I THOUGHT i WAS READING SOMETHING FROM fOX.YOU AND YOUR KIND HAVE GIVEN THIS MAN SIX MONYHS TO CLEAN UP 8-9 YEARS OF NOO GOVERNMENT. hOW ABOUT DO NOT NOT WRITE HIM OO TOOO QUICKLY. iF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO, YOU WILL BE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. ARE YOU LIE PAT B. DO YOU APPEAR ON FOX, AS WELL AS MSNBC. PRETTYCAT
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The End of the Honeymoon
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Obama's sweeping promises of a new era of "transparency" in government have fallen short as well. He's invoked many of his predecessor's justifications for keeping surveillance operations secret—and even is refusing to make public the logs of White House visitors. Reporters, so far, are not impressed.
Things will inevitably turn confrontational, and when that happens, Obama is not going to like it. He is a tough customer, and smarter and shrewder than most, but he doesn't like antagonistic questions any more than any other human being. And he really isn't used to a steady stream of them.
Why will things change? Well, he has changed or abandoned numerous campaign positions, many documented by the same reporters now covering him in the White House. The list is long on health care alone. He was against a mandate for coverage, now he seems to be for one; he was against the taxation of health-care benefits, now he may tolerate that very thing. More important, his agenda on the Hill is so vast and so ambitious—and worries about the deficit and higher taxes have grown so deep—that questions are multiplying exponentially.
There is a physics in media: every action eventually produces an equal and opposite reaction. Or, as the old saying goes, they're either at your feet or at your throat. Obama has enjoyed a glorious ride, but the press has gotten about as much mileage as it can by writing the story of his rise and early triumph. Eventually, the only way to generate copy and ratings will be to write the story of his difficulties—the descent that follows the rise. Expect to see Obama smiling a lot.
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