ABC, CBS and NBC all led Wednesday night with President Barack Obama's address at the United Nations, but Katie Couric was the most effusive in trumpeting how Obama marked the end of the Bush era as she teased the CBS Evening News: “Tonight, the President tells the world America's 'go it alone' policy is over.” Her glowing lead:
Good evening, everyone. President Obama says we have reached a “pivotal moment.” In his UN debut today, he challenged the world to work together to solve the problems facing all of us. And in a break with the “go it alone policies” of his predecessor, he said the United States is ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation.
On NBC, Andrea Mitchell followed a similar script: “It was the President's first speech to the United Nations and it marked a very stark departure from the policies of George W. Bush, as the President called for a new era of engagement with the rest of the world, reaching out to new friends and old foes.”
While Mitchell highlighted how “the President was cheered for his decision to close Guantanamo and stop abusive interrogations,” Jake Tapper, on ABC's World News, characterized that as apologizing for his own country:
The President also sounded apologetic at times about past U.S. behavior, and he rattled off a list of his own reversals of Bush administration policies: Ending torture, ordering the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, working to end the war in Iraq.
