President Obama once again showed a thin skin on Thursday by accusing Fox News's Ed Henry of being Mitt Romney's spokesperson.
CNBC's John Harwood asked White House Chief of Staff William Daley about this the following day, and Daley responded, "There are certain people in the media who do seem at times to carry the water for certain piece of the political spectrum" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC: Yesterday at a press conference one of my colleagues asked the president to respond to something Mitt Romney said. The president said, "I didn't realize you were a spokesman for Mitt Romney." Is the White House-- you feeling-- the president feeling under siege from events right now?
WILLIAM DALEY, OBAMA CHIEF OF STAFF: No, I mean, look at the-- the-- since the day the President came in the-- to this office the-- the economy of the world has been in trouble. The U.S. economy was-- we were losing 750,000 jobs a month the first month he was in office. And the pace picked up based upon the problems that had had-- 4 million Americans had lost their jobs the year before he came into office. So-- he came in and from day one the middle class has been under siege. And the middle class has been under siege for many, many years.
JOHN HARWOOD: Why would the president respond that way to a reporter though?
JOHN HARWOOD: No.
WILLIAM DALEY: --but a colleague from another network. And-- sometimes as you-- I know it may surprise people, some people that there are certain people in the media who do seem at times to carry the water for certain piece of the political spectrum.
Isn't it fascinating that an administration that has gotten better press coverage than probably any before it is constantly complaining about any dissent from the media?
Of course, it really is the press's fault for treating this man like a messiah from the moment he tossed his hat into the presidential ring in February 2007.
If they had actually vetted him like any other candidate, he and his staff wouldn't believe it deserved such fawning treatment.
On the other hand, if the press had done their job in 2007 and 2008, Obama would still be the junior senator from Illinois.
(H/T Politico)
