NBC: 'Quintessential Obama' Doctrine of Talking Leads to Hug
The leaders of nations who quarreled when George Bush was President now
hug each other, thanks to President Barack Obama deigning to take time
from his busy schedule to hold a meeting which displayed the
"quintessential Obama" and the "Obama doctrine at work" in bringing
"two sides together." Or at least that's how Wednesday's NBC Nightly
News gushed over Obama meeting with Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and
Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari, an exuberantly pro-Obama spin not adopted
by ABC or CBS.
Anchor Brian Williams admired how even "with they have going on, the
Obama White House has chosen to devote this kind of time to this,"
prompting Chuck Todd to propose "that we will look back on this and say
this is quintessential Obama." The White House correspondent touted how
"this is the Obama Doctrine at work. Bring two sides together, get them
talking and do this a lot." From the State Department, Andrea Mitchell
then trumpeted how in contrast to the last time leaders of the two
nations met when Bush was still President and "they wouldn't even shake
hands," with Obama in the room, Karzai, and the new President of
Pakistan, had "a warm embrace."
Mitchell maintained: "They're trying to build trust between the two of
them, and they've pointed out that as in contrast to the last time, the
Afghan leader and a previous Pakistani leader met at the White House,
another President, George W. Bush, they wouldn't even shake hands. This
time there was a warm embrace."
[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted late Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
From the Wednesday, May 6 NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: We want to get more on this from our chief White House
correspondent Chuck Todd and our chief foreign affairs correspondent,
Andrea Mitchell. Chuck, first to you. It has to be seen as some measure
on how they view this crisis, that with all they have going on, the
Obama White House has chosen to devote this kind of time to this. Of
course, they want credit that this gathering's happening at all.
CHUCK TODD: Well, that's right and I think that we will look back on
this and say this is quintessential Obama. This is the Obama Doctrine
at work. Bring two sides together, get them talking and do this a lot.
They want to do this four times a year. But the reason this has risen
to the top of his to-do list, it's Pakistan and those nuclear weapons
and the fact that it's a nuclear power. There were two questions
hanging over this summit that U.S. officials were ducking all over the
place, and that is, will we get to the point where we have to send
troops to Pakistan? And are those nuclear weapons secure? Well, the
whole point of this summit is to get Zardari, the President of
Pakistan, focused on his fight so that we don't have to deal with those
two questions, Brian.
WILLIAMS: And, Andrea, Chuck mentioned
the nuclear weapons, which has to be mentioned in any discussion of
this region. Yes, this is a long ball by the administration but no
talks can be better than the principles. At the end of the day, how
much faith does the United States have in either of these two leaders?
MITCHELL: Not enough. They're trying to build trust between the two of
them, and they've pointed out that as in contrast to the last time, the
Afghan leader and a previous Pakistani leader met at the White House,
another President, George W. Bush, they wouldn't even shake hands. This
time there was a warm embrace. A promise to work together...
