… And what the fuck? Ran across this accidentally late last night — checked the date, but it wasn’t April first. Forgive me if I’m the last to notice this Politico tonguebath (of the columnists, not the President), but… what the FUCK?:
President Barack Obama is often accused of being insular. He’s not a schmoozer. He doesn’t like meeting with lawmakers, and he doesn’t particularly care for talking to reporters, either.
But get him in an off-the-record setting with a small group of opinion columnists — the David Brooks and E.J. Dionne types — and he’ll talk for hours…
He also likes talking to the people he likes to read. The president is a voracious consumer of opinion journalism. Most nights, before going to bed, he’ll surf the Internet, reading the columnists whose opinions he values. One of the great privileges of the presidency is that, when so inclined, he can invite these columnists to his home for meetings that can last as long as two-and-a-half hours.
“It’s not an accident who he invites: He reads the people that he thinks matter, and he really likes engaging those people,” said one reporter with knowledge of the meetings. “He reads people carefully — he has a columnist mentality — and he wants to win columnists over,” said another…
The off-the-record meetings are held over coffee around the long wooden conference table in the Roosevelt Room, just off the West Wing lobby. Participants vary depending on the issue of the day, but there are regulars. Brooks, the New York Times columnist, is a frequent guest, as is Joe Klein of Time Magazine. From The Washington Post: E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson, Ezra Klein and Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor. On foreign policy: the Post’s David Ignatius, Bloomberg View’s Jeffrey Goldberg, and the Times’ Thomas Friedman. He also holds the occasional meeting with conservatives. This month, he met with Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, and other influential representatives from the right….
Representing a broad spectrum from center-moderate (sorry, Messrs. Dionne & Robinson) to “centrist” (i.e., moderate right) to far-reactionary-right. This is why I’m not a politician; if I had any power, I’d greet a slur like this article with a drone strike on Politico headquarters, followed by SEAL team elimination of any surviving witness. Can someone explain to me why anybody might have thought this was a good idea?
…The sessions, which have become more frequent in Obama’s second term — he held at least three in October — provide a stark contrast to the combative, sometimes cantankerous relationship between the White House and the press corps. They also serve as an alternate means of shaping the debate in Washington: a private back-channel of genuine sentiment that seeps into the echo-chamber, while Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, delivers largely scripted responses in the public briefings. Obama holds the occasional off-the-record meeting with top White House correspondents, but they are few and far between — a fact that rankles some members of the press corps. (POLITICO has attended off-the-record sessions with the president.)
At the same time, these bull sessions give validation to an oft-heard critique: that Obama prefers the law school salon to the bully pulpit — that he would rather be regarded as smart by the people he regards as smart than be feared by the opposition or seen as effective by the people he governs…
The goal in these get-togethers, participants said, is two-fold: First, the president wants to convince the columnists that he’s right — about the debt ceiling, about health care, about Syria — and that his opponents are wrong.
“The president is thoroughly convinced that the course he has set out is correct, and that his opponents are either wrong-headed or crazy or, in the case of [House Speaker John] Boehner, insufficiently courageous,” said a journalist who has attended off-the-record meetings. “By getting together a group of intelligent people who are going to be writing about him or talking about him, he thinks he can show them how obviously everything he is doing makes sense.”
The second goal is more tactical: By meeting privately with the people who shape national opinion, the president ensures that his points of view will be represented in the media — even if those points of view aren’t directly attributable to him.
“He sees columnists as portals,” another journalist who has attended meetings said. “It works — I feel it work with me. It’s almost impossible to spend hours face-to-face with the president, unfiltered, then write a column or go on television without taking his point of view into account.”
For that reason, calling these sessions “off the record meetings” is actually inaccurate, said Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for President George W. Bush, who held similar meetings.
“It’s a misnomer. After these meetings journalists will go on the air and say, ‘Here’s what the White House is thinking on this,’” Fleischer explained. “It’s smart. Every White House should do it.”…
Obama’s preference for columnists surprises few. Both reporters and columnists believe he prefers talking to people who are thinking about — and willing to be influenced on — grand concepts, rather than those who might pepper him with questions about day-to-day events and process. Indeed, in an effort to ween White House staff off their obsession with the “who’s up, who’s down” Washington culture, he has encouraged them to spend less time watching MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and more time watching ESPN’s “Sports Center.”
“Every president likes these sessions, because unlike negotiations with congress, which is hard and where the president has to yield ground, these sessions are a chance for the president to get on his high horse and opine,” Fleischer explained.
Obama does opine: journalists said that one reason the off-the-record meetings run so long is because the president spends so much time talking: “The confidence he exudes in these sessions is even greater than the confidence he exudes in public,” one attendee said. “And, as in public, it’s the president who does most of the talking.”
Still, no one doubts that the president values hearing the thoughts and opinions of his contemporaries.
“The president cares a lot more about the opinions of Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman than he does about the average U.S. Senator,” said one journalist. “He’s naturally predisposed to analysis. In his own mind, that’s what he is: he’s like us. He wants to be a writer, and so he likes to talk to writers.”
… I mean, apart from the assumption that Ari Fleischer has compromising photographs, and he’s not afraid to use them?
The Moar You Know
It’s amazing we’re not all dead, if the allegation that Obama is meeting with Brooks and the Mustache of Understanding for advice and idea trading is true.
What an utter disappointment.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Meh. Maybe he’s trying to work the “opinion makers” to help turn the debates, or something.
Krugman has been at such meetings , too. I wouldn’t read too much into this stuff.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Moar You Know
And if anyone had any doubt that Obama is not an old-school conservative, this should lay them firmly to rest. Assuming it’s not lifted from the Onion.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Moar You Know: uh huh. the people he talks to are far more important than the policies he pursues
Wasn’t it you who said a while back that Obama was to the right of Ronald Reagan?
PsiFighter37
It’s only worth it if he swindles Friedman into shaving the mustache. Otherwise, he’s clearly worse than Bush and sold us out.
gbear
@The Moar You Know: Maybe those guys aren’t much of an influence on Obama…he hasn’t yet said that the healthcare website will be glitch free in six months.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Moar You Know: Yup, (near) universal health care, a trillion dollar stimulus, government bail out of the auto industry, the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court, creation of an alternative energy industry, expansion of antipoverty programs, endorsing same sex marriage, spousal benefits to same sex partners. But he has coffee with David Brooks, so he’s actually to the right of Goldwater.
Suffern ACE
Egad. Fred Hiatt?
The best I can say about this is at least the White House isn’t in New York where he might be inclined to invite Maureen Dowd.
FlipYrWhig
@The Moar You Know: Um, most of these people are dull, tedious jerkwads, but they’re not “old school conservatives.” David Brooks, someone I abhor, is the most right-wing of the bunch by a good margin. Friedman is wrong about everything but not a conservative. ETA: He’s more of a naive techno-utopian and slinger of bullshit, like Malcolm Gladwell.
Baud
Hi, Mr. President.
I wonder what nym he posts under. I’m going to guess Amir Khalid. No way some random dude in Malaysia is so smart about U.S. politics.
planetjanet
In almost the same breath, they turn from saying Obama doesn’t like to schmooze to he really likes talking to columnists he respects. Do they not know they are getting played?
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
that was funny..thanks
Jeremy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: When he said Obama is to the right of Reagan I cracked up. Ronald Reagan ? Obama is a pragmatist who takes a moderate approach to governing. And Obama’s message that “government has a vital role to play in our society” conflicts with Reagan’s “government is the problem message”.
Suffern ACE
I thought it was bad when he said that Sullivan was the blogger he read every day. But this madness borders on seances in the White House.
David Koch
Lincoln talked to actual Confederates, which of course meant he was really a Confederate.,
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Actual Goldwater’s last words were bring to the salad bar at Applebee’s so there is that.
Omnes Omnibus
It sounds like he meets regularly with the mouthpieces of Village conventional wisdom. It doesn’t say he agrees with them.
David Koch
@Jeremy:
I know people say he’s “moderate”, but what is “moderate” about pulling all troops out of Iraq, reversing Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, and embracing teh ghey
Jeremy
Also it’s no surprise that the President rather talk with historians and columnists. The guy loves to write and he is proud of his law background.
I love the fact that the President and his staff treat the beltway press like trash.
Keith G
@The Moar You Know:
Allegation?
Heh.
I think that it a very safe assumption from the tone of the article that this was written with help and approval of the West Wing. I imagine that Obama and Brooksie have rather deep and friendly conversations as their world views are not so far apart.
Jeremy
@David Koch: I said his approach is moderate. The man has progressive values but he is not and ideologue ,and he focuses on the long game.
RaflW
For Jehosephat’s sake, Politoco, don’t clutch your pearls because press secretaries deliver scripted info. Gimme one break, size XXL.
There is a reason these guys and gals are called flacks. They are designed to take all the guff shot at them and remain flying, B-29 like, towards their intended target of the day.
*Edited for historical realisim
burnspbesq
I’m still waiting for someone to explain why the appropriate response to this is anything but a yawn.
I’ll check back after dinner.
fuckwit
he’s massaging their turgid, swollen egos, until they explode in relief all over the roosevelt room floor. after which, the columists go home with a smile on their faces, and sleep peacefully dreaming of tire swings.
Matt McIrvin
@FlipYrWhig: Krauthammer is a major-league right-wing lunatic, considerably more extreme than Brooks.
SiubhanDuinne
Ween? Srsly?
fuckwit
@SiubhanDuinne: ween was a great band
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Baud: It’s obvious, if you think about it. Obama used to live in Indonesia which is \handwave\ so close to Malaysia they might as well be the same. “Amir Khalid” indeed. Well played Mr. President!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Here’s some advice for everyone
I think it was Atrios who said when he was visiting Dem reps in ’04 or ’05, every office had cable TV on. MSNBC was still competing with CNN for Fox-Lite status back then.
wasabi gasp
He reads all of them, also, too.
David Koch
@Matt McIrvin: which is exactly why he brought in the loonies to tell them he wasn’t bluffing that there would be no negotiations on the debt ceiling
Raoul
Ok what the flying fuckballs?!?
What? You think this, Dylan Byers? Really?
Be useful for once in your life. Go pick up some broken fuel rods in Fukushima, you shitbag. With your bare hands.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Ugh, David Brooks. Too many otherwise decent people like the guy. He’s a skillful man if nothing else.
LuigiDaMan
I’m a salesman. I find that it’s better to listen to the other side to understand their positions and use that information to analyze their situation and combat (or answer) their objections. The president should know what progressives think. He’s been one all his life. So, invite David Brooks and Politico in. Stroke their egos. Have them stick out their chests and think they are important. Let them think they are advancing their cause when, in fact, they are spilling their guts. Then use their very words and analysis to assault their position with the plans you wish to advance and…win. Obama is a lawyer, you know.
fka AWS
@Raoul: I didn’t realize that was written by Dylan Byers, quite possibly the stupidest “media critic” outside of Howie Kurtz.
Jeremy
@Raoul: Yeah I thought that was a really stupid statement. Dylan Byers has written so many negative pieces and it’s clear as day that he disdains the President.
aimai
@FlipYrWhig: Friedman is a fiscal conservative and supports nothing but Republican policies because he doesn’t understand either technology or the economy–he prefers Democratic types for zest and modernity but he prefers low taxes on job creators and only ever fantasizes that he can somehow have big government moneez for research without raising taxes on the rich. He has no interest in the social safety net or the actual lives of anyone who isn’t rich.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@aimai: Friedman talks a superficial game on the environment, but never puts any real energy behind it; he’s all about VSP CW, to join it to the last thread, he’s like the US conference of Bishops on poverty and compassion and abortion and the gai
Suffern ACE
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Amir started growing his beard about the same time the Red Sox did. As a former resident of Boston, the president probably has Red Sox sympathies.
David Koch
Oh, this shit was written by Dylan “nate silver is a fraudster” Byers. Byers is such a party line hack, he attacked Drudge for saying republicans fucked up for shutting down the government and praised cruz’s fake filibuster.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: IIRC he is a fan of the other Sox.
scav
Consulting a magic 8 ball doesn’t mean you follow the floating text, especially when the answers printed are so funny, and that’s over and above the idea of believing a magic 8 ball incoherently reporting on the magical importance of 8-balls to important people.
Hill Dweller
When have Dylan Byers, Politico and/or Ari Fleischer ever given PO a fair shake?
dmbeaster
What a bunch of hooey from Politico — as if they actually know what his criteria or goals are in such meetings. I strongly suspect that his criteria in selecting with whom he speaks is driven by the people whom he perceives as having the biggest mouthpieces, and from whom he could benefit the most if they took a tack about his policies that was more favorable. One line from the article does say this:
But so much of it is rank speculation as to Obama’s motives and purposes.
MikeJ
@Suffern ACE:
As does the new mayor of New York. Bwahahahahahahahaha!
NotMax
So, among those who complain that Obama doesn’t schmooze enough are people with whom he schmoozes?
OT: movie alerts on TC< (all times Eastern) –
Friday, 8:15 a.m. – The Match King – tale of avarice, hubris, the perils of unregulated markets, bubble economics, business manipulation and corruption of power (not all that dissimilar from some more contemporary machinations). And to boot, based on the true story of the worldwide rise and crash of real Swedish tycoon and financial wheeler-deal Ivar Kreuger.
Monday, 3:45 a.m. The Cars That Ate Paris – outré, grisly and macabre early horror/comedy by Peter Weir, a Twilight Zone-like rumination on a town reflected in a mirror, darkly.
DCLaw1
Can anyone explain to me the appeal of Ezra Klein? I find him incredibly tedious. Also, despite appearing on TV innumerable times, his screen presence is consistently wooden.
NotMax
@NotMax
No edit option -. Of course, that;’s a typo in #46 and ought to read:
OT: movie alerts on TCM (all times Eastern) –
Citizen_X
@Baud:
Gasp! Obama is a secrit muslin!
Schlemizel
I wonder what Amir will think of being demoted to POTUS. He should troll the hell out of that!
One day on reddit some guy decided I was Adam Savage (I forget why right now) I answered “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you I wasn’t so I won’t bother to deny it”. That set off a rush of people just positive I must be him. It was one of very few interesting conversations I ever had there. I kept not denying it right out but suggesting I wasn’t & that drove them mad, positive that proved I was Savage.
Southern Beale
A question about the ENDA religious exemption issue: anyone know if the Mormon church was exempted from the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Just wondering.
Schlemizel
@Southern Beale:
Hell the Southern Baptists would have been first in line!
jl
” if I had any power, I’d greet a slur like this article with a drone strike on Politico headquarters, ”
If there is a Poltico reporter in the WH press corps, just never call on him/her and forbid the staff from whispering little nothings in their direction.
Then the Politico brass would LIVE to SEE it, a fate worse than death. It would be inhuman torture for them, and I think the laws are rigged so you could get away with doing it that way.
ruemara
People. Really? Jesus. You have no idea the venom I’ve seen spewed by electeds who then went and warmly greeted their hated enemies with a hug and huge smile. Jesus, don’t be so naive. Not only is every knife sharpened in politics, every shoulder blade is almost sorrowful if you don’t sink that knife in on a regular basis. With a motherfucking smile too.
amk
Of all things to troll with, you go with this crap?
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Egads! I’ve been found out!
Mike in NC
To claim that Obama cares about the opinions of the likes of Charles Fucking Krauthammer is beyond ludicrous. Put down the LSD.
Yatsuno
@Amir Khalid: This might just explain the Imperial spelling. Also. Too.
Oh and I found a Malaysian restaurant in Seattle. Will have to sample here soon.
Redshirt
@Amir Khalid: Greetings, Mr. President. How ’bout them Sawx?!
Heliopause
Obama’s preference for Tom Friedman was reported years ago, in fact, the NYT reported that Friedman was a kind of foreign policy advisor to the President.
Redshirt
@MikeJ: Mission Complete! Red Sox have conquered NYC.
David Koch
@MikeJ: Which one?
Amir Khalid
I may not be able to prove this, but I really am not President Obama.
More seriously:
Per the Politico story, Presidents have been meeting influential opinion journos privately since the 1830s, and for all the obvious reasons. All I see here is Obama observing standard Presidential practice, so I wonder what Politico‘s big revelation is supposed to be.
Redshirt
@efgoldman: I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m not sure. On the one hand, this may garner him more votes in the Southern Maine area – Cutler’s area of strength. On the other hand, his Northern Maine millworker background prior to the announcement played well up North – he is the Congressperson from the North, which is a very different State, though lower in numbers. He’ll lose some votes up North from old people shocked by this revelation, but they will likely vote LePage, rather than Cutler. Or not vote out of disgust.
So, now that I type that out, I think this is a big plus for Michaud, and assures him the Governorship – barring some scandal or calamity. Maybe!
Edit: Cutler’s not dropping out. And it’s hard to say he’s a vanity candidate when he came in 2nd last time, and it was very close.
trollhattan
Has anybody seen Jessie Pinkman recently?
http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2013/11/man-killed-by-hit-and-run-motor-home-in-west-sacramento.html
“Hit-n-run, bitch!”
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
Exactly what I would expect you to say Mr. President!
Villago Delenda Est
Hi gang!
This is from Tiger Beat on the Potomac. It’s bullshit.
Fuck the Villagers. With Joe Arpaio’s diseased male enhanced dick.
Yatsuno
@Villago Delenda Est: “AND WHAT SORT OF TIME DO YOU CALL THIS?”
/River
Where ya been étranger?
Redshirt
LOL. Check out the Wiki on the Maine 2010 Gubernatorial election.
Redshirt
@Villago Delenda Est: People were speculating you’d been tumbreled. Welcome back!
srv
Oh, the humanity.
If true, we should all go out and wretch three times a month in sympathy for the president. And this is from someone who regards Obama as the most liberal president since Nixon.
different-church-lady
President does most of the talking? What part of “working the refs” is it you’re not getting?
Another Holocene Human
Okay, I only read 20/72 comments so far, but sounds like some people commented before reading the whole thing. It says Obama convinced his staff to STFU about who was “winning the morning” and that they’d traded Morning Joe for ESPN (!).
How about THEM apples?
TG Chicago
@David Koch:
All of those things are moderate. Pretty sure they’d all poll over 50%.
Steeplejack
@RaflW:
Yeah, no. Flak is what bombers experience. Flack, a press agent or hypester, dates from about 1939 and has no clear origin.
Another Holocene Human
@fuckwit: perfect. I say that wins the thread.
Villago Delenda Est
@Yatsuno: @Redshirt:
My power supply kerploded. My first backup computer got funky couldn’t find the hard drive. My second backup computer runs Win98 and I haven’t bothered to get a “modern” browser for it.
Also, had a local bug that is like a combination of a cold and laryngitis which made me grumpy and unable to concentrate on aforementioned computer problems, but I’m back for now, anyways.
Another Holocene Human
@wasabi gasp: He reads reddit.com/r/politics and is like really bummed about the mod-bothering going on right now, natch.
Another Holocene Human
@LuigiDaMan:
Shit, I could use him on my union bargaining committee. Barack, when you’re finished up Presidentin’, c a l l m e.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I am impressed that this Dylan Byers fellow can spell “tasseography” correctly, but misspells “wean”.
catclub
@Amir Khalid: Not hiding it well, Mr President. Historical knowledge about the presidency is kind of a tell.
Violet
@Amir Khalid:
The President is Presidentin’ while black.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid:
It’s supposed to tell everyone how relevant they still are.
Paula
Jesus. Health care policy is again responsible for pushing this blog into the suckitude. Good luck becoming Firedoglake version 2.0, with pet blogging.
Suffern ACE
@Another Holocene Human: well that’s when mike and mike in the morning is on, which isn’t that bad. I kind of like their witty back and forth.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@fka AWS:
They had me at Politico.
Omnes Omnibus
@Paula: Huh?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@DCLaw1:
I cannot fathom the idea of taking EK as a topic of reference.
David Koch
@TG Chicago: only someone as dumb as you would confuse popularity with ideology and mainstream opinion with moderation. Are civil rights a liberal or moderate ideal? Is Medicare a liberal or moderate ideal? Answer is liberal. They also happens to be popular (except with Rand Paul).
I understand. you’ve been beaten down in life by the corporate media and the republicans who have been pushing the propaganda for 45 years that liberalism is bad. you’ve bought in. you believe any liberal ideal has to be unpopular because you’ve been indoctrinated to believe liberalism is a dirty word, and therefore any ideal that is popular must be really moderate. It’s sad.
Thank goodness the community organizer just grinds it out making liberal values mainstream. Who would have thought 5 years ago that Virginia, a state only won once by a Democrat in 64 years, would turn blue, in part by aggressively defending the liberal ideals of abortion rights and gay marriage, certainly not iraq war monger John Edwards.
TG Chicago
@David Koch:
I didn’t say those things weren’t liberal. I said they were moderate. They are. It is not radical or excessively left-wing to hold a view that more than 50% of the public holds.
Omnes Omnibus
@TG Chicago: According to most views, liberal is left of moderate which is left of conservative.
Ripley
@TG Chicago: Damn it man, don’t you know health care is ruining this blog? Get on it right away!
Omnes Omnibus
@Ripley: I am still confused by that one.
TG Chicago
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, then I guess “most views” should consult a dictionary.
“Moderate” describes intensity, not direction. If you want something between the left and right, perhaps “centrist” would be more apt.
Omnes Omnibus
@TG Chicago: In political science terms, moderate and centrist are more or less equivalent. Deal with it. I don’t intend on getting into another pointless back and forth with you over ephemera.
FlipYrWhig
@Matt McIrvin: krauthammer isn’t part of the regular meetings. That part of the story is about other meetings he has also done.
Bill E Pilgrim
An entire article about how Barack Obama values and seeks the counsel of the worst “centrist” to-right Villagers, and an entire Balloon Juice thread devoted to rationalization and denial of it.
Platypus
I briefly hoped that part of Obama’s goal would be to “bounce ideas” off these people and see if they can come up with cogent observations or counterpoints worth considering. But Brooks and Friedman are regulars, so now I hope he’s *not* listening to any of the BS his guests spout. Please tell me this is all about managing the outbound message.
Sherparick
I now worry about my President’s health. My take on most of these guys is the same as Wonkette’s
With all of the terrible, sludge-brained, doped-out political hacks whose columns we read over and over until every atom of our being must fight the urge to swan-dive off a twenty-story building onto a fence topped with rusty spikes coated with rattlesnake venom, we often forget about the execrable Richard Cohen at The Washington Post. Perhaps this is an act of self-preservation.
Read more at http://wonkette.com/533655/terrible-columnist-richard-cohen-shocked-to-learn-that-slavery-was-really-really-bad#Co0Pfc3ltBsqopej.99
Larv
@Bill E Pilgrim
Bullshit. It’s an article about the president putting forth his arguments directly to a group of opinion making journalists. It’s smart and plays to the president’s strengths. He’s not a schmoozer like Bush who can get favorable coverage by bestowing nicknames and other frat-boy glad-handing. Obama seems more comfortable with a more academic mode – expounding his own views and defending them. I don’t understand what the problem is, unless you think the president should take a universally antagonistic attitude towards the press. Like it or not, Brooks and Friedman are influential. Unfortunate but true. God forbid that the president should actually listen to their opinion while trying to convince them of his own. The goal is to get them to understand and write about the WH’s reasons for it’s actions. This is an effective way of doing so. That’s it.
A Humble Lurker
This is the Presidential equivalent of Rifftrax. Those guys don’t watch Manos The Hands of Fate because they enjoy it or think you can learn something about cinematography from it. It’s for the sake of amusement. And bemusement. And so he can make wise cracks about what they said to the staff later.
Or maybe that last one is just what I’d do.
Lurking Canadian
The part of this that I have the hardest time believing is that the president has time for multi-hour bull sessions with anybody not named Michelle Obama, and even then only if they’re both willing to forego sleeping.
This is probably something the president did once or twice in late 2008, to try to get the “opinion makers” on his side.
JGabriel
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Yes, but … not often enough. Even the post you linked is over 4 years old.
In any event, I’d certainly prefer to see the President speaking with Krugman than Brooks or Friedman.
.
Ben Cisco
@Platypus:
Better.
Davis X. Machina
@Bill E Pilgrim: Obama was going to call on us to expropriate the expropriators until David Brooks talked him out of it.
I got my sources. Trust me on this one.
Jebediah, RBG
@TG Chicago:
Sometimes, words are used in different ways depending on context. For example, I can be “high” while “laying low.” But how on Earth can that be, when the dictionary says “high” means “located far above the ground or another surface”? Maybe language should consult a dictionary.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
I am so late to this party it’s probably dead, but I fully expect to see ‘Amir Khalid (POTUS)’ heading your comments from now on.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Frankensteinbeck: Agreed, I’d run with it too.
VitaminC
@Keith G: Hopefully Brooks was able to explain away his love for The Bell Curve.
Tone in DC
Two or three different commenters think that the Moustache of Ignorance and Bobo are pulling the wool over BHO’s eyes.
Have you not been paying attention for the last five years? The last five months? The last five weeks?
Of COURSE the Prez is working the refs. And these refs are more than happy to be worked, as it strokes their “swollen, turgid” egos. McCain did it. Bush the Lesser did it. Clinton did it. If BHO knows what these gas-holes are thinking, he can combat it more effectively.
A quote I’m sure we’ve all seen fairly often… keep something something “enemies closer”?
J R in WV
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
I’ll second this idea, again, also, too, as well. Repeatedly. Mr. POTUS.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@JGabriel: He may have had more. Krugman doesn’t talk about off the record meetings. ;-) And he likes being the outside man:
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
smintheus
Nearly dropped my plate of apple pie on the floor when I read that he invites Jeffrey Goldberg to the WH. Hoo boy.
Cervantes
Funniest thing I’ve read all day.