Just Say Anything
A nod is as good as wink to the blind media.
Perhaps it is that they are so completely worn out after having investigated every word or nuance uttered by President Bush that the investigative reporters in the White House press corps have lost all desire to…………….well, investigate.
Or perhaps it is that many in the national and international news media feel the same way about Barack Obama as the owner of the small French restaurant where he and his party dined on his recent visit to France. In an interview with restaurateur Jacques Boudon of the zero-star bistro La Fontaine de Mars, he said of Obama’s presence in his establishment “I saw God before me.”
The news media dutifully reported that the president’s table was served water, Coke and table wine as well as the entire list of menu items ordered and eaten. Every detail from what they were wearing to the length of their stay after dinner was reported like a Paris Hilton meets Brittany Spears luncheon on Rodeo Drive.
Regardless of the reason, this “say anything” president can in fact say anything with complete impunity as not many in the press room are going to question either his words or ask for factual backup to his contentions. And those few that do are given a name to contact for the details.
Take for example Obama’s recent assertion that his alleged stimulus package has already created or saved 150,000 jobs. At first I thought it might be just another gaffe from his VP Joe Footinmouth, but eventually several other members of the Obama administration began touting the same number until the Chosen One himself said it as well. My guess is that they intentionally gave it to VP Footinmouth to test the waters and when the press swooned instead of questioned they all began to run with it.
It is of course impossible to actually account for job creation or jobs saved due to the few million dollars already spent. And because it is impossible to definitively account for the jobs it is also impossible to definitively deny the number. The one possible exception being California, where they may have already hired someone to operate the tattoo removal machine bought with stimulus money.
Riding high from the initial foray into mumbo jumbo job numbers, the Obama administration is going to take a second stab at it. Today Obama announced that he would step up the spending of the $787 billion in stimulus dollars to create or save an additional 600,000 jobs this summer. My question is, why just 600,000? Why not 800,000 or a million, or 1.6 million?
When the numbers mean nothing and there is no way to check or verify any of this why sell yourself short on only 600,000?
Republicans like Tony Fratto, an economic spokesman in the Bush administration, said the Obama White House is being misleading. “The jobs estimates by this White House are a joke, and they know it,” Mr. Fratto said. “They can’t even tell you how many Americans are working today, let alone three months from now.”
Obama responded by saying the economy would have gone into a “tailspin” without the stimulus. “I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and, in fact, decided to hire employees,” he said.
Okay, I’m asking. Who are these companies? Please Mr. President, just a name. Name one big one or a few small ones. Who are they?
I guess we will never know, because nobody in the press room is going to ask.
But while we will never know the identity of these important mystery companies whose jobs were saved by the stimulus package the press has been diligent enough to inform us that the Obama party dined on foie gras, lamb and steak with shallots.
I never knew God was a fan of foie gras.
