Obama, riding an astonishing wave of glowing publicity for a candidate 21 months from an election, already has a bubble around him that is tighter than the one that surrounded Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who spent long hours of the fledgling days of his candidacy in bull sessions with reporters.
Oh boy. This is Mike Allen’s perspective in The Politico, where he tells of catching up with Obama, who is running for president, for gosh sakes, after a hotel reception from which reporters were barred:
I introduced myself and said, "Good evening, Senator, may I walk with you?" He replied, "You can walk with me. That doesn’t mean you can ask questions." I chuckled, thinking he was kidding. "But you can certainly walk with me," he added. The Senator then underscored, "I’m sorry. I’m not answering questions."
Even an innocuous “[W]hat [do] you want to accomplish this weekend"? got the brush-off. No “press avail” this time, said O. Allen concluded:
[A]s Hillary tries to pierce her bubble, however tentatively, Obama appears to be building one.
The Politico is an apparently hot new online publication whose political editor is former Sun-Timesman Roger Simon. Allen’s experience and commentary are worth keeping in mind in this Obama instance.
No comments:
Post a Comment