It's pretty safe to say that a Monday evening story appearing at Buzzfeed which should thoroughly embarrass President Obama will continue to be ignored or seriously downplayed by the Associated Press, (aka the Administration's Press), the New York Times, the TV networks, and most of the rest of the establishment press. Longtime media followers will also recognize the story as the type of item which would become a press obsession if it occurred betweem the election and inauguration of a Republican or conservative president.
It seems tha former Obama campaign staffers are getting seriously dissed in the runup to President Obama's second inauguration. It turns out that they shouldn't be surprised. Buzzfeed's Zeke Miller notes that more substative dismissive treatment -- and even dismissals -- began shortly after the election was over. Excerpts from Miller's write-up follow the jump (HT Instapundit, whose mini-post is titled "Used Up, Thrown Away"; bolds are mine):
Former Obama Staff Complain Of Cold Inaugural Shoulder
The no-drama Obama campaign is over. “The people that worked so hard, for so long, to raise a billion dollars and turn out millions of voters deserve better.”... Former staffers — who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity to preserve their relationships, and possible jobs, in Obama's second term — say they have grown frustrated by what they see as inadequate communication from the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the group responsible for the inaugural balls, and in particular by its restrictions on access to the official events.
"I didn't hear anything from PIC until a little more than a week ago," said another staffer. "They knew this was happening. Instead of giving us details [of what we could attend] on November 7th, we found out so late that it would cost me $2,000 to go to Washington for a weekend as opposed to $1,000 or less if I booked two months ago."
Many staffers complain that after the hard work of getting Obama re-elected they still couldn't snag tickets to the event (Obama's consolidated formal Inaugural Ball Monday night) — only a small number were made available to staffers. PIC outsourced the ticketing to Ticketmaster, whose system bungled the public distribution earlier this month.
Even the $10 entrance fee for the official staff inaugural ball on Tuesday has drawn criticism. Staffers haven't been told whether the president will attend the smaller gathering.
"That's so small it can't possibly cover the event, so why even make us pay?" asked a third former staffer. "Or worse, that is the entire cost per person which means the event will be really bare bones. The people that worked so hard, for so long, to raise a billion dollars and turn out millions of voters deserve better."
Claims that they were snubbed have consumed the conversation on the Obama campaign alumni LinkedIn group, said the first staffer.
Obama staffers were paid substantially less than Romney staffers in similar jobs in 2012, and many took pay cuts of $30,000-range from prior jobs, former staffers say. The final payday for staffers was the Friday after the election, as opposed to weeks later for the Republican campaign; health insurance was cut off in November as well.
Many remain unemployed.
... the sense of neglect is deep among many who worked their hearts out for the president's re-election campaign.
"Neglect"? How about "betrayal"? The contrast with the Romney campaign's relatively benign treatment is striking.
The story is two overnight news cycles old. A search at the Associated Press's national site on "inauguration" does not return any story mentioning staffers' complaints. Oh, but there is one about how the "PRESIDENTIAL STRUT IS NOW ICONIC INAUGURAL MOMENT." We used to call putting one foot in front of the other to create forward motion while keeping one foot on the ground "walking" until Obama came along.
Once again, when push comes to shove, we see the difference between the left's rhetoric and its coldly calculating reality -- which explains why this story will more than likely remain virtually invisible.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
