He Owns Them, And He Knows It

Barack Obama is a man who understands power, if nothing else. He understands the relationship between those who have it and those who don't (hence his bullying tactics regarding Chrysler, and his complete mocking indifference to any Americans who oppose his agenda). Which is why his casual attempt to dictate the type of storylines he would prefer from the White House press corps is not surprising in the least:

In remarks on his administration's proposed $17 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget this morning, President Obama was somewhat on the defensive against charges that his cuts don't amount to much considering that next year's total budget amounts to $3.4 trillion.

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered "trivial" in Washington and stressed that "these savings, large and small, add up."

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are "significant" – a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage."

It is important, though, for all of you, as you're writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant," he said.

Geez, what makes Obama so confident he can customize the media's coverage? What makes his underlings smug and secure enough in their power to tell reluctant creditors that they should take the loss or the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation ?

Maybe it's the fact that they have always done his bidding before, especially in the election, when they refused to cover any story he deemed "distracting". Maybe it's the same attitude he takes with American Jews, a sneer and a "what are they going to do? Support a Republican? Bwahahahaha!" type of thing. Or maybe it's just seeing MSNBC editing their footage on a daily basis to make sure nothing embarrassing about their president gets through to the general public.

How will the media respond? Looking forward to today's coverage....