Harry Smith's Tail-Between-The-Legs Question To Obama

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Pres. Obama told Harry Smith that "I would not want just a calm, passive dog.  I want a dog with a little bit of spirit."  Maybe so when picking a family pet. But when it comes to the media, PBO apparently prefers a lapdog.  Witness Smith's tail-between-the-legs performance that won him a huge smile from the prez.

Over the course of two days, the Early Show aired clips of Smith's recent interview of the PBO.  Kyle Drennen noted a real softball from yesterday's segment. Smith was back at it this morning.  Toward the end of today's segment, Smith says: "People in the mainstream media have been accused of being afraid to speak truth to power. I've got some truth to power for you."

Was Smith building to a hard-hitting question on, say, PBO's firing of the inspector general who was too diligent in his duty of discovering corruption in AmeriCorps, PBO's pet project?  Of course not. In a pathetic display of precisely the kind of MSM wimp-out Smith had described, Smith asked the president a question about . . . his dog.

HARRY SMITH: I've been observing.  Your dog looks like he's out of control.

BARACK OBAMA: Bo, Bo, you know, he's a teenager.  He's a puppy still.  And every once in awhile, he does get a little frisky.  But I would not want just a calm, passive dog.  I want a dog with a little bit of spirit, and he definitely has some spirit.

Note: No one can accuse PBO of an excess of modesty.  Just before the canine question, the prez boasted to Smith: "Over the last five months, under some fairly extraordinary circumstances, we have, I think, been extraordinarily productive."