The Cable Gamer doesn't know what's going to happen to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential hopes. But after reading "Obama's Grudge Factor" in Mary Ann Akers' Washington Post blog "The Sleuth" today, she wonders if the Obama campaign staff is really up to the task of getting him elected to the White House.
Akers writes, "Sources tell The Sleuth that the Obama camp has 'frozen out' Fox News reporters and producers in the wake of the network's major screw-up in running with the erroneous Obama-the-jihadist story reported by Insight magazine."
And FishbowlDC adds still more detail:
"A FOX News insider adds a bit more details to the story, telling FishbowlDC that it was Senator Obama who called FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes prior to the freezing out and both calls were made without the knowledge of Obama's staff.
"The insider tells us that, while Ailes did not apologize, the conversations were cordial. Our source said that Obama spokesperson Robert Gibbs made an "error in judgment" by attacking Fox News and now supposedly freezing them out, which makes this Foxie's quote in Akers' story all the more noteworthy: 'If true, perhaps Mr. [Robert] Gibbs should reconsider that ill-advised strategy given his candidate is trailing by 20 points in the polls.'"
So let's put this in perspective: Fox goes with a story that TCG doesn't even think is wrong--Obama did attend a madrasah!--but apologizes for that story anyway, mostly to be nice. And yet now Obama is carrying on a "grudge" against FNC anyway, according to The Washington Post. Since when do candidates win by going to war against the media? Obama's real rivals are in politics, not the press.
Except maybe it isn't Obama who's carrying on this "grudge," but instead, just his staff--specifically, spokesperson Gibbs. Gibbs seems to be the one mucking things up for his boss. Obama and Ailes seem to be getting along fine, but nonetheless, Fox is "frozen out," in the most petty and obvious and short-lived way--no such "freeze" will last long. So either Obama lied to Ailes, or else Obama's staff is running amok.
I know that we're not supposed to point out the obvious, which everyone knows, which is that the Hillary campaign is busy trying to destroy the Obama campaign, without, of course, leaving fingerprints. And so TCG wonder about Gibbs. Gibbs and his actions aren't helping his boss at all. It seems that almost as if he’s a plant by the Hillary campaign. I just don’t see any other explanation of why he’s acting the way he does.
It'll be interesting to see where Gibbs ends up, job-wise, after the Obama campaign implodes.
