Barack Obama likely would have won the presidency without the unrestrained, tingly-legged adoration of the mainstream media.
Or course he? We don’t know. We’ll never know – because the press was utterly in the bag for The One.
But what’s the best way to piddle away fawning press coverage?
Dana Milbank at the WaPo reports that David Plouffe, Obama’s former campaign majordomo, gave a speech at the National Press Club – but tried to have it kept off the record:
Plouffe was listed as the keynote speaker at the luncheon yesterday for “Transition 2009,” sponsored by Georgetown University and Politico. The public was invited to the event — students free of charge and everybody else for a fee. But at the last minute, Georgetown announced that Plouffe’s speech would be “closed press,” even though the speech was being given in the National Press Club ballroom, described on a plaque at the door as “the sanctum sanctorum of American journalists.”National Press Club President Donna Leinwand fired off an e-mail to Plouffe and his agents stating her “strong opposition” to the press banishment from its own club. “If Mr. Plouffe wants to keep secrets,” she said, “Mr. Plouffe should stay at home.”
It’s not nice to tweak the MSM. They might start reporting on you:
This sort of mess has become a trademark of the former Obama campaign manager. Plouffe still keeps his Obama ties — over the weekend he sent out an e-mail in his name to millions from barackobama.com titled “Urgent message from President Obama” — yet he is also profiting from them. He is reported to have received as much as $2 million for his forthcoming book, “The Audacity to Win,” and he can’t give his material away in public speeches.Plouffe’s Audacity to Cash Out caused some embarrassment for him over the weekend, when he flew to Azerbaijan to give a speech to a group tied to that country’s repressive leader. The title of that speech, “The Power of Democracy,” took on an ironic meaning when journalists were ordered to leave the auditorium before it began.
I’m sure the MSM’ll get over it.
Still, we’re not even a full month into the honeymoon yet.