MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski gave an fawning interview to former Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett Thursday morning in a harsh reminder of just how differently reporters treated the Obama Administration compared to the current administration. Mika couldn’t contain her excitement at getting to talk to Jarrett even begging the former advisor repeatedly to get herself, Michelle or Barack involved in politics again, to “save the party.”
She began the sympathetic interview by empathizing how “rough” election night was for Democrats. She cooed to Jarrett, “There were some rough -- I mean, election night, what was that like for you?
After Jarrett answered that it was “gut-wrenching” but work still had to be done so they needed to move on, the MSNBC host harped on the election night “devastation” again:
I still, though, wonder like, is there any flash in time, election night or in the days after, God, I saw some brutal pictures of some really devastated faces, could you ever have imagined and was there a moment when you realized the next president is going to be the man who rose to power on the birther movement, of all things?
Though there’s no denying Trump did help spread birther conspiracies prior to his campaign, so did Hillary Clinton. Her campaign was actually the first to raise these conspiracy theories during the 2008 election when she was running against then Senator Obama.
Mika then asked Jarrett what she wish she’d known before her first days in the White House. Jarrett responded with a scathing rebuke of “partisan” Republicans who had obstructed Obama from “day one” and were “terrified” at giving the “power back” to the “hands of the American people.”
As you heard President Obama say before he left, one of his biggest disappointments was this toxic nature in Washington and how I think the Republicans decided very early on from day one, that they were going to put their short-term political interests ahead of what was good for our country. Just think about it Mika. When President Obama took office we were losing 750,000, 800,000 jobs a month, the unemployment rate up to 10%. Wouldn't you think that's a time where people would say let's come together and try to solve these big problems. I think I just didn't fully appreciate coming in just how the entrenched special interests would hold on with a stranglehold to that status quo and that change, it was terrifying to them and it meant giving up power and putting it back in the hands of the American people and there was a lot of resistance to that.
Mika then begged Jarrett in a series of questions for her to run or Michelle Obama.
Is it possible to have an impact post-White house and is there a political future for you? There was once potential Senate run?
After Jarrett said that she was more interested in encouraging the next generation to run for political office, an earnest Mika wondered,
“What about encouraging your friend Michele [Obama]?”
Mika then sympathetically asked Jarrett, “When you see the attacks on his legacy, do you get angry?”
Not a terrible question in and of itself but it’s nearly impossible to imagine Mika asking Karl Rove this same question about Bush.
Mika also asked Jarrett what she thought about the “amazing” “Women’s March” and what the “next” step was. She ended the interview by begging Jarrett again to persuade the former president to get involved in politics again.
Could you do a favor for me and ask President Obama something for me? Could you -- could he come back and save the party and tell them what to do?
After Jarrett said Obama was focused on finding the next “Obama 2.0” in the younger generation to foster to run for political office, Mika couldn’t help herself and gushed, “So seriously, is that something he’s going to be working on? Is helping you find that next generation?”
“Oh absolutely!” Jarrett happily responded.
