Politico: Change They Believe In

Politico's Jonathan Martin thinks he's on to something:

President Barack Obama and his team of change agents may think every tactic in their political arsenal is original — but in turning their fire on the capital’s process-and-power-obsessed political class they’re actually indulging in a time-honored Beltway tradition.

Pitting Washington Insiders against Real People, as Obama and his top aides have increasingly done in recent weeks, is often a refuge for presidents who have suffered missteps or drawn critical coverage, particularly in their early weeks in office.

But actually, it's Martin who's indulging in a time-honored media tradition ... creating a reality to fit an agenda. For example:

David Axelrod, a top White House adviser, executed a pitch-perfect rendition of Blame Washington First on, ahem, NBC’s "Meet the Press" Sunday.

"You know, I relearned, David, a lesson that I've always known but that came back in stark relief, which is that there's a different conversation in this town often than what's going on in the country."

And so it goes. At a time when the President enjoys a 68% favorable rating, with 59% of Americans supporting the economic stimulus package, the, ahem, media spends its time insisting that Obama's presidency is in trouble, and Axelrod is playing the "blame game," because otherwise Martin would have to acknowledge that the media has dropped the ball with their reporting on the stimulus bill.

It's comical. In trying to show that the Obama administration is using stale political tricks as "a refuge" from criticism, Martin only manages to indict his own exclusive club - the media and its myopic insistence that only they know what the country is thinking, any evidence to the contrary be damned.  

For more than a year, Obama ran for and won the White House on a message of "change." Change in politics, change in the way Washington works, and change in bringing his message directly to the American people. And now that he's doing it, Martin would have you believe that Obama just started "running against Washington" a few days ago because of his faltering presidency.

Perhaps Mr. Martin should spend less time trying to project failure on to others, and more time focusing on reporting the facts. For a change.