Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC’s Meet the Press, hopes to improve the show’s ratings. He is shown here during Sundays exclusive interview with President Obama. (mrc.org photo)
“I’m as pissed off as anyone watching D.C. not work. We’re in this horrible period when no one wants to practice politics,” said Chuck Todd, the new host of NBC’s Meet the Press. I couldn’t help but note this pullout quote from Roger Yu’s piece on Todd in USA Today.
I am reminded of an old one-liner about a patient who read a bio about his doctor entering the practice of medicine. He later told the doctor he was uncomfortable having a doctor who is still practicing.
I found Todd’s quote to be a somewhat naïve observation for someone who has covered the White House for some time. Surely he has seen how President Obama considers the political ramifications of everything he says and does. In his book, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recounted the conversation of Hillary Clinton telling Obama she made a political decision during the 2008 campaign to be anti-war because of his position.
It was also Todd who was once quoted saying, “one thing that seems to set Obama apart from his recent predecessors is his ability to keep an inner calm about tough issues.” Now the president is said to be “disengaged” and hesitant to make a decision.
During his interview with Chuck Todd, he admitted that he should have anticipated the optics of playing golf just minutes after talking with the Foley family. (AP photo)
Todd landed an exclusive interview with President Obama on his first show as host. He asked the president about the optics of him playing golf minutes after he talked with the Foley family following the beheading of their son. “I should have anticipated the optics of playing golf,” he said, but added that “part of the job is also the theater of it … it doesn’t come naturally to me.” I would add – except when he chooses, as when he does his stand-up comic routine while addressing student audiences.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) practices politics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fractured the collegiality of the Senate when he attacked the Koch Brothers on the Senate floor; purely a political statement to stir liberals.
It’s similar to President Ronald Reagan’s observation, “Government isn’t the solution to our problem; it is the problem.” In this instance, I would say, it isn’t that no one wants to practice politics (as Todd asserts); it’s that everyone in D.C. does.
