In an otherwise tough interview with Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter on Tuesday's NBC Today about the negative tone of the President's re-election bid, co-host M
att Lauer failed to challenge her on the nastiest attack hurled by Democrats so far, Cutter's own charge [1] that Mitt Romney may have committed a felony.
Lauer repeatedly grilled Cutter on President Obama abandoning the
rhetoric of hope and change from the 2008 campaign: "If you think about
what your candidate is out there on the campaign trail saying and
compare it to what he was saying as a candidate four years ago....are
you proud of the message he's out there delivering?...would you say the
President has run an exceedingly positive or exceedingly negative
campaign?" However, the obvious question about Cutter leading that
"exceedingly negative campaign" never came.
In contrast to Lauer giving Cutter a pass on the issue, during an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday [2],
co-hosts Mike Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough pressed Cutter on whether
she would be "walking back" her comments or had "any regrets" on the
matter.
Lauer did continue to push hard on Obama's changing tone from 2008, actually using the President's own words against him:
I want to give you some of then-candidate Obama's own words from the 2008 campaign. He said this, quote, "What you won't hear from this campaign is the kind of politics that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge but enemies to demonize." And then, in accepting the nomination at the Democratic convention he said, quote, "If you don't have a record to run on then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from." You don't feel that President Obama in the last week or so has done just that?
Cutter replied: "I think that in talking about Mitt Romney's record –
and you know, we're happy to talk about the President's record. The
President's out there every single day doing that. But if we're talking
about Mitt Romney's record, that's a legitimate discussion."
After Cutter proceeded to rant about Romney's time at Bain Capital and
offshore bank accounts, failing to provide any positive defense of
Obama's presidency, Lauer concluded: "And I believe you've answered my
question. Stephanie Cutter, I appreciate your time this morning."
On Friday's Today [3],
correspondent Peter Alexander actually touted Obama's claim that he
wanted to put forward, "A story that gives Americans a sense of 'unity'
and 'optimism'..."
Here is a full transcript of Lauer's July 17 interview with Cutter:
7:14AM ET
MATT LAUER: Stephanie Cutter is the deputy campaign manager for
President Obama's campaign. Stephanie, good to see you. Good morning.
STEPHANIE CUTTER: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Romney's Record; Have Obama's Attacks On Bain Crossed the Line?]
LAUER: If you listen to what we've heard over the last week, it's been a
preview of what can get pretty ugly over the next three or so months.
If you think about what your candidate is out there on the campaign
trail saying and compare it to what he was saying as a candidate four
years ago – about changing the atmosphere in Washington and bringing
hope to people who are having a difficult time finding hope – are you
proud of the message he's out there delivering?
CUTTER:
Well, Matt, I think if you look at what the President is saying on the
campaign trail, it is about how we're going to move this country
forward, how we're going to break the stalemate in Washington and do
what we need to do for a strong middle class, for sustained economic
growth. That's absolutely what he's out there talking about, including
the choice-
LAUER: Well, as of late it's been an awful lot about Mitt Romney and his tax record and offshore accounts and his time at Bain.
CUTTER: Right. The President talked yesterday about the need to bring
American jobs back here to America instead of outsourcing them overseas.
That's a legitimate discussion to have in this campaign, especially
when, you know, the President has put real incentives on the table to
bring jobs back and closing loopholes that send jobs overseas. That's
the President's policy.
LAUER: So when you look at the-
CUTTER: Mitt Romney has a different set of policies and I think that's part of the discussion that we're having.
LAUER: When you look, then, at the last week, Stephanie, would you say
the President has run an exceedingly positive or exceedingly negative
campaign?
CUTTER: I think the President is laying out the choice. Elections are
about choices. And we have two very different directions that we can go
in this country. And that's what the President is communicating. We can
build an economy from the middle out or we can build an economy from the
top down. President Obama has a set of policies that will strengthen
the middle class, move the economy forward. Mitt Romney has a set of
policies that'll continue building the economy from the top down and we
know that doesn't work.
LAUER: So you're saying this is all about policy?
CUTTER: So that's the discussion on the campaign trail.
LAUER:
But you're saying this is about policy and it's not personal, because I
want to give you some of then-candidate Obama's own words from the 2008
campaign. He said this, quote, "What you won't hear from this campaign
is the kind of politics that sees our opponents not as competitors to
challenge but enemies to demonize." And then, in accepting the
nomination at the Democratic convention he said, quote, "If you don't
have a record to run on then you paint your opponent as someone people
should run from." You don't feel that President Obama in the last week
or so has done just that?
CUTTER: Matt, I think that in talking about Mitt Romney's record – and
you know, we're happy to talk about the President's record. The
President's out there every single day doing that. But if we're talking
about Mitt Romney's record, that's a legitimate discussion. If we're
talking about Mitt Romney's taxes, there's a reason we're talking about
that.
One, he put Bain Capital at the center of his campaign, his rationale
for the presidency, that he can fix the economy because of this business
experience. Well, it's only natural that people would look at what that
business experience was, to see if it does indeed qualify him. Part of
that is to see where he's invested his money, where he's made his money.
And from what we know, from what the one year of tax returns that
they've released, we know that he's invested in offshore tax havens, in
Swiss bank accounts. So I think the American people want to know,
regardless of what our campaign does, I think the American people want
to know, is this a potential president who has been investing his money
in offshore accounts? And what does that say about the type of
presidency he would have, how he would run this country? These are
legitimate discussions.
You know, part of the election process is to give voters a lens into
which – how presidents would make decisions, how pres – what judgments
and perspectives and motivations that presidents would have. And I think
where Mitt Romney invests his money, in a Swiss bank account, in
offshore tax havens, in shell corporations in Bermuda, will affect the
types of decisions he makes. So that's – that's this discussion that
we're having and I think the American people are getting a lens into how
Mitt Romney would make those decisions.
LAUER: And I believe you've answered my question. Stephanie Cutter, I appreciate your time this morning.
CUTTER: Thank you.
LAUER: Thank you very much.
CUTTER: Thanks, Matt.