On Tuesday's CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose rolled over and deferred to
chief Obama flack David Axelrod and his talking points defending the
President's Monday rant against the Supreme Court and its deliberation
on his health care law, along with its attacks on Mitt Romney. Rose
tossed softball questions at Axelrod, such as, "Tell me what he [Obama] is saying when he talks about judicial activism."
The anchor even boosted Hillary Clinton as a possible 2016 presidential
candidate for Democrats during his interview with the Obama aide:
"[Nancy Pelosi] said her candidate is Hillary Clinton. She hopes Hillary
Clinton will run....Do you expect that she'll be a nominee in- will be a candidate for president in 2016?" [audio available here [1]]
Rose led the segment with his question about the President's Supreme
Court remark, which was the only mention of the comments during the
morning newscast: "The President today had a message for the Supreme Court yesterday. Tell me what he is saying when he talks about judicial activism, and if he is trying to send a message to the Court as it considers this case."
Unsurprisingly, Axelrod spun his boss's attack on a co-equal branch of the federal government and tried to sell the supposed benefits of ObamaCare:
AXELROD: I don't think he's trying to send a message, Charlie. I think he was answering a question about what- his reaction to last week's proceedings. The President believes that the Supreme Court will affirm the law because it's- in keeping with their precedent not to overturn a law that Congress passed of this magnitude, certainly on a five–to-four sort of vote. So he was just expressing his opinion on that, but the bigger issue and the one the President addressed is what the ramifications of such a decision would be, in terms of the lives of millions of Americans who already are enjoying the benefits of that program- two and a half million young people who are on their parents' insurance up until the age of 26; tens of millions are getting preventive care free as part of their insurance coverage now because of this law; people who don't face lifetime caps on their insurance when they get seriously ill; seniors who are getting more help with prescription drugs. All of that is also in jeopardy here, and the President spoke to the human dimension of this.
The CBS journalist followed up by noting Vice President Biden's recent attack on Romney as being "out of touch," and let his guest piggyback on it. Co-anchor Erica Hill also raised the former Massachusetts governor's charge against the President on the rise in the number of poor single mothers and merely asked Axelrod to "respond" to it.
ROSE: ...[O]n Sunday...the Vice President, Joe Biden, consistently said
in- a number of times, that Mitt Romney is out of touch. Now, if Romney is the nominee, is that going to be the mantra of the campaign by President Obama?
AXELROD: I think it's going to be the concern of the American people.
Look, you have a guy who wants go back to the same policies that got us
into this disaster. He wants to cut taxes for the very wealthy, cut Wall
Street loose to write its own rules, and he thinks that this, somehow,
is going to produce prosperity- broad prosperity for Americans. We've
tested that- it's failed- and in his basic orientation toward these
economic issues, he seems to be oblivious to the experiences of everyday
people. He says we should just let the housing market bottom out; we
should have let Wall Street go bankrupt; and so on....
ERICA HILL: He [Romney] is speaking out, though, more strongly, and...he said he believes the President is to blame for the number of single mothers living in poverty. How do you respond to that?
AXELROD: Well, I think it's- you know, I think the American people will
respond to that as it deserves. I mean, the notion that he's going to
heap the entire responsibility for the collapse of the economy in 2008
on the President is ludicrous. We're working through problems that were
developed over a period of years. It's going to take time to get through
them, but we're making progress, and the last thing we want to do is go
back to the very policies that got us into this jam in the first
place...Romney seems to look at the world through the rear-view mirror. I
mean, he wants go back to the policies of the last decade on economic
policies, and on other stuff- I mean, he says Russia is our greatest
foe; he thinks employers ought to be able to decide whether women can
get contraceptive coverage...He thinks if we just drill for more oil,
that will solve our energy problems- no higher fuel efficiency
standards, no renewables. You know, I think he must watch 'Mad Men' and
think it's the evening news. He's just in a time warp.
As Axelrod made his "time warp" attack on Romney, an on-screen graphic
played up a USA Today/Gallup poll that indicates that Obama's lead over
the Republican among women under the age 50 has widened between February
and March.
Unlike his recent tough interviews with Republicans Tom Coburn and
Haley Barbour, the CBS anchor has been deferential to his liberal
guests. On March 29, 2012, Rose let NYC Mayor Bloomberg lobby [2] for stricter gun control. On February 23, he tossed softballs [3] at Axelrod's campaign colleague Robert Gibbs. Earlier that month, the journalist touted a CBS poll [4] that apparently found that 61% of Catholics approve "President Obama's contraception policy."
Gibbs appeared after the last GOP presidential debate, and Tuesday's
interview with Axelrod came on the same day as Republican primaries in
Wisconsin, Maryland, and D.C. Both times, the CBS program let the Obama
campaign officials speak without any rebuttal from the other side.
The full transcript of Charlie Rose and Erica Hill's interview of David Axelrod, which aired 8 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour of Tuesday's CBS This Morning:
CHARLIE ROSE: With us now, David Axelrod, President Obama's chief campaign strategist. Good morning, David.
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER, OBAMA RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN: Good morning, Charlie.
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: Obama Adviser On GOP Race, Re-Election Campaign"]
ROSE: The President today had a message for the Supreme Court
yesterday. Tell me what he is saying when he talks about judicial
activism, and if he is trying to send a message to the Court as it
considers this case.
AXELROD: I don't think he's trying to send a message, Charlie. I think
he was answering a question about what- his reaction to last week's
proceedings. The President believes that the Supreme Court will affirm
the law because it's- in keeping with their precedent not to overturn a
law that Congress passed of this magnitude, certainly on a five–to-four
sort of vote. So he was just expressing his opinion on that, but the
bigger issue and the one the President addressed is what the
ramifications of such a decision would be, in terms of the lives of
millions of Americans who already are enjoying the benefits of that
program- two and a half million young people who are on their parents'
insurance up until the age of 26; tens of millions are getting
preventive care free as part of their insurance coverage now because of
this law; people who don't face lifetime caps on their insurance when
they get seriously ill; seniors who are getting more help with
prescription drugs. All of that is also in jeopardy here, and the
President spoke to the human dimension of this.
ROSE: All right. There's also this: an interview yesterday with- on
Sunday with Bob Schieffer- the Vice President, Joe Biden, consistently
said in- a number of times, that Mitt Romney is out of touch. Now, if
Romney is the nominee, is that going to be the mantra of the campaign by
President Obama?
[CBS News Graphic: "Race For The White House: Obama Adviser Takes On Romney"]
AXELROD: I think it's going to be the concern of the American people.
Look, you have a guy who wants go back to the same policies that got us
into this disaster. He wants to cut taxes for the very wealthy, cut Wall
Street loose to write its own rules, and he thinks that this, somehow,
is going to produce prosperity- broad prosperity for Americans. We've
tested that- it's failed- and in his basic orientation toward these
economic issues, he seems to be oblivious to the experiences of everyday
people. He says we should just let the housing market bottom out; we
should have let Wall Street go bankrupt; and so on. And, you know, just
day after day, you hear these things. That's one of the reasons why, as
Chip [Reid] reported, his numbers have plummeted over the course of this
primary campaign.
ERICA HILL: He is speaking out, though, more strongly, and as you also
heard in Chip's piece, he said he believes the President is to blame for
the number of single mothers living in poverty. How do you respond to
that?
AXELROD: Well, I think it's- you know, I think the American people will
respond to that as it deserves. I mean, the notion that he's going to
heap the entire responsibility for the collapse of the economy in 2008
on the President is ludicrous. We're working through problems that were
developed over a period of years. It's going to take time to get through
them, but we're making progress, and the last thing we want to do is go
back to the very policies that got us into this jam in the first place.
But, you know, Erica, this is- you know, Romney seems to look at the
world through the rear-view mirror. I mean, he wants go back to the
policies of the last decade on economic policies, and on other stuff- I
mean, he says Russia is our greatest foe; he thinks employers ought to
be able to decide whether women can get contraceptive coverage- and not
any employer. He thinks if we just drill for more oil, that will solve
our energy problems- no higher fuel efficiency standards, no renewables.
You know, I think he must watch 'Mad Men' and think it's the evening
news. He's just in a time warp.
[CBS News Graphic: "USA Today/Gallup Poll: Swing States; Women Voters
Under 50: March: Obama, 61%; Romney, 30%; February: Obama, 49%; Romney,
44%; Margin of Erro: +/- 4 Pts."]
ROSE: The 2012 race is coming up, obviously. We are in the midst of
that. Just one question about 2016: [former] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi was
with me last night. She said her candidate is Hillary Clinton. She hopes
Hillary Clinton will run. The President said- the former president said
yesterday that he would be happy if she ran. Do you expect that she'll
be a nominee in- will be a candidate for president in 2016?
AXELROD: Well, if she ran, she'd be a very formidable candidate. I'm
sure that she'll be an early frontrunner for that race. She's done a
spectacular job as the secretary of state. Now, she's been a little more
reticent than everyone else about this, and, you know, she's worked
terribly hard over the last four years, and probably wants, and
certainly deserves a break from all of this. But if Hillary Clinton
decided to run, then she would be very, very formidable.
But my concern- I think the American people's concern right now is this
election. We've got a lot of great challenges to face. We're working
our way through them. We don't want to go back. So I think everybody can
wait a little while to play the speculation game about Hillary.
ROSE: David, you're clearly right, but at the same time, you've been
there and you know what presidential races are like, and after
discussing the issues, it seems like an interesting question to raise at
this time. It's great to have you here. I hope we see you a lot during
this campaign season.
AXELROD: Thanks, Charlie- good to be with you- looking forward to it. Thank you.