Bo Obama Learns a Few Tricks in the White House - Why Not? Everyone Else Has

Bo Obama has been learning a few tricks during his stay at the White House. Schmoozing with Oprah must be de rigeur for residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:

Edit: Looks like the adorable video of Bo giving Michelle Obama a high five has been pulled from the internet. If I find a copy I will put it back up. I am at a loss why anyone pulled that minute long clip.

Aww how sweet. Amidst the chocolate slathered gingerbread, holiday baubles and adorable doggie tricks, Obama managed to make some news in his Oprah interview last night. No, it had nothing to do with Easy Bake Ovens.

Oprah gave him a big sloppy kiss of an interview and asks Obama to grade himself on his first year as President. He gave himself a solid B+. I just voted myself Miss America too. Unfortunately for both of us no one seems to agree.

Earlier this morning, I saw a panel discussing Obama's grade inflation on "Morning Joe". An interesting point was raised that Obama's internal polling as well as all the public polls clearly show Obama losing ground with a large portion of the electorate. Peggy Noonan made this point in her opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal commenting on Obama's rhetorical shift the middle:

If it is real—if the pivot signals a true, partial or coming shift, if it is not limited to rhetorical flurries—it is welcome news in terms of public policy. It also tells us some things. It tells us White House internal polling is probably worse than the public polls telling us the president has been losing support among independents. It tells us the mounting criticism from Republicans, conservatives and others has had a real effect. It tells us White House officials have concluded they were out on a cliff. It tells us they are calculating that after a first year of governing from the left, and winning whatever they win on health care, they believe they can persuasively shift to the center, that it will work.

The Morning Joe panel discussed the Oprah and "Sixty Minutes" interviews as a strategic move to show himself as a warm likable guy, you know, the kind you would have a beer with.  Pundit and Pundette have a great piece on how the "Sixty Minutes" interview totally misses the mark.  Obama comes across as prickly and does what he does best, point fingers.  There was unanimous consensus on the panel it's time for Obama to stop pointing fingers.  You know what they say though, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Clearly Obama feels that he can make his old tricks look like new ones;  it isn't working.   Obama needs to do more than come some rhetorical middle, and giving high fives to his gal Oprah.  He needs to start acting  like a man who was elected to lead the free world.  Obama's numbers are comparable to Reagan's who also coincidentally inherited a mess.  Did he spend four years pointing fingers at Jimmy Carter?  No, he didn't have time for that, he was too busy leading the country out of the mess.

Oprah's "Easy Bake" Interview at the White House

Politco has a transcript so no need to watch the actual interview, not that I was planning on it mind you. You can read the highlights below the jump here, and Politico has more on Bo's stocking stuffers. An hour of squabbling over who gives better presents and where to get extra supplies for the Easy Bake Oven, is way more Obama/Oprah silliness than I can tolerate without risking sugar shock. Lord, I hope this is not an annual tradition.

Catch A Rising Star Katie Couric

It has been a while since I devoted a whole post to Sarah Palin. Since Sarah Palin announced the publication of her book, she has had more opportunity to defend herself from the usual MSM vicious attacks.  This is something she does far better than I could ever hope to and there are many good people who are devoted to promoting her positions as well. They do this exceptionally well too, anything I might have to add was very well covered.

Today, however, I feel I have a bit to offer. One thing I learned in the 3 1/2 months I have been blogging, nothing draws in readers like a post on Sarah Palin. There is no doubt she has been the sole force breathing life back into disheartened and dispirited conservatives everywhere. When she gave a barn burning speech calling out the obvious contradictions and yes, lies, being sold by the Obama team that were held up as profound truths by the media she gave voice to the rising frustrations of conservatives who wanted someone - anyone to point out the rising emperor was naked as a jay bird. This, as we know, made her target number one to the left and their soul mates in the media.

A year later many of those blinded by the false promise of hope and change are finally opening their eyes to the harsh realization the change Obama brought as President is hopeless. While Palin has yet to gain the credit she fully deserves for having been far more insightful than those who continue to mock her, there is no disputing that they've come to appreciate her power to draw an audience and keep it. The latter part, no doubt, comes as a huge surprise to the left wing media who are bleeding audience like a stuck pig, sans the lipstick of course.

With the release of Palin's book just days away, the media is licking their chops in hopes of drawing in that audience. There are a few big culprits, but this Time article just reeked "cashing in" when I first read it. It's just a weird mix of pointing to her popularity, poking at it and then pleading for a share. Nearly every paragraph or two is followed by a link to a Palin video, a spread of fashion photos or a shameless plug for a tangentially related article. Nearly every opportunity to try and paint her the fool is exploited, the worst being the heavily edited tape of Palin and Biden at the VP debate last year. The tape follows a quote by Senator Grassley praising Palin for expressing herself well. Nevermind that Biden has been such a gaffemaster in the last year the Obama administration has used its' most creative energy into finding new ways to keep him as far from a microphone and camera as possible. How about channeling some of that creativity into finding those three letter things we call "jobs?"

It's no secret Oprah lost a bigger chunk of audience than, well...I won't go there. Now that her political hero is safely tucked in the White House, she hopes to regain what she lost by launching Palin's book tour. Here's the harsh truth, however, Oprah will see a surge in audience and will get a taste of what she used to enjoy regularly only to find it lost again the next day. Here's her latest effort to play nice and perhaps mend a few fences. More importantly, Oprah's goal is obvious, promote the heck out the upcoming interview.



Allahpundit just linked this preview from the Oprah interview. If these video clips are any indication of Palin's performance on Oprah, the media is about to experience a lesson in the law of unintended consequences. The media that loves to hate her is about to payback with interest the woman most deserving of the rewards of Palin's star power, namely Sarah Palin.  Palin's star is rising, not waning, a fact that is something of a mixed blessing for Katie Couric and her network.   Ironically it may be the media that needs her that never lets her fade away.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Mad Men Mania

 These great video clips were admittedly pilfered from Pundit and Pundette, to whom I attribute my addiction to Mad Men. 





Oprah is having January Jones and Jon Hamm on her show Monday September 21.  Here are a group of links related to the show: