Couric Quotes Einstein in Hailing Obama's 'Mission Accomplished' at Nuclear Security Summit

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ABC, CBS and NBC all provided full stories Tuesday night on how, at the Nuclear Security Summit in DC, President Barack Obama succeeded in getting an agreement to try to secure all loose nuclear material within four years, but CBS's Katie Couric, who made it her lead story, was on a whole other sycophantic level in assigning credit to Obama for discussions which began years ago.

The CBS Evening News anchor hailed Obama's “call to action,” recited how he had quoted Albert Einstein on the need for “a new manner of thinking is man is to survive” and, reformulating a much-mocked George W. Bush claim, asked: “Is it safe to say 'mission accomplished'?” Chip Reid affirmed: “Well, the President says the commitments made at this conference will make the world more secure, but only if the 47 nations follow through on their promises.”

Couric teased: “Tonight, a call to action from the President brings a pledge of cooperation from dozens of nations to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.”

She then opened her Tuesday, April 13 newscast:

Good evening, everyone. President Obama framed the world conference on nuclear security today in the starkest of terms. He quoted a warning from Albert Einstein at the dawn of the nuclear age. “We are drifting towards a catastrophe beyond comparison and it will require a new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” By the time the conference was over the President won a pledge from the leaders of 46 other nations to safeguard nuclear materials so terrorists cannot get ahold of them. Chip Reid is at the White House tonight. And Chip, is it safe to say “mission accomplished”?

Reid began:

Well, the President says the commitments made at this conference will make the world more secure, but only if the 47 nations follow through on their promises....

Earlier, from January: “Washington Post Connects Obama to Einstein: 'In Decision-Making, a Diversity of Inspiration'”

“This is someone who in law school worked with [Harvard professor] Larry Tribe on a paper on the legal implications of Einstein's theory of relativity,” said senior adviser David M. Axelrod. “He does have an incisive mind; that mind is always put to use in pursuit of tangible things that are going to improve people's lives.”