Brian Williams Hails Obama's 'Strong' SOTU, Boosts Obama's Record, 'Humor and Feistiness'
NBC's Brian Williams was dripping with praise and support for President
Obama after his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, touting
areas where he was "strong" and quoting a sympathetic New Yorker interview of the President.
"A lot of things will perhaps be remembered from this speech,"
Williams announced, as if the address was almost a classic. He touted
that Obama was "strong on education, strong on immigration" and "used
humor and feistiness the second half."
Later on, Williams launched into a defense of the President's shortcomings:
"[I]t was David Remnick in the New Yorker magazine, a long, long article, a long, sustained-access interview with the President over many stops who put a sentence in the middle of the article to reset everyone's expectations and remind us what it took to get here. And I'm going to quote from it. 'A president who after all who, quote, won two terms as only 17 of 44 presidents have and did so as a black man with an African father and a peculiar name one consonant away from that of the world's most notorious terrorist.' Something I think everybody forgets in the day-to-day game here."
Meet the Press host David Gregory chipped in that the President's "aura" drove up expectations too high for him:
"And I think it was because of that success being so unlikely that there was so much expectation therefore projected onto him because was the singular figure. And I think the President is still trying to recover from the leadership deficiencies he's had actually operating in Washington given this aura that surrounded him overcoming those things."
NBC News political director Chuck Todd called it a "well-crafted speech."
Below is a transcript of the relevant material:
NBC
NBC STATE OF THE UNION 2014
1/28/14
[10:20 p.m. EST]
BRIAN WILLIAMS: The President concluding his fifth State of the Union
address. A lot of things will perhaps be remembered from this speech,
including the call for the middle class to finally make headway as the
President declares war on income inequality and asks for the support of
Congress. The President's quote about doing away with workplace policies
that belong in a "Mad Men" episode. The President's quote that we must
move off a permanent war footing, which brought us to the easily the
emotional high point of the evening.
(...)
WILLIAMS: He was strong on education, strong on immigration, and seemed
to hit a stride midway through, used humor and feistiness the second
half.
CHUCK TODD: Look, I thought it was a well-crafted speech. The President
and Cody clearly – it was very much a – had a rhythm to it. But this
was not going to be confused with an ambitious State of the Union. It is
a modest agenda. You pointed out the politics here. I thought what was
interesting about the President's speech was it was a political speech
without being partisan. And here's what I mean about that. He was very
careful to make sure every new agenda item that he had was something
that the Democratic party could unite on and run on without dividing the
Democratic party. There was not much that he said tonight that was
going to offend any Democrats. And that was one of the goals that
congressional Democrats wanted the President to meet here, which was
give the party something to run on that's not health care. And if you
look at it from just the political prism, I'd argue he succeeded in
keeping his party united in what's going to be a tough election year.
(...)
WILLIAMS: With all the talk about the President entering this period
where "lame duck" has been tossed around, this period in his second
term, it was David Remnick in the New Yorker magazine, a long, long
article, a long, sustained-access interview with the President over many
stops who put a sentence in the middle of the article to reset
everyone's expectations and remind us what it took to get here. And I'm
going to quote from it. "A president who after all who, quote, won two
terms as only 17 of 44 presidents have and did so as a black man with an
African father and a peculiar name one consonant away from that of the
world's most notorious terrorist." Something I think everybody forgets
in the day-to-day game here.
DAVID GREGORY: Such – only an American story, as the President often
reminds you. And I think it was because of that success being so
unlikely that there was so much expectation therefore projected onto him
because was the singular figure. And I think the President is still
trying to recover from the leadership deficiencies he's had actually
operating in Washington given this aura that surrounded him overcoming
those things.
— Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.
