White House: Cable news not 'where all of real America lives'
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Traditionally there's not much love lost between any White House and the media.
And so it was this week:
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/18/art.gibbs.jpg caption=" White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs"]
Almost two months into the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, Pres. Obama addressed the American people from the Oval Office about the Gulf oil spill.
And his speech got panned... pretty much everywhere... including MSNBC which usually just loves anything this president does.
They said the president wasn't specific enough and didn't appear to show that he was in charge. They were absolutely right. The speech was weak.
The next day in the White House briefing room - Mr. Obama's Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, was asked about the drubbing his boss took. Reporters wanted to know what Gibbs thought about cable news critics who said the president is being too hands-off when it comes to the oil crisis.
Gibbs responded:
"I appreciate the hand on the pulse of America by those who live on cable TV. I don't actually think that is where all of real America lives."
Gibbs also said that if Mr. Obama had decided to run for president based on what the pundits were saying a year before the primaries started... he would still be in the Senate.
Meanwhile despite all the talk about the president's speech and the criticism that followed... it was the second least-watched Obama speech ever. The audiences for his speeches are beginning to mirror his job approval ratings.
Here’s my question to you: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says cable news is not "where all of real America lives." Is he right?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Does it feel like a 'recovery summer' to you?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Turns out "recovery" is in the eye of the beholder...
President Obama and Vice President Biden have kicked off a massive PR campaign... celebrating what they're calling "recovery summer."
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/18/art.obama.biden.jpg caption="Pres. Obama and VP Biden discuss implementation of the Recovery Act, which would ramp up economic stimulus spending over the next three months in a bid to save or create 600,000 jobs through summer youth programs, schools and public works."]
They say the $860 billion economic stimulus bill is working. The White House says 2.5 million jobs have been created; and that number should reach 3.5 million by the end of the year. They're highlighting new jobs at thousands of infrastructure projects across the country.
But the celebration may be premature. Just yesterday - the labor department reported that new claims for jobless benefits jumped by 12,000 last week. That's a sharp increase and shows the pace of layoffs has not slowed down. Plus we still have a national unemployment just below 10 percent.
An editorial in the Washington Times called "Obama's Endless Summer of Spending" suggests the administration's "make-work" jobs program has failed - and that those infrastructure jobs which are being funded by the taxpayers will disappear when the stimulus money runs out. Fact is the current recovery has been one of the worst for job creation on record.
Meanwhile the picture in many of the 50 states is terrible and getting worse. State and local governments are cutting wherever they can to meet their budgets... reducing or eliminating public services, underfunding state pension plans - and cutting more than 230,000 state and local government jobs in the last two years.
Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan is out with a dire warning that the U.S. may soon reach its borrowing limit if we don't make some drastic changes and reduce our $13 trillion national debt. But President Obama wants billions more for stimulus spending.
Somewhere there is a serious disconnect.
Here’s my question to you: Does it feel like a "recovery summer" to you?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
Recent Comments