During a speech during a Democratic National Committee event in Seattle, Washington, Tuesday night, President Obama confessed that he doesn’t watch the news.
Throughout the speech, Obama predictably complained about the incompetence of our “broken” Congress and urged his liberal audience to get enthusiastic about voting for Democrats in the midterm elections this fall.
He appealed to his listeners by saying that he, like them, has anxiety over ” the fact that government doesn’t seem to be responsive,” at least according to what regular Americans watch on the news.
“Sometimes when you’re watching the news — which I generally don’t do because I — whatever they’re reporting on I usually know about,” Obama admitted. “But it can get depressing, right? It can feel as if, oh, nothing is working and everything is a crisis.”
So, let’s get this straight: While attempting to relate to average Americans and demonstrate that he’s just like them in his frustration with the federal government, Obama distanced himself even further away from the American people by casually mentioning that he neglects to do something that every informed person — and every self-aware president — does, likely and hopefully on a daily basis.
President Obama did not simply reveal that he does not watch broadcasts about the situation in Ukraine about which he already knows plenty. He admitted that he does not care to watch experts, critics, supporters and regular people respond to issues and events involving America.
So, assumedly, he did not watch MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell and Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) express their disapproval of his beer photo op in Colorado. He didn’t listen to Texas Governor Rick Perry critically reflect on his meeting with the president amid the border crisis. He didn’t hear Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) call him a coward.
Not only should a president watch the news, but a president should know that there’s more to the news than just the news. There’s conversation, dialogue and debate, all of which would tell Obama something he might not know: The majority of Americans disapprove of him.
Oh, and one more ironic thing — President Obama has repeatedly claimed that he learns about his administration’s scandals from, where else, the news.
