Andrea Mitchell was interviewing Chris Cilizza (Washington Post Political Fix) on MSNBC early this afternoon and I caught a few minutes of it. Transcripts aren't available so I'll do the best I can to paraphrase. Ms. Mitchell was asking Cilizza about his Political Fix column posted earlier today White House Cheat Sheet: Bye-Bye Partisanship in which Cilizza cites Judd Gregg's announcement that he will not serve as Obama's Commerce Secretary as a major set-back for the Obama administration.
In naming Gregg to Commerce, Obama had landed something of a coup by putting a conservative Republican (certainly on fiscal matters) in a Cabinet position -- a visible symbol that he was genuinely committed to doing things differently.
But, Gregg's withdrawal -- and his statement that he was simply too ideologically out of step with the administration to serve -- is clearly a setback for Obama and the cause of bipartisanship in Washington more generally.
Ms. Mitchell posed a question to Cilizza: "Given that today the Congress will pass Obama's trillion-dollar economic stimulus package less than four weeks after he is sworn in, is it possible that we are putting too much emphasis on the story about Gregg and that the Gregg story is an 'inside-the-beltway story'?" Cilizza looked rather stunned for a moment. "Well," he said, "I guess it's possible but the Gregg story is the big story because blah blah blah".
I just sat looking at my TV. It was one of those moments that was so stark. Economic recovery is possibly more important than the fact that a Yankee patrician deciding he couldn't serve as Commerce Secretary?? The moment was stark because I knew then and there that one of us (either me or Cilizza) is really, really out of touch.
I follow politics the way some people follow sports--very closely most of the time but I slack off at times. I gave myself a quick quiz by asking who had previously served as Commerce Secretary. I'm embarrassed to report that the only name I came up with was Ron Brown and I'm pretty sure I remember him because he was killed while serving in office. So now the truth is out there. I don't really care who Obama (or anybody else) appoints as Secretary of Commerce.
I am astonished that Cilizza doesn't recognize that the country is interested in economic recovery...almost to the exclusion of everything else. Many people have picked up their Daily Kos pen and written about the failings of the mainstream media and highlighted how out of touch they are. I know I'm not plowing any new ground here. But these 'journalists' threw it in my face today. I accidentally listened to Joe Scarborough for 90 seconds this morning as he asked "Who in the White House is causing this President to fail"? Chris Cilizza thinks we care more about Judd Gregg than we do about double-digit unemployment?
Thank you for listening to my rant.