15, 2010 at 8:19 AM
Instead, she got to report on how the White House attempted to muzzle the press. Great job!
//
Great news Ed! By not giving her an interview,it just shows their reluctance to let anyone say anything against him or this health sham…..Is this still The United States of America????? This gov’t. does nothing but screw things up.
ohiobabe on March 15, 2010 at 8:19 AM
So Obama differs from Chavez how?
Daggett on March 15, 2010 at 8:20 AM
I suspect what she would have found is that these were not volunteers but an audience of plants to make it look like America has a benevolent dictator instead of the evil rat bastard traitor we actually are forced to endure.
BTW any of you so-called open-minded Conservatives who were bleating we needed to STFU in January and give Obama a chance want to come clean with your mea culpa now? Some of us weren’t so stupid to think that the filthy lying coward in the White House was going to be a centrist. Just think of how much more of the Obama agenda could have been quashed were it not for you go along to get along “conservatives.” On days like this were it appears we will soon see a government takeover of healthcare, I blame you people almost as much as I blame this corrupt administration.
highhopes on March 15, 2010 at 8:20 AM
The Gustopo are now called the “Security People”…
All Hail Obama..
rich801 on March 15, 2010 at 8:20 AM
Let Me Finish My Waffle.
TimBuk3 on March 15, 2010 at 8:21 AM
I have a question I’d like to throw out…..Anybody here ever been to or live in Beaumont,Tx.?
ohiobabe on March 15, 2010 at 8:22 AM
Nothing like a “free press” is there! Sounds like there are more admirers of Mao working for Obama. Unbelievable. I’m surprised, though, that the Time reporter made this little bit of totalitarianism public.
ProfessorMiao on March 15, 2010 at 8:23 AM
The truth! You can’t handle the truth!
singlemalt_18 on March 15, 2010 at 8:23 AM
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
rightside on March 15, 2010 at 8:25 AM
Something the O administration learned from the Iran administration and AkmaIneedajob. Bring in your own set of plants for your staged event. They did not want the reporters walking on the Astroturf or find out that the crowd was brought in from Disneyworld’s automatronics unit.
sh221b on March 15, 2010 at 8:27 AM
Winner!
Mord on March 15, 2010 at 8:33 AM
This story’s over a week old…
Cylor on March 15, 2010 at 8:34 AM
People fainting at Obama rallies… Staged
People filling up halls in support of ObamaCare… Staged
Al Gore, NASA, & Global Warming… Staged
Union workers being bussed in to provide paid thuggery… Real
Congressmen and Senators being bribed behind closed doors… Real
ACORN receiving hundreds of millions of tax dollars to steal elections… Real
Oh my, the list is so long. So much for the media to investigate and report on, but what do they give us; silence.
Keemo on March 15, 2010 at 8:36 AM
This story’s over a week old…
Cylor on March 15, 2010 at 8:34 AM
//
I think I did hear Rush say something about it last week.
ohiobabe on March 15, 2010 at 8:40 AM
Remember how the press was all up in arms about how any opposition people were kept out of Obama’s town halls, even “arresting” people with dissenting TShirts on outside the event? And they all were screaming about how Obama is just generating a “friendly” crowd to make it look like he was more popular and well-recieved than he really was?
Oh, wait… that was Bush. Well, I’m sure this is going to be all over the front pages all over the country, and lead the Networks, right?
JamesLee on March 15, 2010 at 8:41 AM
Oh my, the list is so long
//
Yeah,and the white coats for the SO-CALLED docs!
ohiobabe on March 15, 2010 at 8:42 AM
Actually it was not the Gestapo but the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler that protected Hitler. The modern day equivilent for the boy-king would be the layers of spokespeople, teleprompters, and (of course) the secret service that keeps Obama in his own happy little world.
Do you realize that the bastard has not held a press conference since the July “acted stupidly” debacle? He has rarely spoken in public without the aid of a teleprompter- including his talk with a grade school class. It is as if we are in the days of the Romanov dynasty where the government would paint facades on crumbling buildings and herd out “happy” peasants to create an illusion as the Tsar rode by on his train.
highhopes on March 15, 2010 at 8:43 AM
He has rarely spoken in public without the aid of a teleprompter- including his talk with a grade school class.
//
They don’t trust their puppet do they? For Rush’s prophecy to be fulfulled,you know the one where o will screw up again,well it may take awhile but he won’t be able to help his ego and will have to open his mouth at some point w/out the t/prompter.
ohiobabe on March 15, 2010 at 8:50 AM
Yep, they are definitely playing in the lower than Bush league.
Hawthorne on March 15, 2010 at 8:55 AM
This isn’t true, and I wish people would quit basing their criticisms of Obama on myths. It isn’t as if there aren’t enough real flubs and gaffes to nail him for.
ProfessorMiao on March 15, 2010 at 8:57 AM
Could we say the guy in the Prius purposely held his foot down on the accelerator just like the Obama administration is holding their feet to the media’s throats? With a strong majority in the country begging for anyone to put the brakes on this runaway government, don’t expect the media to put any spike strips down, or warning signs up that reads—”bridge out ahead”.
Rovin on March 15, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Welcome to our future.
Mussolini was loved at his start too.
rbj on March 15, 2010 at 9:03 AM
Oh my, the list is so long. So much for the media to investigate and report on, but what do they give us; silence.
Keemo on March 15, 2010 at 8:36 AM
Keemo: Jus try’n to help,and Seeding,Planting,and
Stacking of said LeftyTurfBots!:)
canopfor on March 15, 2010 at 9:15 AM
Some of their comments over at the Swampland blog mentioned the Bush “Free Speech Zones”. I searched on the term “Free Speech Zone” and came up with a conservative article about Bush’s efforts to segregate protesters and dissenters from supporters.
.
The last paragraph of Bovard’s article is explicit in its hint of things to come:
.
Where are the “Free Speech Zones” in the Øbummer public events? Obviously Democrats are more authoritarian and rights-limiting than any Republican.
ExpressoBold on March 15, 2010 at 9:20 AM
When you hear Sean Penn make those comments about the press and Hugo Chavez, don’t think Sean’s the only one on the left who thinks that way, and don’t think it’s just limited to the media criticizing Chavez and fantasizing about throwing non-cooperative journalists in prison. As fawning as the big media has been overall towards Obama, this White House obsesses over the criticism, Fox News or otherwise, in the same way the Nixon Administration did, and no doubt has every slight by ever single reporter somewhere on their hard drive (Jake Tapper goes first, after they round up all the Fox people and talk radio hosts).
The sad part is the administration can treat the big media far, far worse over the next two years, and folks like Karen Tumulty will still be horrified at the thought of a Republican win in 2012 and will do everything they can to make sure Obama gets another term in office.
jon1979 on March 15, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Yeah, but you can’t doubt the veracity of the rest of highhopes (on March 15, 2010 at 8:43 AM) comment.
ExpressoBold on March 15, 2010 at 9:26 AM
canopfor on March 15, 2010 at 9:15 AM
LOL… :-)
Keemo on March 15, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Axelrod is trying to alienate the press, or at least appear to, so as to distance himself from them. They actually believe that if the Press hates you, the people will love you. This is purely a head trip for Americans planned to sugarcoat the next 2 years so he can get re-elected.
Microsoft mastered the art of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). Obama’s handlers are using the same tactic to try and rein in the dive his popularity has taken. Unless a REAL leader emerges in the GOP that independents can get behind, BO will get re-elected. Sadly so…
IanTrouble on March 15, 2010 at 9:39 AM
We will have no freedoms left if we keep this freak administration in Washington..
bluegrass on March 15, 2010 at 9:39 AM
Snidly DoRight Axelrod is fooling no one except the media with its blind eye.
bluegrass on March 15, 2010 at 9:40 AM
I don’t, but it doesn’t help when there is a clearly established false incident included in it. One might even say that the only time he didn’t use a teleprompter was when he talked to the public school kids. :)
ProfessorMiao on March 15, 2010 at 9:41 AM
The White House is worried about Time Magazine? I thought they were cheerleaders for Obama Nation?
Dr Evil on March 15, 2010 at 9:46 AM
Hope and Change turning into paranoia in the WH. Stupid 4th estate, we told you this would happen.
elclynn on March 15, 2010 at 9:46 AM
Don’t waste your breath trying to shame the shameless, JamesLee. If you believe Bernie Goldberg, the press doesn’t even know they are liberal. They just think they are normal and conservatives are out-of-control reactionaries.
Extrafishy on March 15, 2010 at 9:46 AM
I don’t see how it hurts that much since liberals scattergun all the time, even “make stuff up,” and nobody can call them on it because of the sheer volume of the BS. We don’t need to be “pure” either, especially if the general consensus is that Øbummer is reading “corpse” for “corps.” Now that’s a fact, Jack.
.
Meow.
ExpressoBold on March 15, 2010 at 9:49 AM
canopfor on March 15, 2010 at 9:15 AM
LOL… :-)
Keemo on March 15, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Keemo:)
canopfor on March 15, 2010 at 9:55 AM
So if this reporter left their holding area to talk to the people, what would the security people do? Did any of the other reporters object or notice what this? Why didn’t she interview the security people? Who were these security people–secret service? security for the event? SEIU? who?
There was plenty of information this reporter to discover, but she was too complacent and lazy to search for it. Now, if the speaker had an R after their name or were affiliated with the Tea Party or had just said something negative about Obama, I guarantee this would be a full 3 page, above the fold, top of the hour story.
Lazy, biased journalism.
conservative pilgrim on March 15, 2010 at 9:57 AM
ProfessorM–if you want to criticize someone for using a “myth,” how about proving your point with some facts and evidence? highhopes is not entirely wrong on this one.
conservative pilgrim on March 15, 2010 at 10:01 AM
So the logic here is that Obama’s dive is related to the press loving him, and if the press start to hate him, the people will start to love him again?
I don’t think that’s going to work out as Axelrod or you think.
uknowmorethanme on March 15, 2010 at 10:03 AM
Obama didn’t want her finding out that everyone at that event had been bussed in from SEIU union halls and mostly weren’t even from that state…
wildcat84 on March 15, 2010 at 10:07 AM
We don’t need to be “pure”, but we don’t need to lie, either.
ProfessorMiao on March 15, 2010 at 10:17 AM
..Sean Penn does not wish to send you to jail nor wish that you painfully die of rectal cancer if you criticize Obama. (Yet.)
VoyskaPVO on March 15, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Well of course, you silly girl. The King does not associate with the little people. Just shut up and support his highness’s agenda.
UltimateBob on March 15, 2010 at 10:43 AM
A Free and Unfettered press forced to sit behind TWO barricades and not allowed to interview participants.
How’s that Hopey Changey working out for ya?
TN Mom on March 15, 2010 at 10:43 AM
I don’t think highhopes was lying, especially since Øbummer brought along the teleprompter to lecture the attending media. Even if the teleprompter was not used during the time spent with school children, can you prove he don’t refer continually and inconspicuously to his ubiquitous Blackberry? Hmmmmmmmmmm?
ExpressoBold on March 15, 2010 at 10:49 AM
DO NOT WORRY. Like a battered wife the press will come running back to fluff Obama.
jukin on March 15, 2010 at 10:57 AM
What had the Indonesian communists been doing prior to Kopassus reaction? Anything like Cambodia or Vietnam communists purging their nations?
Regardless, interventionism is exactly why the US is hated by those with whom we interfere. Historically, every time we train the military in other nations, “allies”, inevitably they subsequently turn on us.
At this point, Obama is not training or enabling anti-communists, no matter the story.
maverick muse on March 15, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Pravda is freer than Time Magazine.
Schadenfreude on March 15, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Uh, oh. Now he’s done it. How much longer will the dolts in the press corps(e) be able to get their thinking processes in gear for this one? How much longer will they figure out this ain’t their America, anymore?
BetseyRoss on March 15, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Mao, errr I mean, Fidel….ummmm I meant Raul, errrr ummm I meant Kim Jong, ummmmmmm whoops! I meant Chavez….dangit!!!!
Obama. Yeah…that’s it. OBAMA! He’s coronated…errr he won!
capejasmine on March 15, 2010 at 1:40 PM