Mark McKinnon hits it out of the park in his latest piece in the Daily Beast:
News flash: President Obama hasn’t held a formal press conference in almost a year (274 days and counting) yet has golfed 32 times since he was elected—eight more times than President George W. Bush did during his entire presidency.
[…]
Does anyone really think that Obama has been hiding from the press? Obama has more press exposure than any president ever—by a long shot. He and his team have just figured out clever ways to communicate by going around the White House press corps, whose members are about as busy as the Maytag repairman these days. They’ve become glorified babysitters.
But imagine the press histrionics we would have heard if George W. Bush had gone nine months without a press conference?
Recall that Bush was loudly criticized when he didn’t hold press conferences frequently enough to satiate a badgering press, though he averaged one about every two months. Over the course of his presidency, he held 45.
Bush was also constantly ridiculed and criticized for playing golf, most memorably by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11. In August 2003, Bush gave up the game, believing it sent the wrong message to grieving parents of soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, he was ridiculed for that as well.
McKinnon’s piece, while playing off something seemingly innocent, is a perfect example of the unlevel playing field Republicans play on with a press so clearly in the tank for Democrats.
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