President Obama's press conference today was quite interesting. If I were teaching a course at the Columbia School of Journalism, I might be tempted to use it as a tutorial on how to spot a first rate job of the old twist and deflect in the face of a monumental failure and scandal.
His framing of the Clinton email leaks was a nice mix of 'WMD' and Watergate as nothing but 'a third rate burglary.' And of course, just trust us, because would you believe the bad guys instead of us, you traitors?
The leaks were a story because they were legitimately damaging, and badly covered up, and they played into well known and also some highly suspected flaws in the candidate and her inner circle.
And as for the rest, I'm sorry, but have we already forgotten the widespread deception that Snowden exposed in the bald-faced lies told to us by intelligence experts? And how the US was shown to be spying on just about everyone, even its own allies, and interfering just about anywhere in its pursuit of a Pax Americana through endless war?
The plain truth is that Hillary was just an awful candidate, but especially given the time and circumstances. And she could not beat a guy who ordinarily could not have been elected dog catcher.
So live with it, and try to learn from your mistakes, which are obvious and greatly hurting your organization, judging by the overall results. Your party and its policies are a disaster, and a disgrace to its proud traditions of fighting for the working people and middle class against Big Money interests.
And no, we do not trust the political establishment anymore, and for very good reasons.
Show us the evidence, and don't try and blame us, and shame us into silence about it, again.
Have a pleasant evening and a great weekend.
