Media's main concern: did the President look "sufficiently enraged"

[ProSense]

DEFINE 'SUFFICIENTLY ENRAGED'....

The New York Times's Jeff Zeleny live-blogged President Obama's press conference this afternoon, and wrapped things up asking whether the president demonstrated to the country that he's "in control of the crisis on the Gulf."

During a full hour of questioning, he illustrated that he has a grasp of the technical challenges at work in the oil spill. He said the government was calling the shots, the buck stopped with him and the ultimate responsibility rested in the Oval Office.

But it remains an open question whether the measured tone that has become the soundtrack of Mr. Obama's presidency -- a detached, calm, observational pitch -- served to drive the point home that he is sufficiently enraged by the fury in the Gulf Coast.

<...>

Look, I appreciate the importance of appearances in politics, and I'm well aware of the general media criticism that the president is calm, professorial, and seemingly unflappable -- far too much for reporters' liking.

But basing an analysis of a presidential press conference on whether Obama seemed "sufficiently enraged" seems like an awkward standard. How does one even measure such things? If he's not pounding the podium with his fist, is he somehow less engaged?

And if he is pounding the podium, is that relevant to the response to the crisis?

Kevin Drum watched the CNN coverage, and saw the various on-air personalities "solemnly advising us one after one that Obama really needed to be more emotional because that's what the American people want."

I'm not going to pretend I know what "the American people" want -- and I wish CNN wouldn't either -- but if I had to guess, I imagine the public is more interested in stopping the oil gusher in the Gulf and mitigating the effects of the disaster, and less interested in whether the president meets some ambiguous, undefined standard of being emotional.

[saltpoint]

1. Perhaps they'd be more convinced if Obama had picked up a chair and

thrown it at reporters accompanied by a volley of barnyard expletives.

[tallahasseedem]

2. LOL! RIght?

He cannot catch a break on ANYTHING. It's getting old.

[saltpoint]

4. HI, tallahasseedem. If Obama HAD thrown a chair or two at the press

corps, it would have been "unpresidential," maybe, but richly deserved!

I'd like to throw a few chairs at 'em myself!

[EffieBlack]

25. See, we told you that he was an ANGRY BLACK MAN!

Sooner or later, he was bound to show his true colors, you know.

:sarcasm:

[YvonneCa]

34. Same here. I can barely...

...watch lately.

[SoxFan]

11. No, no, that's Biden's job

"Angry Irish Nut", Media Meme No. 87-C

[saltpoint]

14. I love Biden. He's got a bit of the old street tussler still in him.

[treestar]

15. Biden and Obama are a perfect partnership

One of the smartest things the President ever did was his choice of running mate! Contrasting so much of course with McCain's pick. I'm from Delaware and failed to appreciate Biden before!

[saltpoint]

16. McCain's pick would have driven us all to raving madness within a

week of his presidency. Thank you, those 10 million voters who picked Obama-Biden instead.

Agree, treestar -- Barack and Joe seem to hit it off just fine. There was that early dust-up over comments by Biden but an apology was sincerely issued and was graciously accepted, and nowadays they're a gleam team.

I love 'em.

[YvonneCa]

35. Palin? I agree. What is ridiculous is that...

...she still gets coverage by the media. HOW is that?

[saltpoint]

40. Hi, YvonneCa! Palin? She gets covered, is my guess, because she

has such a lyrical voice and such sound judgment and insight.

Not.

I have no idea other than she's so outrageous that the media think she's a ratings boost. It may start to get pretty old, though. I don't see a huge groundswell of support for Palin in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[SoxFan]

17. That's why I love the guy

He's blunt, brash, and forthright. He says what he believes, but the media, which prefers canned bullshit, says he's a gaffe machine.

I think a large part of it is classism. For some reason, Beltway journalism is no longer the quasi-blue collar enterprise it was 40 or 50 years ago. Now, it's infested with suits with J-School degrees who think of themselves as part of the DC elite. Biden, lacking Ivy League credentials, married to the same woman for 35 years, never owning a home in Fairfax or Chevy Chase, is viewed as some sort of knuckledragger, a Thomas Nast caricature of an Irishman, Whitey Bulger with a hair weave.

[saltpoint]

18. Good insight. I think that's spot on -- there's a strong class bias at

work.

Biden is so crass he used to RIDE AMTRAK into work!

[SoxFan]

23. I noticed the poor treatment of Biden 20+ years ago

I worked as a staffer on his first presidential campaign, and part of my job was to put together press clips for the NH state director (this was pre-Google, obviously!). There was always a snarky undercurrent in the coverage of Biden. There was a pretty obvious bias in favor of Mike Dukakis (Swarthmore, Harvard, lives in an upscale liberal community), while Biden's intellect and seriousness were questioned, despite his stellar work on the foreign relations and judiciary committees.

[saltpoint]

28. I'm with ya. I envy you your time as a Biden staffer -- that sounds to

me like the nature of time spent well.

And even in recent years on the SFRC, Biden led the charge against John Bolton. The Senators on that Committee who opposed Bolton are among my favorite ever, including Biden.

And Bolton deserved what he got.

[jberryhill]

44. Remember that videotape that Whatsername sent out to voters in DE

Freaking 20 minutes of "Neal Kinnock Gaffe", just in case you hadn't heard.

What a tool she was.

Hey, I was the last man standing for Biden at my caucus in suburban New Castle County in '88.

[Jennicut]

22. He did used to beat up the kids in his neighborhood.

Obama's job is to be calm, cool and collected. Biden's job is to be emotional and swear. Or throw chairs, if needed.

[saltpoint]

27. Yep. They make a good duo.

:hi:

[Jennicut]

29. I love them as our team.

[uponit7771]

19. LOFl!!!

[Clio the Leo]

3. One of the guests on Morning Joe said today...

"one of the reasons why President Obama beat John McCain was that, during the financial crisis, McCain was going nuts and everyone looked at Obama and said, 'he's a pretty calm guy, doesn't look like the type of person to go crazy during a crisis, don a wet suit and jump in the ocean.'" :)

[EffieBlack]

26. And now he's being lambasted for not donning a wet suit and jumping into the Gulf

How interesting.

[donco6]

5. I thought he looked controlled, but appropriately angry.

Nothing wrong with that. This is really petty and silly. I guess they don't have anything of substance to go after.

[Jennicut]

6. He is No Drama Obama. What do they want?

An idiot who pats people on the back and gives them goofy nicknames? Personally, I think this President is too mature for their liking.

[treestar]

13. mature doesn't create drama and bring in ratings, it just gets things done

Our media is such that we are convincing the world that we'd rather be entertained and titillated rather than informed.

[Jennicut]

24. It is all about ratings and drama with them.

[saltpoint]

7. Axelrod could drop a call to Jack Nicholson and ask if Jack would agree

to become the public voice of the Obama administration on this oil disaster.

I think ol' Jack would make things real clear to the media.

[YvonneCa]

36. ...

...:7

[Kokonoe]

8. Its a dog whistle code to other reporters.

Is it OK to paint him an angry black man yet?

[volvoblue]

9. The media wants the Flightsuit

they don't care about the real response.
they want Obama to pretend to Feel your pain. to don a flightsuit and swoop into the gulf on some carrier.
They want him to use a bullhorn and say Dead or Alive.
they want all flash and no substance. Look at how they chase around after that silly Palin. Look at how they pay attention suddenly to that snake Carville. anyone who grandstands and postures and chest beats they say is really feeling emotion.

But, dignified and intelligent and measured is not being in control of the situation to them. working on the problem and trying to solve it is not what they call being strong.

To them, a real president is someone who does photo ops and postures.

Who does playacting a president rather than is a real president.

[WI_DEM]

10. The media is a bunch of jackels who invent issues that nobody outside the belt way cares about.

[treestar]

12. Is the media going after the CEO of BP?

One would think by now that person's name would be known and he'd have to live in infamy.

Our media is something we should be quite ashamed of as a nation.

[marshall]

20. They want a bull horn moment

The presidency isn't just Oval Office wheeling and dealing, it's a PR job.

[YvonneCa]

37. We elected the very 'antithesis' of the bullhorn...

...moment. On PURPOSE.

[marshall]

38. Which is why we have all this pearl clutching from the media

They aren't getting the drama they want, except from the politicians who live in Lousiana. And they are chewing up the scenery in fine form.

[YvonneCa]

39. "Pearl clutching" . I LOVE it...

...:7

[secondwind]

21. Obama tries very hard not to project the 'ANGRY BLACK MAN' image...if you know what I mean.

I, for one, would love to see the ANGRY BLACK MAN whoop everybody else's butt sometimes!

It's about time.

[Kokonoe]

30. Lets just not give the reporters tools.

He kicks their ass every day without them.

[Inuca]

33. I don't think he tries anything

He is who and how he is. And personally I absolutely LOVE calm, brilliant competence.

[jberryhill]

45. Yeah, but if he ever opened up a real can of whoopass, it would shake the heavens /nt

[JI7]

46. he isn't trying to do anything

[Whisp]

31. they want him to display his 'angry black man side'

then they can carp about 'is he stable enough to run this country? can he not control his temper?

[Arkana]

42. If that's the case, they're out of luck.

--He has been trashed because he's half-black and half-white.

--He has been called an "outsider", an "other", and a non-citizen when it's patently clear that none of this is the case.

--His wife and daughters have been ruthlessly trashed by a bunch of fat, smug, smirking, overpaid right-wing talkshow hosts.

--He deals day in and day out with a bitchy, right-wing-dominated media who values flash over substance and is more concerned with the APPEARANCE of leadership than actual leadership.

--He is in office at a time when the fucking whole world is crashing down around him and cannot catch a goddamn break from his own allies or the Democratic-controlled Congress.

--His past and his philosophy were ruthlessly mocked during one of the most emotionally-charged Presidential campaigns we've ever had by a woman who isn't fit to clean up his dog's shit.


If none of this was enough to get him visibly spitting mad while the cameras are on him, it will NEVER happen.

e: Let me just say that he's a better man than I am. I'd have burned down Sarah Palin's house by this point and tried to strangle John McCain.

[flpoljunkie]

32. Even former Dem Rep. David Bonior chimed in on this 'not enough emotion' criticism on MSNBC earlier.

That made both Bonior and Pat Buchanan criticizing the president on a totally bogus issue!

[Cha]

43. Do they even know how fucking stupid that makes them?

[Arkana]

41. If asked this, he should say

"I don't get angry--that's what I pay Biden for."

Then he should put on a pair of dark sunglasses and just walk the fuck away.

[Vattel]

47. Obama is useless. We need another actor.

Imagine what a President Charlton Heston would say: "Damn you BP! Damn you to Hell!"
Or a President Al Pacino: "The oil rig is out of order? The whole oil industry is out of order!"
Or a President Rutger Hauer (granted, his status as a natural-born citizen is doubtful): "I've seen cruise ships off the shoulder of Florida. I've seen seabeams glittering in the Gulf of Mexico. All these things will be lost . . . in time. Like oil in the rain."
Or a President Woody Allen and Vice-President Diane Keaton: Allen: "Off-shore drilling is immoral." Keaton: "But morality is subjective." Allen: "But subjectivity is objective." Allen and Keaton together: "Wheat!"

[backscatter712]

48. He could turn into The Rock Obama

http://www.hulu.com/watch/61239/saturday-night-live-the-rock-obama

[Ned Bro]

49. Standard, sadly

Appearance uber alles!