Concha: Todd Should Have Challenged Obama More in MTP Interview

Evan McMurrySep 7th, 2014, 1:32 pm

The headline on Drudge was “TODD MAKES OBAMA SQUIRM,” but Mediaite columnist Joe Concha told MediaBuzz’s Howard Kurtz that Chuck Todd missed some crucial opportunities to challenge President Barack Obama during his inaugural interview on Meet the Press Sunday morning, and wondered whether Todd was too much of a “wonk” to reach the lay viewer.

“When talking about going golfing fifteen minutes after making the announcement around Jim Foley’s beheading, the president said with a straight face, ‘the theater of the presidency doesn’t come naturally to me.’ That’s where Chuck just shook his head and allowed the president to go on unfiltered. Remember, this is the same president who was roundly mocked and criticized for taking a selfie at the Nelson Mandela funeral. If he didn’t learn about optics then and anticipating them? I would have asked the question there.”

“I think Tim Russert’s strong suit was the tough interview, was the gotcha moment,” Concha said. “At times, Chuck was good. He has to improve in that regard.”

Concha also questioned whether having Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough and NBC pundit Luke Russert (son of iconic MTP host Tim Russert) as regular panelists would really enlarge the show’s winnowing viewership.

Watch the clip below, via Fox News:

[Image via screengrab]

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