How Obama’s Nobel speech played in Washington
For a man who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama didn’t look all that happy as he strode to the lectern in Oslo. He had that downturned smile that was almost an acknowledgement of all the critics who say the award is premature — especially for a commander-in-chief who has just vowed to send 30,000 more U.S. troops into harm’s way in Afghanistan.
The speech itself didn’t make much of a splash on morning television in Washington. None of the major TV networks carried it live, though CNN did, cutting away from Obama from time to time to show an audience listening attentively, with a few eyelids drooping. But viewers didn’t have many options if they wanted to see the speech as it happened. They could see a blink of Obama sandwiched in between the televised feature stories — Dillie the Deer, a taped interview with first lady Michelle Obama, a duel interview with Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman to promote their new movie.
The Washington Post ran a live feed on its Web site; after the speech ended, there was a story and a photo slide show. The New York Times posted a text of the address. The Drudge Report – a one-stop online gateway for some in Washington — ran two small headlines about the Nobel ceremony (“Obama defends US wars as he accepts peace prize…” and ”Norwegians Incensed Over Obama Snubs…”) over the main story. Just after the speech it was “SNOW DRIFTS TO 15FT!” but later it changed to “DEMS TO LIFT DEBT CEILING BY $1.8 TRILLION!”
Before the chattering classes start weighing in on how he did, let’s hear what you think? Was it statesmanlike or disappointing? Or something in between?
Photo credit: REUTERS/John McConnico/Pool (President Barack Obama poses with Nobel Peace Prize medal and certificate, Oslo, December 10, 2009)
Bush daughter to be TV reporter
Teacher, author and now television correspondent.
Not a bad resume for a former first daughter .
Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Hager, a Baltimore teacher, is joining NBC’s “Today” crew as a correspondent, the show’s executive producer Jim Bell told AP on Sunday.
Hager, 27, will work out of NBC’s Washington bureau, but she won’t be covering politics. Nor does she intend to talk about her eight years under public scrutiny known mostly as one of the Bush Twins.
“I hope to focus on what I’m passionate about because I think I’d do the best job on them — education, urban education, women and children’s issues and literacy,” Hager said.
Being a television correspondent wasn’t something she’d always dreamed of doing, but Hager told AP she was intrigued by the idea when Bell came calling.
“I think one of the most important things in life is to be open-minded and to be open-minded for change.”
thanks Frank,i hope she reads your posting the malice out there cannot be disguised,
Obama in bed with the press?
President Barack Obama poked fun at his close relationship with the press on Friday and teased radio and TV correspondents their industry “was more relevant than ever,” despite more and more Americans turning elsewhere for news.
Obama said he had trouble coming up with fresh jokes after delivering a similar routine just five weeks ago at the annual White House correspondents dinner, a glitzy affair attracting big Hollywood stars.
“The jokes may not be as good, but neither is the guest list,” Obama said at the Radio and Television Correspondents Associations Dinner. “For me, there’s no contest. Why bother hanging out with celebrities, when I can spend time with the people who made me one?”
“A few nights ago, I was up tossing and turning trying to figure exactly what to say. Finally, when I couldn’t get back to sleep, I rolled over and asked (NBC News anchor) Brian Williams what he thought,” Obama said.
Williams recently hosted a gushing two-night special that took viewers “Inside the Obama White House,” and featured such hard-hitting spots as the president firing up his motorcade to pick up hamburgers for his staff. “The truth is, Brian Williams is actually a terrible house guest. He put an empty milk carton back in the fridge. He leaves his wet towels all over the Roosevelt room. We’re pretty sure he clogged the toilet and didn’t tell anybody,” Obama said to roars from the crowd.
Obama joked was he spending much of his time rescuing failed banks and auto companies, but “you probably wouldn’t understand the concept of troubled industries working as you do in radio and television.”
Were the first clues the multi billion dollar no bid contracts awarded to General Electric by the Obama administration immediately after the election? General Electric is the parent company of all the NBC networks but I would not want to confuse anyone with facts. GE is driving Obama’s propaganda machine in return for big government contracts. Or would it be the freedom of speech trampling legislation being pushed by the Democrats trying to squash what have become dissident voices in America?
Does Obama get too much media coverage?
NEW YORK - Few would doubt that Barack Obama has attracted more media coverage than his Republican rival John McCain, fueling suspicion that journalists are biased towards Obama.
A Rasmussen Reports survey in July found that 49 percent of voters believe most reporters are trying to help Obama. Just 14 percent believed most reporters were trying to help McCain and 24 percent said most reporters tried to be objective.
Obama’s seventh appearance this year on the cover of Time magazine, compared to two for McCain, renewed those charges this week. Read our story on that here.
Many journalists argue that Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, is simply a bigger story than McCain, who fits the traditional mold of a man running for president.
Andrew Tyndall, whose Tyndall Report monitors news on the three major TV networks, said Obama’s overseas trip in July was “the culmination of the storyline about Obama getting all the media coverage.”
Up to that point, he said, Obama had a 2-to-1 advantage in airtime but there seemed to have been a “self-correcting mechanism” by the media in recent weeks, influenced also by the fact that Obama went on vacation, leaving the field to McCain.
From July 28 to Aug 15, Tyndall said total network coverage of McCain took up 45 minutes compared to 28 minutes for Obama.
Claudia…not sue where to post this…however, in the recent article about Rice Urges UN to Address Iran Threat, it states the Iranian president stated he wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the map. It’s been reported that the translation was flawed and in fact, during an interview (Larry King) he said he never said that. So why is this still being pursued both by the administration and the press? Lost in translation is one of the biggest obstacles to peace.
Fox News calls Obama’s wife “baby mama”
Fox News Channel has raised the ire of Barack Obama supporters again, this time for referring to the Democratic candidate’s wife Michelle as his “baby mama.”
Fox ran a graphic reading “Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama’s baby mama!” during a June 11 segment about planned Republican attacks on the candidate’s outspoken spouse.
According to the Urban Dictionary, “baby mama” is slang for the unmarried mother of a man’s children.
Fox has had other Obama-related gaffes in recent weeks.
Anchor E.D. Hill apologized for referring to Obama’s fist bump with wife Michelle during a rally as a “terrorist fist jab,” while commentator Liz Trotta apologized for joking about an Obama assassination.
It’s both revealing and disappointing how this campaign has forced all the hidden bigotry and disrespect to come to the surface. Usually it’s kept just on this side of subtle, but now people just can’t help themselves. They think they’re taking Obama down a notch, or maybe they think they’re just making a harmless joke (but jokes can reveal the true nature of the jokester, yes?), instead they’re just identifying themselves as obsolete in any serious political discussion. As vile as I find these insults, put-downs and insinuations, I can’t help but relish finding out all these real feelings and being able to dismiss these characters (journalists,regular citizens, whoever, even so-called democrats) as irrelevant once and for all.
Stuck on his middle name, Hussein? You deserve no credit for your ethnic bias.
Think he’s a Muslim, and think that should even matter if he was? Move to Vatican City or some other religiously controlled territory of your choice. You certainly don’t understand the greatness of this country.
Don’t get why calling his wife his baby’s mama isn’t derogatory, bigoted and disrespectful? Let’s make stereotypical jokes about you and your family based wholly on your race. Better yet, let’s make important decisions, like giving you a job, promotion, a loan, a friendly smile, based wholly on your race and see how long you sit for that.
“I have seen college students receive college degrees who did not earn them, I even heard of a law and accounting student receiving their license that had not passed the BAR and CPA Exam”
Then they did not deserve their degrees or licences. And they are a small minority who devalue the efforts of the many people who earnt their qualifications through hard work.
“Sometimes you can give an award on potential and a direction or as a sign of support”
No. An award has always been for the recognition of something worthy. Not the belief that the recipient will do something worthy of the award at a later date.
Imagine if university degrees were handed out because of four years of study you have yet to do.
Imagine if you were given an Oscar for a movie you have not even made.
Imagine if you were given the medical nobel prize for a cure you have not yet invented, the physics nobel prize for a theory you have not yet discovered, or the literature nobel prize for a book you have not yet written.
No. There is no way that this situation can be salvaged or justified.
If you think Obama’s popularity and the opinions of Europe are important, then fine. But the nobel peace prize didn’t need to be sacrificed on an alter for their sake.