Not a single voice allowed on the BBC today to criticize. Every single Beeboid on air is saying how wonderful this is, and how this is “paying respect” to the families and is absolutely not a victory lap or moment of opportunism. Of course, they don’t know what He thinks, or what this really is, but they are telling you nevertheless. All US vox pops are positive, enthusiastic, supportive.
The BBC is also helping to spin the White House talking point that Bush forgot about Bin Laden and it was only the current President who cared. There is still no mention on the BBC of the fact that the name of the courier was obtained during the Bush Administration, and that Sunday’s event was the culmination of years of work. Mustn’t harm the Narrative.
No sneering at the President telling firemen in NYC that He’s “got your back” in front of the whole press corps, something that ought really to have been a private occasion. In fact, this, as Huw Edwards told us twice now, is “the defining moment of His Presidency”. He spoke to Eleanor Clift, but forgot to mention that she’s a die-hard Democrat and supporter of the President.
Where are the critical voices? Surely there must be someone in the country who thinks this is unseemly? Or someone who might think it’s odd that He never visited Ground Zero as President before but runs down there now? You won’t hear any editorializing or sneering today from the Beeboids. Not even from Matt Frei, who has his best serious journalist face on. today. Only respect for the White House agenda from the BBC.
An impartial broadcaster should not be telling you what His motives are, or whether or not this actually is the right thing to do. They should be telling you what’s happening, and what various opinionmongers think it means. The Beeboids themselves should not be telling you what to think about it. Yet they do.
Note to Matt Frei: Today’s visit wasn’t supposed to be about Him, right? It’s supposed to be about the victims, their families, healing, and possibly some closure for the country’s psyche. Except you and your colleagues are making it all about Him even while you pretend you’re not.
i wonder when someone will ask, “If this operation took years in the making, why did no one decide on a PR response in advance”?
I think Mr Obama will go down in history alongside the other great Lame duck presidents of the USA; Coolige and Hoover and Cleveland spring to mind. I know it’s not my country but then I reckon in AD 32 or thereabouts, the Jews in Palestine (long before muslims even existed, by the way) would have felt justified in having an opinion about the Roman Empire and its rulers.
John,
Not forgetting Carter !
Grant, you’re correct.
I will always remember something that was told to me while I was living in South Africa in the 1980s when the peanut farmer was in office. Someone I knew then was visiting Washington for whatever reasons and had a meeting with one of the peanut farmer’s aides. He asked if he could get an autograph of L’il jimmy for his son, as they were admirers (more fool them, I know). The answer came back, not to a white South African. I hated peanut Jim from that day on.
John,
So racial prejudice against a white South African when they didn’t even know whether he was fighting against apartheid or not. So racist and stupid too !
The great thing…the funny thing (and there is a funny side) is just imagining…had this been Bush. Those that don’t think they’d be much difference just need to recall the run up to the elections for POTUS. Hmmm, thinking about it, it isn’t that funny, it is sad…and quite sinister.
Was anything said about the patent lie that he and his team weren’t watching the hit in real time when in the first 24 hours all the reports were saying that they had?
Of course, it couldn’t be anything to do with the fact that if the video of the kill every gets leaked President Obama would have no deniability about the story he put out about the circumstances of the kill. I mean, let’s not be cynical eh? He’s only C-in-C of the operation. It’s not as if he’d have any reason to be watching in real time or anything.
Whatever the bumbling of overeducated idiots in the White House who think everyone’s stupid apart from themselves, the Osama kill was a great day for democracy.
Let’s hope that this man can take it forward in 2012.
Had another nearly-falling-off-my-chair moment on Wednesday while listening to Newshour on the World Service. Razia Iqbal hosted a debate between a Democrat and a Republican – for and against Obama visiting with 9/11 familes at this time. The debate, quite heated at times, was allowed to proceed without undue interference from Iqbal and free of bias on her part. Quite remarkable.
Again, credit where it’s due. Problem, of course, is that these moments are so few and far between on the BBC.