White House Thinks Coverage Of Obama To China ‘Asinine’

by Glynnis MacNicol | 11:03 am, November 19th, 2009

» 5 comments

a_brmemo_1130 President Obama sometimes doesn’t have a lot of luck when it comes to timing. First there was Kanye West, followed by Joe Wilson, and now Sarah Palin going Rogue all over the President’s Asia trip. Once again a major Obama initiative has been seemingly trumped by spectacle (unless, of course, you are a Time reader). Moreover on top of getting submerged under a bunch of Sarah Palin madness the White House apparently feels that the coverage they did get Stateside was ‘asinine.’ From today’s Playbook:

THE WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS THE MOTIF OF MUCH OF THE U.S. COVERAGE TO BE ASININE. A senior administration official: “American leadership was absent from this region for the last several years, despite the fact that it is increasingly central to our economic growth and our security. President Obama put our alliances on a firmer footing, reasserted our leadership in the region, and continued to advance a complicated bilateral relationship with China that will play a large role in shaping the 21st century.”

And this from David Axelrod, who apparently felt the need to point out that the trip to China was not about ticker-tape parades:

DAVID AXELROD, surrounded by White House reports after the two-question “news conference” at South Korea’s Blue House: “The goal on this trip was to lay a foundation for economic progress, to open up markets for American goods, to lay a foundation for progress on mutual security issues, … to lay groundwork on climate change. … Though the president is demonstrably popular in all these countries and polling reflects that, we didn’t come halfway across the world for ticker-tape parades. … So we believe it was a successful trip. … We didn’t have expectations that Barack Obama arrives in China or anywhere else and things change overnight.”

It’s not clear which coverage in particular the White House is upset with — Fox is not singled out — though, there does seem to be a bit of a ‘walk on water’ expectation that follows Obama wherever he goes. Perhaps instead it is just the pervading tone that Obama was too deferential to his hosts on this Asian trip as opposed to, say, merely trying to find some common ground. Considering the week we’ve had in the media, I think it’s safe to say Obama coverage hasn’t really made it ‘asinine’ quite yet.

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RazorsEdge

Pot meet Kettle:

GM states “Once again a major Obama initiative has been seemingly trumped by spectacle”. If you’re going make that statement, then please reviews this site’s content for last week.

I “assume” it’s because you’re going with what drives web traffic.

WH may have a point, Lot’s of serious policy stuff going on aside from Time covers and Palin. WH Whining about it though won’t help.
TfT

Does anyone ever fact check a word this administration says? Bush was in the region in 06 and paid a lot of attention to the region. But then again, the Big O is the Big O and he is historical and great and “restores our standing in the world” and tells the troops in South Korea they “make a great photo op”. There was NO major initiative in this visit other than Himself bowing and groveling.
am_underground

WTF. It looks like we’ve got the biggest wimps in the White House we’ve ever had. If the Bush team was to ever lash out at the media, the media would have eaten them alive. Seems that the left just can’t take a little negitive posts, but then they’ve had a free ride for the last 2 years.
Sunnyr

Poor Barry! Sarah Palin rained on his little 72 car motorcade parade!! BFD, Life is a *itch, crybaby!
Fidoohki

The last time a member of this administraition was fact checked it started the
White house vs Foxnews war…