ABC and NBC on Thursday conveniently ignored the news that Barack Obama will be giving a $400,000 speech to Wall Street investors, the same people he decried as “fat cat" bankers in 2009. Only CBS This Morning covered the New York Times revelation — and only in an 18-second brief that largely avoided hypocrisy concerns.
CBS co-host Charlie Rose briefly explained, “The New York Times reports that former Barack Obama will receive $400,000 to give a speech. He'll talk in September the a health care conference in New York organized by a Wall Street firm.” He noted that an Obama spokesman is defending the astounding payment, rationalizing, “[The aide] said health care changes are important to Obama.”
Rose failed to remember what the Wall Street Journal reported in 2009: “President Barack Obama lashed out at Wall Street, calling bankers ‘fat cats’ who don't get it, in an escalation of tensions with the industry.”
On January 29, 2009, The New York Times quoted the then-President as lecturing, “And part of what we’re going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility.”
Show some restraint... unless you’re paying Obama $400,000?
But at least CBS covered the story. Despite a combined six hours of available air time, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today didn’t mention it at all. Considering that the Times is often a source for TV journalism, one can speculate that the NYT piece wasn’t appealing to the two networks.
The Times on Thursday tried to make the hypocrisy accusations gently. Consider this delicate headline: “Obama Balances Civic-Minded Side With the Lure of a $400,000 Speech.” The authors of the article mildly chided:
WASHINGTON — Two post-presidential Barack Obamas emerged this week.
The first was the civic-minded one, seated on a stage in Chicago, where he talked about the importance of community organizing and told a student audience that he had succeeded in politics because people believed “my values were not so different from theirs.”
The other was the one set to cash a $400,000 check from Wall Street — the same amount as his yearly salary during his time in the White House — when he delivers a speech in September at a health care conference run by Cantor Fitzgerald, a trading and investment firm.
As Obama continues to take checks from the people he previously slammed as "fat cats," don't expect network journalists to complain.
A transcript of the CBS This Morning brief is below:
CBS This Morning
4/27/17
7:32:59 to 7:33:17
18 secondsCHARLIE ROSE: The New York Times reports that former Barack Obama will receive $400,000 to give a speech. He'll talk in September the a health care conference in New York organized by a Wall Street firm. Yesterday Mr. Obama spokesperson defended the speech. He said health care changes are important to Obama.
