Prior to President Obama’s final press conference, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley seized the opportunity to gush that Obama “will be leaving the presidency in less than 46 hours and he is not going gently into that good night.”
“He's about to face the White House press corps one last time and he's getting a thumbs up from most of the American people. In a CBS News poll out today, 62 percent say they have approve of the job he has done over the last eight years,” oozed Pelley.
Taking a few swipes at President-elect Trump, Pelley lamented that “many are wary” of Trump seeing as how he’s “a man Mr. Obama once said was unfit to hold the office.”
Pelley continued: “Only 32 percent have a favorable opinion of Mr. Trump and that is the lowest number for a President-elect since CBS News asked that question 36 years ago.”
Former Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer followed Pelley with this canard about the possible shuttering of the White House Briefing Room:
You know, this may be a historic news conference in the sense it may well be the last one in the White House Press Room. There is talk in the transition team of moving the news conferences to another place and maybe the reporters with it. So, I’m that's one of the questions I'm sure the President will be asked about today.
As reporters like Fox’s Chad Pergram and Axios’s Jonathan Swann have already explained, incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said that next week’s White House Daily Press Briefings will continue to be in the Brady Room.
ABC News featured chief anchor and ex-Clinton spin doctor George Stephanopoulos, who also touted Obama’s poll numbers:
President Obama is leaving on a high note. New polls show approval ratings at 60 percent, far above the average of his eight years, much higher too than President-elect Trump's as he prepares to enter the Oval Office. But President Obama also under fire for one of his final acts, commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to WikiLeaks.
Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl added “there is no question that this incoming administration is aiming to dismantle the Obama legacy and while President Obama has promised a smooth transition of power, he’s also said that if Donald Trump succeeds, America succeeds.”
In contrast to those networks boasting of the President’s poll numbers, NBC News chose to cover the breaking news that former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush have been admitted to a Houston-area hospital.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt reported:
As we come on the air, we are just moments away from President Obama's final news conference, where he is expected to address a host of issues. But first, there is breaking news. Within the last half hour about former president George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush. A spokesman says both have now been hospitalized. The 41st president in incentive care with complications from pneumonia and the former first lady admitted this morning as a precaution. Let’s quickly go to NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez, outside the hospital in Houston.
“A family spokesman says former that President Bush is in stable condition and resting comfortably in the intensive care unit, admitted for shortness of breath on Saturday here at Houston Methodist Hospital but we’re now being told he’s now dealing with complications stemming from pneumonia. Doctors performed a procedure to protect and clear his airway that required sedation. Now, also his wife Barbara Bush, also admitted because of some coughing,” Gutierrez explained.
Here’s the transcript of CBS’s coverage prior to the President’s press conference on January 18:
CBS Presidential Press Conference
January 18, 2017
2:23 p.m. Eastern
SCOTT PELLEY: This is a CBS News Special Report. I’m Scott Pelley in Washington. Good day. Barack Obama will be leaving the presidency in less than 46 hours and he is not going gently into that good night. He's about to face the White House press corps once last time and he's getting a thumbs up from most of the American people. In a CBS News poll out today, 62 percent say they have prove of the job he has done over the last eight years, but many are wary of the incoming President, Donald Trump, a man Mr. Obama once said was unfit to hold the office. Only 32 percent have a favorable opinion of Mr. Trump and that is the lowest number for a president-elect since CBS News asked that question 36 years ago. As we wait for Mr. Obama, let's bring in Bob Schieffer. Bob.
BOB SCHIEFFER: You know, this maybe a historic news conference in the sense it may well be the last one in the White House Press Room. There is talk in the transition team of moving the news conferences to another place and maybe the reporters with it. So, I’m that's one of the questions I'm sure the President will be asked about today.
