ABC reporter Jake Tapper appeared on conservative talker Laura Ingraham's radio show the other day. And he made many statements that, in my view, demonstrate why the media is useless. Which is not to say that the media does not matter. But first a review of what Tapper had to say.
Consider the first clip of Tapper played by Ingraham. Tapper asks President Obama:
With the economy and unemployment still the focus of so many Americans, what can they expect in the next couple of months out of Washington, if anything, to bring more economic growth [...]
Fine. A rather obvious question with an obvious answer. With a Republican Congress hell bent on thwarting the president at every turn, nothing will be done until after the election. Was Tapper inviting the president to take on Congress on the issue? I'm afraid not. Tapper intended to put the president on the spot on what he was going to do. Well, the president sensibly answered:
In terms of the economy [...] I would love to see the Congress engage in a flurry of activity. I can't guarantee that.
In fact, the president can guarantee Congress will do nothing. Ingraham asked Tapper if he was satisfied with the president's answer. His response? "I was surprised that there wasn't more of a list of things that he would want to have accomplished." I see. Tapper was looking to hear Obama's stump speech rather than an honest answer to the actual question he asked -- what will happen in the next few months. Amazing. A reporter asking to be lied to. Tapper knows the answer of what is going to happen in Congress in the next few months. Nothing. And not because the president wants nothing done. Quite the opposite. But Tapper chose to either be a fool or play one on TV.
(Continue reading below the fold.)
What's particularly galling about Tapper's attitude is that when asked about the issue of Mitt Romney hiding his tax returns, in a break of a precedent set by Romney's father, and to react to Mark "Drudge Rules Our Rule Our World" Halperin's complaint that the media is doing the president's bidding by covering the Mitt's tax return issue (Halperin said, with no evidence, that the American people do not care), Tapper said (starting at the nine-minute mark):
I was surprised that the tax issue got as much coverage as it did. [...] I thought the Media helped tip the scales [..] the coverage in 2008 was not fair to either Hillary Clinton or John McCain. [...] It was not always the fairest coverage and I hope that does not happen again. [...] I think the emphasis on [the tax issue] compared to the emphasis on the housing crisis or 8.3% unemployment is difficult to understand.
Think just how obtuse that answer is. Let's leave aside the claims of media bias, which, in my view, disqualifies Tapper from reporting on this campaign. (Sure, reporters have their opinions, but they do not get to spout them. That's the deal.) Just consider how Tapper is unable to grasp how Mitt Romney's gaming of the tax system demonstrates one of the central economic problems of our time—income inequality buttressed and exacerbated by a broken and unfair tax policy. Honestly, where has he been? Perhaps the president can explain it to him:
Do you get it yet, Jake? I'm sure he doesn't. In fact, I know he doesn't. The next day, Tapper quizzed White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on the CBO report on the so-called "fiscal cliff":
Apparently, Jake Tapper just heard about the Budget Control Act, which was extorted by the Republican House during the debt ceiling debate. Jay Carney has to be wondering if Tapper just fell off the turnip truck. Carney goes on to explain that President Obama's proposals address the so called "fiscal cliff" but these proposals are being blocked by—guess who? —Republicans in Congress.
I think we can see that Tapper, who is about average for the Beltway reporter, demonstrates the uselessness of the media. I want to recommend, and commend, the Obama team for showing the strategy for dealing with a useless media. Last August, the White House and Democrats believed the media would cover the debt ceiling standoff fairly. They were rudely disabused of that notion. From that time they have dealt with the media quite differently, no longer courting good coverage but instead forcing coverage on their terms. To wit, given the "he said/he said" nature of media stenography "reporting," the White House realized they needed to say what they wanted reported, not urge reporters to report the story correctly. Consider this data point: Paul Ryan, a GOP ringleader in the debt ceiling standoff that led to the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, has the unmitigated gall to claim in every campaign stump speech that President Obama caused the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. This is a flat out lie. Has Jake Tapper reported on that?
Understanding this landscape, the Obama team has adopted a strategy of making sure its story gets out—by utilizing and understanding the "he said/he said" media approach and ignoring the tsk-tsking of the Jake Tappers and Mark Halperins of the world.
This is the right approach and it's about time.