Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:49 pm
During his final press conference, President Obama thanked the press and demonstrated to Donald Trump how the President Of The United States supposed to treat the free press.
Obama thanked the press and said, “I have enjoyed working with all of you. That, of course, doesn’t mean that I’ve enjoyed every story that you have filed, but that’s the point of this relationship. You’re not supposed to be sycophants. You’re supposed to be skeptics. You’re supposed to ask me tough questions. You’re not supposed to be complimentary, but you’re supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power, and make sure that we are accountable to the people who sent us here.”
President Obama understands how the president and press relationship is supposed to work. The media is not a president’s cheering section. The free press does not exist to give the president good publicity. Presidents don’t get rate the media as good or bad based on the tone of the coverage.
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Compare Obama’s respect for the free press with Donald Trump calling Buzzfeed a pile of garbage and screaming at a CNN reporter that he is fake news.
The free press exists to inform the public and hold those in power accountable. The incoming Trump administration is doing everything that it can to make sure that the public has as little information as possible, and that there is no accountability to the American people.
President Obama put Trump to shame with a single statement. Donald Trump is about to find out that he can’t tweet his way around the press. Obama behaves in the way that people expect their president to conduct himself, while Trump acts like a low-grade reality television who is obsessed with his own PR.
The United States of America is losing a president and gaining a circus.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
