George Will on Sunday took a swipe at the media's love affair with Barack Obama.
Appearing on ABC's This Week, Will marvelously said, "Any charm offensive that is labeled a charm offensive thereby loses some of its charm" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MARTHA RADDATZ, SUBSTITUTE HOST: I want to start with you, George Will, you heard what John Boehner said, which is probably not much of a surprise, still taking a very hard line on any new revenues, even if entitlement reform is offered. How do they break this stalemate, especially after the so-called charm offensive?
GEORGE WILL: First, any charm offensive that is labeled a charm offensive thereby loses some of its charm because it looks tactical. But beyond that this week, while the charm offensive was going on, two budgets were produced. The Democrats at long last, after 1,500 or so days, produced a budget in which, Patty Murray, the chairman who produced this, said Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare and Social Security, the four drivers of our fiscal crisis, not a dime will be touched from them.
The Republicans produced a budget under Paul Ryan where Ryan said, and this is his so-called austerity, federal spending will grow 3.4 percent over the next decade. His radical idea is in 2024, senior citizens will shop for health care, imagine that? That is it. You have two -- her budget hasn't the slightest chance of passing the House with a trillion dollar tax increase. Ryan's budget hasn't a prayer of a chance of passing the Senate because it depends on repeal of Obamacare. So what we what we need are some more elections.
Consider how many times you've heard the phrase "charm offensive" since Obama dined with Republican Senators earlier this month.
Every media outlet you can name has repeatedly used this phrase to the point of it being sick-making.
As such, Will was quite right about it losing its charm.
This was indeed tactical, and not just on Obama's part for his media were right there with him.
