Thought for the Day

The public view of Obama's policy towards detainees rests more on the media's treatment than on the actual policy. Words like "defend" appear across the headlines on Obama's speech yesterday which, repeated frequently enough, tint public perception.

Another example, check out the NYTimes lead paragraph,

As President Obama defends his national security strategy, he faces a daunting challenge. He must convince the country that it is in safe hands despite warnings to the contrary from the right, and at the same time persuade the skeptical left that it is enough to amend his predecessor’s approach rather than abandon it.

Answer: He's only "defending" because the media is painting the position as weak.

If you go back to something like the stimulus bill, where Republicans were screaming even louder, there was no word in the media about Obama "defending" his policy.

Just an observation.

Later: Of course, the dying McClatchy is the only major that actually dug into what Cheney said,

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.

(Here's hoping Landay and Strobel can keep reporting. McClatchy will always hold credit with me for being the only major to question the intelligence in the mania of the Iraq war buildup.)

Frankly, and sadly, it's become the fact free vacuum of cable news that largely defines tone.