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Obama’s book tour is a reminder he’s the media’s favorite celebrity. He could never survive the scrutiny Trump faces

By Zachary Leeman | RT | November 26, 2020

Barack Obama is out promoting his new book through puff-piece media interviews, a reminder of how much he got away with as president and the fact that he couldn’t handle the level of scrutiny thrown at his successor, Donald Trump.

Watching media interviews with Obama while he promotes his new book ‘A Promised Land,’ you’d think he was a movie star talking up a film project, rather than the former commander-in-chief.

From playing “wastepaper basketball” with late night host Stephen Colbert to fielding softball questions about what Trump’s ascension to political power “says” about the US, Obama has been given a platform time and time-again to paint himself as a positive leader in contrast to Trump’s brash style.

The truth is Obama would never have made it through his eight years if he were forced to face the media scrutiny that Trump faces. Say what you will about Trump’s typo-laden, early morning tweets and his combative interactions with journalists, but he is arguably the most accessible president in US history. He may call his media critics “fake news,” but he also does this in the open and faces them head-on.

Obama has enjoyed – and continues to enjoy – a love affair with the mainstream media that’s allowed him to not only paint a false narrative about his own presidency, but also to avoid pesky questioning about his failings.

The former president has, for instance, been used as a talking head in interviews to give his ‘expert’ advice on Trump’s 2016 victory and his continued popularity with a large portion of the US (even losing to Biden, he still gained millions of votes in 2020).

On Hispanics who voted for the president, Obama dismissed them as “evangelical” voters who weigh certain issues as more important than others.

“The fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans or puts detainees, undocumented workers, in cages, they think that’s less important than the fact that he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion,” he told ‘The Breakfast Club’ radio show this week.

Following a statement like this, one might be inclined to ask Obama about these “cages” being built and utilized during his administration, or ask him what he believes Trump’s views on gay marriage and abortion actually are. While the current president has said he’s for “traditional marriage” in the past, he also technically entered office in approval of gay marriage. Obama, on the other hand, did not endorse the idea until 2012, years into his presidency.

There were no such follow-up questions. Obama was allowed to paint the narrative where he is the good liberal battling it out with hate-mongers like Trump and his religious supporters wearing blinders.

The former president has also been given plenty of opportunities to dissect the state of the media today and Trump’s relationship with it.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Obama lamented that there is no common narrative anymore, but rather separate narratives that present ‘alternate facts’ based on the same story to feed into different audiences.

“I think it is the single biggest threat to our democracy,” he said. “I think Donald Trump is a creature of this, but he did not create it. He may be an accelerant of it, but it preceded him and will outlast him. I am deeply troubled by how we address it.”

Perhaps Obama should be asked about how he “addressed” it during his presidency. He not only called Fox News, one of the outlets most critical of him, “destructive” during his time in office, but also used the 1917 Espionage Act to prosecute more people for leaking sensitive information than all other previous administrations combined.

His Justice Department seized the records of 20 Associated Press office phone lines and reporters’ numbers without notice, claiming it was part of a larger investigation into disclosure of information about a terrorist plot. It was just one of many times Obama was accused by critics of infringing on press freedoms. As negative as Trump is about the media, Obama was a closed-off president, with an administration incredibly combative with the press behind the scenes.

Does he get asked about the contrast of these actions with his words now about press freedom? Of course not. Just like when he was president, the majority of the media simply let him speak and they do not question. They’re more concerned about mean tweets.

Obama has remained relatively unscathed by his actions as president and controversies surrounding him and his inner circle – Joe Biden, anyone? – because the press treats him like a celebrity as opposed to a politician. Ironically, Trump, a man who built a fortune off of being a celebrity, is treated more as a politician by the press than his predecessor.

“I just want to take a moment to drink you in for just a moment, because I’m having to get used to looking at a president again,” Colbert told Obama this week in an embarrassing, beaming interview.

If Colbert, a liberal talking head who poses as a comedian, really cared so deeply about the office of the presidency, he could have asked Obama about his empty promises to end the wars in the Middle East versus his actual war-hawk actions as president. He could have asked him about Guantanamo Bay, Operation Fast and Furious, accusations that Joe Biden used his office to take part in his son Hunter’s international business dealings, or one of a million other deeds that put his eight years in the Oval Office in a bad light.

Instead, he asks him how horrible Trump is and gives him time to sell his friendly demeanor to an audience still convinced he was a good president.

Obama’s press tour is a reminder of the failure of the media during his eight years in office. While you will still hear unproven claims based on anonymous reports about Trump calling deceased soldiers “losers” or Russia putting bounties on US soldiers’ heads, you will not hear a peep about Obama’s controversies. The media continues to be in overdrive in their bid to sell him as a positive, shining example of American leadership. By doing this, they create a contrast with the current president, which backs up their questionable reporting on him while he’s been in office.

Bottom line? Don’t trust the media. Not when it comes to Trump, and definitely not when it comes to their favorite celebrity: Obama.

Zachary Leeman is the author of the novel Nigh and journalist who covers art and culture. He has previously written for outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, and BizPac Review among others. Follow him on Twitter @WritingLeeman

November 27, 2020 - Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering | ,

2 Comments »

  1. THE MULATTO WARLORD WHO GOT THE NOBLE PEACE PRIZE
    Among other things President Barack Obama said:
    •Sent 3,500 U.S. troops and tanks to Russia’s doorstep in one of his final decisions as president.
    •Ordered ten times more drone strikes than Bush.
    •Dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016 alone (an average of 72 bombs every day).
    •Put boots on the ground in Syria, despite 16 times saying “no boots on the ground”.
    •Despite campaign pledges, planned a $1 trillion program to add more nuclear weapons to the US arsenal in the next 30 years.
    •Dropped bombs in 7 Muslim countries; and then bragged about it.
    •Said, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”
    •Bragged about his use of drones – I’m “really good at killing people”.
    •Deported a modern-record 2 million immigrants.
    •Signed the Monsanto Protection Act into law.
    •Started a new war in Iraq.
    •Initiated, and personally oversees a ‘Secret Kill List’.
    •Pushed for war on Syria while siding with al-Qaeda .
    •Backed neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
    •Supported Israel’s wars and occupation of Palestine.
    •Deployed Special Ops to 134 countries – compared to 60 under Bush.
    •Did a TV commercial promoting “clean coal”.
    •Drastically escalated the NSA spying program .
    •Signed the NDAA into law – making it legal to assassinate Americans w/o charge or trial.
    •Given Bush absolute immunity for everything.
    •Pushed for a TPP Trade Pact.
    •Started a new war on terror – this one on ISIS .
    •Signed more executive memoranda than any other president in history.
    •Transferred more than $100 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, more than any other administration in history.
    •Signed an agreement for 7 military bases in Colombia .
    •Opened a military base in Chile.
    •Touted nuclear power, even after the disaster in Japan.
    •Opened up deep-water oil drilling, even after the BP disaster.
    •Mandated the Insider Threat Program which orders federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues.
    •Defended body scans and pat-downs at airports.
    •Signed the Patriot Act extension into law.
    •Launched 20,000 Airstrikes in his first term.
    •Continued Bush’s rendition program.
    •Said the U.S. is the “one indispensable nation” in the world.
    •Waged war on Libya without congressional approval.
    •Started a covert, drone war in Yemen.
    •Escalated the proxy war in Somalia.
    •Escalated the CIA drone war in Pakistan.
    •Sharply escalated the war in Afghanistan.
    •Repealed the Propaganda ban, making it legal to spread government propaganda via news outlets.
    •Assassinated 4 US citizens with drone strikes.

    “…we’ve increased foreign military financing to record levels.”

    John Pilger summed up the past 8 years of Obama by writing,

    “according to a Council on Foreign Relations survey, in 2016 alone Obama dropped 26,171 bombs. That is 72 bombs every day. He bombed the poorest people on earth, in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan.

    “Every Tuesday reported The New York Times, he personally selected those who would be murdered by mostly hellfire missiles fired from drones. Weddings, funerals, shepherds were attacked, along with those attempting to collect the body parts festooning the “terrorist target.”
    “Under Obama, the U.S. has extended secret “special forces” operations to 138 countries, or 70 per cent of the world’s population. The first African-American president launched what amounted to a full-scale invasion of Africa. Reminiscent of the Scramble for Africa in the late Nineteenth Century, the U.S. African Command (Africom) has built a network of supplicants among collaborative African regimes eager for American bribes and armaments.

    “It was Obama who, in 2011, announced what became known as the “pivot to Asia”, in which almost two-thirds of U.S. naval forces would be transferred to the Asia-Pacific to “confront China,” in the words of his Defense Secretary. There was no threat from China; the entire enterprise was unnecessary. It was an extreme provocation to keep the Pentagon and its demented brass happy.

    “…Propaganda is his triumph. The lies about Russia — in whose elections the U.S. has openly intervened — have made the world’s most self-important journalists laughingstocks. In the country with constitutionally the freest press in the world, free journalism now exists only in its honorable exceptions.”

    Like

    Comment by goldfinger999666 | November 28, 2020 | Reply

  2. THE BIG 5

    The five core reasons why Obama should have been impeached

    A national movement was launched to impeach President Obama based around five core issues which clearly demonstrate how Obama has flagrantly violated the Constitution.
    The campaign, backed by director, producer, actor and writer Sean Stone, was a follow-up to North Carolina Republican Walter Jones’ efforts to bring the administration to account for launching unconstitutional wars without the authorization of Congress. Jones’ recently introduced resolution states that such actions represent “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”

    The five core reasons for impeachment proceedings can be summarized as follows;

    (1) Despite promising otherwise, Barack Obama committed U.S. military resources to overthrow Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi without any kind of congressional authorization whatsoever and without citing any evidence that Libya under Gaddafi was a threat to the security of the United States. Furthermore, Obama brazenly undermined the power of Congress by insisting his authority came from the United Nations Security Council and that Congressional approval was not necessary. “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question,” Obama churlishly remarked.

    (2) On New Years Eve 2011, Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act which includes provisions that permit the abduction and military detention without trial of U.S. citizens. Despite Obama claiming he would not use the provisions to incarcerate U.S. citizens, it was his administration that specifically demanded these powers be included in the final NDAA bill.

    (3) The passage of the Obamacare bill, under which Americans will be forced to buy health insurance, is clearly anathema to the Constitution. “The individual mandate is unprecedented and exceeds Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. If it is allowed to stand, Congress will be able to impose any kind of economic mandate as part of any kind of national regulatory scheme,” writes Ilya Shapiro, a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute.

    (4) Obama’s role in the economic looting of America since he took office is unprecedented. Specifically, Obama violated the Constitution’s Takings and Due Process Clauses when he bullied the secured creditors of automaker Chrysler into accepting 30 cents on the dollar while politically connected labor unions and preferential others received better deals.

    (5) Finally, Obama’s use of signing statements shows his desire to continue in the vein of George W. Bush and rule by executive fiat. This is a direct violation of Article II of the Constitution.
    You can support this effort to get political momentum behind starting the impeachment process against Obama by forwarding this article and video to your network on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and every other platform of communication.

    If the makers of Kony 2012 can receive international viral coverage for putting out a film that was little more than a veiled call for another unconstitutional invasion, this call to impeach Obama deserves equal attention.

    Like

    Comment by goldfinger999666 | November 28, 2020 | Reply


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