The leaders of nations who quarreled when George Bush was President now hug each other, thanks to President Barack Obama deigning to take time from his busy schedule to hold a meeting which displayed the “quintessential Obama” and the “Obama doctrine at work” in bringing “two sides together.” Or at least that's how Wednesday's NBC Nightly News gushed over Obama meeting with Afganistan's Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari, an exuberantly pro-Obama spin not adopted by ABC or CBS.
 
Anchor Brian Williams admired how even “with they have going on, the Obama White House has chosen to devote this kind of time to this,” prompting Chuck Todd to propose “that we will look back on this and say this is quintessential Obama.” The White House correspondent touted how “this is the Obama Doctrine at work. Bring two sides together, get them talking and do this a lot.” From the State Department, Andrea Mitchell then trumpeted how in contrast to the last time leaders of the two nations met when Bush was still President and “they wouldn't even shake hands,” with Obama in the room, Karzai, and the new President of Pakistan, had “a warm embrace.” Mitchell maintained:

They're trying to build trust between the two of them, and they've pointed out that as in contrast to the last time, the Afghan leader and a previous Pakistani leader met at the White House, another President, George W. Bush, they wouldn't even shake hands. This time there was a warm embrace.

From the Wednesday, May 6 NBC Nightly News:

BRIAN WILLIAMS: We want to get more on this from our chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd and our chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell. Chuck, first to you. It has to be seen as some measure on how they view this crisis, that with all they have going on, the Obama White House has chosen to devote this kind of time to this. Of course, they want credit that this gathering's happening at all.

CHUCK TODD: Well, that's right and I think that we will look back on this and say this is quintessential Obama. This is the Obama Doctrine at work. Bring two sides together, get them talking and do this a lot. They want to do this four times a year. But the reason this has risen to the top of his to-do list, it's Pakistan and those nuclear weapons and the fact that it's a nuclear power. There were two questions hanging over this summit that U.S. officials were ducking all over the place, and that is, will we get to the point where we have to send troops to Pakistan? And are those nuclear weapons secure? Well, the whole point of this summit is to get Zardari, the President of Pakistan, focused on his fight so that we don't have to deal with those two questions, Brian.

WILLIAMS: And, Andrea, Chuck mentioned the nuclear weapons, which has to be mentioned in any discussion of this region. Yes, this is a long ball by the administration but no talks can be better than the principles. At the end of the day, how much faith does the United States have in either of these two leaders?

MITCHELL: Not enough. They're trying to build trust between the two of them, and they've pointed out that as in contrast to the last time, the Afghan leader and a previous Pakistani leader met at the White House, another President, George W. Bush, they wouldn't even shake hands. This time there was a warm embrace. A promise to work together...

—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center