President Bush gave a prime-time press conference (transcript) lasting about 45 minutes last night in the East Room of the White House. As expected, the questions focused on the potential war in Iraq. Indeed, of the twenty or so questions asked by the White House correspondents, all but two of them were on Iraq, and the other two were on North Korea. In response, President Bush got to repeat 18 variations on his canned answer as to why we should go to war with Iraq. (For a discussion of the substance of his responses, there are innumerable GQ threads that you can jump into.)
What kind of little yipping lap dogs are the White House press corps? The United States is currently faced with a variety of foreign and domestic issues beyond Iraq and North Korea: the economy, the stock market, domestic security, the arrests (and potential torture) of Al Queida terrorists, ongoing unrest in the Phillipines, the Palestinian conflict, the Estrada nomination, tax policy, the deficit, to name a few. But did the press ask questions in any of those areas? Hell no.
Of course the first few questions should be on Iraq and North Korea, the most serious issues facing the country today. But once the President has given the same answer his speechmakers have prepared the half-dozenth time or so, don’t you think that it’s time to move on to another area? Do you really think that your particular phrasing of the same damn question particular question is going to make Bush break down sobbing on the lectern screaming, “Yes, you found me out, I’m doing it at the behest of the oil interests and because they went after my daddy.”
Look, Bush even admitted that the questions were being asked of the correspondents from a prepared roster. If you’re eighth or twelfth or fifteenth on the list, shouldn’t you have a question ready on an alternate topic if, perchance, Iraq gets played out. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be entirely away from Iraq – a question about how fears of war with Iraq is affecting the economy and the sagging stock market would work.
And please, folks, I know you worked all day on the questions you’ve prepared, but maybe you can move off your index cards to follow up on seeming inconsistencies in the prior answers. President Bush explained that he believes the North Korean situation should be resolved by multi-lateral efforts of regional stakeholders such as China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. On the other hand, he repeatedly said that the U.S. should disarm Iraq despite the strong opposition of many regional powers for the safety of the U.S. and the good of the oppressed Iraqi people. Both countries are ruled by oppressive dictators and appear to be developing weapons of mass destruction capable of threatening U.S. interests. I, for one, would liked to have heard how President Bush reconciles the differing treatment of these two countries. But did anyone pick up on this apparent incongruity and ask the President to explain? You guessed it – no.
The Bush administration appears to be focused almost exclusively on Iraq, perhaps to the detriment other important issues. I sort of understand that, because we are in a difficult and tense international situation and trying to find the best way out of it. But I would have expected that the White House press corps would not unanimously follow the administration’s agenda and taken the opportunity to ask at least one question on other issues facing the American people.
And the yipping lap dogs of the White House press corps are only one small part of the tame American news media, which apparently cannot focus on more than one thing at one time. Dammit, I’d like to turn on the TV news hear about something other than heroic soldiers leaving their families, missing women, the latest movie and reality TV shows once in a while.
What the hell use is a free press, if it is lying asleep in its little doggie beds?