Obama Hiding from Media Scrutiny; Holds Much Fewer Q&A Sessions with Reporters Than Bush or Clinton Says Study

Barack Obama is hiding from the public scrutiny that only media scrutiny can deliver. In his first year as president, Obama has held much fewer Q&A sessions with reporters including his own White House pool than either Bush or Clinton before him-at least according to a careful study of presidential communication by a political science professor at Towson University. This can only be interpreted one way, says the professor: Obama is obsessed with controlling the message instead of being ambushed by a reporter from the media who may want to ask him a question which is inconvenient or does not show his administration or policies in the most flattering light. However, since to ask the president questions which are precisely not in lockstep is the indisputable role of the media as the, uhm, you know, watchdog, this is a very troubling behavior pattern from Obama.

Nonetheless, it merely continues the verification of an Obama White House that we've come to know and expect to be nearly fanatical when it comes to ensuring that their message-only their own, precise message-gets out and is not challenged by anyone. Anyone remember the whole Anita Dunn fiasco only a few months back where she targeted FNC-the most popular of all cable news networks and with good reason-as a GOP mouthpiece, thereby starting a war with it on behalf of Obama? That was clearly the manifestation of payback from the Obama White House since FNC did not allow them to control the message unlike all the rest of the media outlets, which are all pro-Obama to the hilt.

The study was done by professor Martha Joynt Kumar, and for it, she tabulated the first-year question and answer sessions with reporters that Obama, Bush and Clinton had each held. A little background on these Q&A's is now in order. These Q&A's are integral-usually occurring each time Obama appears with his cabinet, US officials or dignitaries-and have traditionally been used by the White House press corps to ask the president a multitude of questions on any number of unexpected topics...that is, until Barry became the POTUS, and things changed to a way more controlling, secretive environment where reporters are kept away and, with them, information the public should receive.

In his first year, Clinton held a head-spinning 252 Q&A sessions while GW Bush held a fewer-but-still-respectable 147 such sessions. Now, Barry's turn. Anyone want to guess just how many such sessions where presidents usually make themselves accessible to reporters (who represent the American people in their capacity to ask the president questions) Barry held? Anyone...anyone?! Is it...130, maybe? No! How about...100, maybe?! No, again! It's getting really, really, humiliatingly low, now, but how about 60? Is it 60? No!! The sad reality is that Barry has only held a measly and pitiful 47 Q&A sessions during his first year! That's just inexcusably abysmal when you compare it to his predecessors!

Also according to Kumar's study, what's interesting is that the number of one-on-one interviews Obama has granted equals a mind-boggling 161! This eclipses Bush and Clinton by more than three times! Before you get too excited and start wrongly thinking that this then means that Obama is giving access to reporters, just in a different way than his predecessors, think again. According to Kumar's analysis, Obama favors these one-on-one interviews because they allow him to absolutely control and dictate the message. In one-on-one interviews, Obama can't be ambushed by surprise, off-topic questions from rightly curious reporters since he gets to dictate what he wants to talk about. So there's basically zero opposition to his all-important message (propaganda!!) in a fawning, one-on-one interview with, say, the likes of Brian "I love you, Mr. President" Williams.

The only conclusion one can come away with here is that Obama is very, very, very scared of having his feet held to the proverbial fire by a media that, theoretically, must act like a watchdog. What makes Obama's sense of being allergic to opening himself up to the media so laughable-and also smacks of major paranoia on his part-is the inarguable fact that most of the media voted for him and is on his side!! The liberal media doesn't ask tough questions of Barry anyhoo, so just what the heck is he so paranoid about anyway? Like Michael Savage says, "Liberalism is a mental disorder."

To send Marc questions, praise or criticism, you can email him at marc_schenker@telus.net

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Sources:

White House Escalates War of Words With Fox News, FoxNews.com

Kumar-WHTP-Press, Google docs

Major Garrett, No Obama Press Conference Since July; Brief Encounters With WH Beat Reporters Rare, Too, FoxNews.com

Peter Baker, White House Memo, NY Times

Glenn Thrush, "All of you voted for me," Politico