I went to this Mediate story titled “Barack Obama Chides Local Reporter For His Interruptive And Combative Interview,” and thought there would be some there there:
After watching the finished segment below, one gets the sense that Watson seemed more motivated to show his own fearless bravado in the face of the leader of the free world than he was in actually getting any newsworthy responses from Obama.
To be fair, Obama’s interview style is often so disciplined — and prone to filibuster on even the most basic questions — that one can understand Watson’s motivation to some degree. However, the final segment that aired last night reveals that Watson was far more interested in promoting his challenging stance than anything the president said, evidenced by how much of Watson’s voiceover and questions are featured instead of Obama’s answers.
Now watch the piece:
Am I the only one to think that the reporter didn’t do anything out of line and that Obama didn’t chide the guy or look that irritated at all? Sure, he aggressively questioned Obama and had a right leaning stance, but so what? Obama can handle that. Every President should be able to handle the mildly adversarial questioning that was in this piece. I don’t know who this reporter is, and he may be a total ass, but what I saw on the video wasn’t that out of line to me.
Comrade Mary
So, Obama tells him after the end of the interview that the next time they speak, the reporter should let him finish his answers? And the reporter leaps on that with a sense of persecution, making the comment that was All About Him the crowning moment of the interview? Sheesh.
The questioning on political topics wasn’t out of line, but the use of the final excerpt and the framing deserves one and a half eye rolls, a nano-ScottAdamsAssHaticus, or a homeopathic dose of media outrage.
Next!
GregB
I think it is very apparent from that clip that President Obama is filled with rage.
Maybe we can read Dinesh S’Souza’s book and get to the bottom of Obama’s seething, eruptive, explosive and violent rage as was on display in this outrageous attack on a good Southern man.
master c
Okay, that reporter is from here in Big God Damned D…..
Lots of backslappin around these parts for Brad stickin to the Man!
Fox will probably offer him a job today.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, this is a good example of “let’s scream about something, and hope no one actually looks at the clip and realizes that our scream is based on utter fantasy, not what is actually there”.
The reporter is definitely trying to build a mountain out of a molehill. With a very small shovel.
flukebucket
Biggest nuthin’ I have ever seen.
lol
The right so desperately wants Obama to be the stereotype of the ANGRY BLACK MAN. They’re incapable of dealing with anything else.
mikefromArlington
We didn’t see the full interview unedited. We have no clue if the guy pulled an O’Reilly on him.
MarkJ
Since he didn’t humbly invite the reporter for a private lunch at the White House, he was rude. That’s the Bobo standard for being Obama “non-partisan” and courteous towards conservatives.
Matt
I’m with John. Those were aggressive questions? Dumb, maybe, but not aggressive.
sukabi
from that very edited clip you can get hints that
1) either Obama is very tired or fed up
2) it seems like it’s been a very looooong interview that’s had a couple of clips taken out of it for the reporter’s spin.
3) the reporter clearly had an angle that he was pursuing
4) the “story” is in what’s been left on the editing floor. (the George Lucas method of editing)
5) Asking politely for the reporter to let the president finish an answer is just plain rude. (fyi, this one is snark)
All in all, I think the reporter came off looking like an asshole for his cheap shot at the end… but what’s to be expected from someone who’s convinced that every decision that our “too big, dysfunctional government” makes comes directly from the president.
hildebrand
Really? Thats the best they can do? Minor kvetching about Obama asking a fairly basic question? Yikes, more than a bit of a stretch to try to paint this as, well, anything.
master c
Drudge front paging this….
Emma
John, didn’t we learn anything from ACORN videos? It’s all in the editing. Especially when a dumbass reporter wants to pass himself off as “tough” for the local yahoos.
mk3872
Really? The video headline is “Obama loses his cool”?
Ooooh, yeah, he was about to EXPLODE!
Geesh. Pathetic.
OzoneR
right wing media, no biggie!
Conor
Anyone notice that during the question on immigration reform they showed a scary shot of a raid IN MEXICO by federales? I live in Texas and, while we should be very concerned about what’s happening in Mexico, there is constant screaming about “border violence!!!!” when NOT ONE cartel murder has happened on or on this side of the border. The scare-mongering is getting really tired.
Citizen_X
Meh. I can’t get too upset about a conservative reporter being mildly confrontational (if you could even call it that). And he didn’t really mention Obama getting irritated till the end of the clip.
In other Texas news from the same station, it looks like the wildfire situation has suddenly made Governor Maybe-We-Should-Secede remember his Uncle Sugar:
patrick
The guy doesn’t even know the correct usage of infer (vs. imply).
sukabi
@mk3872: there’s probably a betting pool in one of the GOP “news rooms” to see which of their “reporters” can get Obama to explode on camera… so they’ll ask asinine questions, interrupt and be rude and as assholish as possible to capture “angry black man” on camera…
Steve
I’ve noticed an inordinate amount of rage from Texans that their state didn’t get one of the retired space shuttles, which I guess is why this guy was being so “aggressive” by asking three times if the decision was motivated by politics. I wonder how many jobs and how much revenue the oppressive hand of the federal space program has created in Houston over the years. No wonder they hate the feds.
Common Sense
@Citizen_X:
It’s especially humurous coming on the heels of Houston’s epic kvetching about not getting a federal freebie Space Shuttle. There’s a campaign on Houston’s two major talk radio stations to boycott all things New York over it.
Amir_Khalid
I just don’t know. Like you, I wouldn’t worry about substantive questioning, as such, however “harrassing” the questioner’s tone might be. Obama is a high-profile public employee answerable to his employer, the American public.
But I simply couldn’t tell from this heavily edited interview (seven minutes cut down to two) whether Brad Watson was pressing Obama hard but fairly for answers, or coming at Obama as a right-wing partisan, or just stepping on Obama’s answers. Obama has no problem handling hostile questioners, as is well known; Watson need not worry about hurting the President’s fee fees on that score.
I will critique Watson for two things. One, repeating questions already answered, which he does once or twice in this video, is not clever. It wastes his limited time window. Two, stepping on Obama’s answer to ask a follow-up question (which Obama complains about, justifiably). If an answer is too long to use in its entirety, it can always be edited down to its gist. (Assuming the interview isn’t live — this one didn’t look live.)
Maybe Obama does tend to filibuster a question instead of answering it directly. On the other hand, I remember that early in his Presidency Obama was asked to describe his approach to foreign policy. His answer, when transcribed, came to some eight paragraphs of carefully organized prose — all off the top of his head.
fasteddie9318
OMG that was the most frightening thing I have ever seen! Why, that big Zulu witch doctor man almost killed that poor white reporter! My pulse is racing!
Common Sense
@Common Sense: @Steve:
The reporting has been a joke on this. NASA was charging 29 million to move the shuttle, and requiring a climate controlled facility to house it. Houstonians don’t wanna pay the money for this stuff.
Tsulagi
Pretty much. Sometimes an interview is just an interview.
Nope.
But of course over at the As The Teabagger Turns show at RedState they see that mountain in Kansas. Or wherever there’s a molehill. They have the same clip. They know the T-reality of the day…
OzoneR
@Amir_Khalid:
It implies he won’t answer them
It’s a control mechanism, it’s done usually when you’re interviewing someone who has been accused of a moral infraction.
OzoneR
@Common Sense:
We didn’t even get a REAL shuttle.
Good, I really don’t want those egotistical maniacs from Texas here anyway
Villago Delenda Est
@fasteddie9318:
OK, good comment, but Zulus are well to the south of the Mau Maus.
Otherwise, though, good comment.
ruemara
Why is this troublesome Negro not kowtowing to me, a white reporter? Methinks this “president” title he mistakenly was given has gone to his head. also, too. blackityblackblack man has raised an eyebrow at me, heaven’s to murgatroid, call out the armed guard!
I could go on, but I won’t.
Suffern ACE
@Common Sense: Geez. And we’re bummed here in NY because we didn’t get one of the real Shuttles. Only the practice one.
Amir_Khalid
@OzoneR: When the interviewee knows his stuff and has the self-control to remain calm under pressure, as Obama does, they are futile as psych tactics.
FlipYrWhig
@Steve:
Fix’d.
homeruk
While it’s grammar and english language day here, the President did not infer anything. He might have implied something, or the interviewer might have inferred something but that’s it.
Personally, I liked the look on the guy’s face when Obama told him to let him answer the questions next time – a humble nod or two and I think I detected a bit of blushing about the face. Sure, you can be as pissed as you want after the event but when the President tells you off (no matter who he/she is) it leaves a mark.
EvolutionaryDesign
This interview clearly shows that Obama wants to defund Social Security. Just look at the way Obama doesn’t even talk about SS. That’s how he gets you…
Tim, Interrupted
My god, slow news day at Mediaite, as per always?
And “mediaite” is the worst name ever.
joe from Lowell
I don’t see Obama doing anything wrong, and I don’t see the reporter doing anything wrong.
There is no there there.
kth
There was a story on NPR this morning about Obama doing a whole slew of local media interviews, so they should probably expect occasional grandstanding from the local talking heads.
As for Mediaite: nothingburger website produces nothingburgers.
Bill H.
I’m with Amir_Khalid in thinking that the interview is far too heavily edited to draw any conclusion as to the validity of Obama’s remark. I doubt that Obama would make such a remark gratuitously, but saying that the reporter did nothing wrong based on what was seen in that clip is just plain silly.
salacious crumb
O-Bots across the galaxy will be sharpening their knives. Obama has been challenged! Brad Watson, prepare to be flamed at the hands of O-Bots for questioning Obama.
Pat in Michigan
Bullshit, Obama is an asshole. End of Story. The right will use it against him.
Enjoy your primary removal out of the race Bambi Teleprompter, you feckless fuck!
Julia Grey
Why so many trolls on this one? Is it something the GOP’s social media sockpuppets have been told to jump on?
Socraticsilence
Wait- they actually think Bush was regularly challenged by the press? Did Bush ever give interviews to people who weren’t ideological cohorts or sycophants? I mean everyone does remember the rather marked difference in Brett Baier’s interviews of Bush and Obama right?
“Is the Invasion of Iraq going to be seen as on par with the liberation of the France or is it more like Freeing the slave?”
Additionally while I don’t think the guy was way out of line or anything but I do think a certain level of respect should exist at least in sitdown interviews (as opposed to Press Conferences which should be free for alls), and what kind of question is “why are you so unpopular in Texas?” I mean its not like Obama was at one point super popular in Texas and then lost them– Texas never liked Obama, it’d be like asking Bush- “Why are you so unpopular in California?”
Nellcote
From Watson’s written report of his interview:
Nellcote
Mediait is a Politico wannabe. How pathetic is that? Have they ever had anything to contribute to the discussion?
Pat in Michigan
@Julia Grey:
Damned right, and when we get done with him. he won’t be able to get a job as a shoe shine boy in Harlem.
Oh, he’ll be “Shining” something alright, but it won’t be shoes…
BLAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAW!
Amir_Khalid
@Pat in Michigan:
I take it you’re not trying to make yourself any friends around here, you fuckless feck.
kth
@Julia Grey: awesome, you ask if the rightnut plebes have gotten marching orders to publicize this nontroversy, and one of them answers “Damn right we have!”
sukabi
@Nellcote: ummmm, that’s not a challenge, it’s asking the guy to not be a rude dickhead…
Ecks
Guys you forgot to include the proper translations.
Just run what Obama says through an English-Wingnut dictionary and it all becomes a lot more clear:
Obama: “Hi” (“Hey there, Whitey McCrackerson”)
Obama: “Texas is a conservative state” (“Me and Marx be hard pimpin’ home boys dawg.”)
Obama: “Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?” (“Don’t you be givin’ me any guff boy, cos we negros is in charge now. Now git, afore I make you my white slave, and force you to pay all the brothers ANOTHER baziillion dolla dolla bills in reparations. C’mon now, don’t make me beat you with a teleprompter.”).
Fred
@Steve: Yea that must be it. That makes MUCH more sense than the simple explanation that he was just another right wing douche bag!
AnonGuest84
I guess the White House is going to have to start taping Obama’s interviews just so we can see what the ‘news’ folks are leaving on the editing floor.
Ecks
@AnonGuest84: I wonder if they don’t already do that, especially when the interviews happen in the WH.
sneezy
@AnonGuest84:
“I guess the White House is going to have to start taping Obama’s interviews just so we can see what the ‘news’ folks are leaving on the editing floor.”
That’s actually a terrific idea.
Marc McKenzie
@Suffern ACE:
Hey, we still got the one named after a famous starship! That’s gotta count for something!
Flugelhorn
Wow. Looks like it is that time of day when John’s broken clock and reality sync for a few seconds. Bravo. A moment of clarity.