ABC, CBS, CNN, & MSNBC Knock Obama for Campaigning
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by Warner Todd Huston
25 Sep 2012, 4:04 AM PDT
Every once in a while the Old Media takes a jab at their favorite president and Obama's decision to skip any meetings with the world leaders that are gathering at the UN this week seems to be one of those times.
Just to name a few, Chuck Todd of MSNBC, CNN's Wolf Blitzer, ABC’s Jake Tapper, and the CBS Evening News all took swipes at the president for doing campaign stops, TV entertainment shows, and softball interviews instead of doing his job as our nation's chief foreign policy representative by meeting with the world leaders who are this week visiting New York at the United Nations.
CBS slapped Obama saying "diplomacy gets a backseat to campaigning" on Monday in a piece by Nancy Cordes.
Noting that last year Obama conducted "13 one-on-one meetings with major leaders," this year not so much.
But this year diplomacy is taking a back seat to campaigning, despite a worsening civil war in Syria, rising tensions between Israel and Iran, and the recent attack in Libya.
That's pretty strong words for CBS.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer had similar sentiments. Even as Blitzer talked out of both sides of his mouth, by turns claiming to understand why Obama would spend more time campaigning than dealing with diplomacy and then scolding him for avoiding world leaders, he had harsh words for Obama’s decision.
Saying it was a mistake to skip the meetings, Blitzer decided that, "there potentially is a missed opportunity this week for the President of the United States to meet with some world leaders..."
On MSNBC, former Democrat operative Chuck Todd said the move was "odd."
“The White House also argues that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice will hold meetings,” Todd said after airing a clip of Fox News’s Chris Wallace pressing Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs about the president's schedule. “But folks it is odd to have a president come to the United Nations and not have any bilaterals. Granted it is a campaign year, but still odd considering what’s going on in the Middle East.”
Naturally, ABC's Jake Tapper also smacked the president for his "unusual" decision to stay on the campaign trail instead of doing his job by meeting with foreign leaders.
Tapper also noted that Obama's move seemed to solidify claims by Obama's critics that he has a "rocky" relationship with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tapper said it was an “anomaly” for the president to forego meeting with world leaders, and that “there really isn’t a full explanation that’s been forthcoming other than the president has a busy schedule.” The situation is another example of the fact that Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have, “if not a rocky relationship, not the smoothest relationship that has ever existed between an American and Israeli leader.”
On a broader note, Tapper said it is “unusual” for the president not to be meeting with these leaders — also adding: “Certainly this friction with Netanyahu is unusual and symbolic, I think, in some ways of the tension that’s existed.”
All this tsk tsking goes to show how badly Obama is doing these last few weeks since the Middle East has erupted in flames and death and his foreign policy scheme has melted down into chaos. If Obama has even lost the Old Media to this extent, he really is in trouble.
