During today's press conference, one exchange in particular has been making the rounds regarding the failure of the Iran Deal to address Americans being held hostage by Iran. Major Garrett of CBS News asked Obama a tough question on the topic, and in return, the President told him "you should know better."
MAJOR GARRETT: Thank you, Mr. President. As you well know, there are four Americans in Iran — three held on trumped-up charges and according to your administration and one whereabouts unknown. Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?
Certainly a tough question, though one cannot help but recall the Bush administration, where this question would not only be de rigueur, but Garrett's particular phrasing would be, if anything, out of place as too respectful. Still, it was a bridge too far for Obama and the liberal press that worship him.
OBAMA: I've got to give you credit for how you craft those questions. The notion that I’m content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails — Major, that’s nonsense, and you should know better. I’ve met with the families of some of those folks. Nobody is content, and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get them out.
Predictably, the liberal outrage meter went into overdrive at this tough question for the President. Blogger Soopermexican notes some of the Twitter rage.
*Why* do people continue to refer to @MajorCBS as a 'journalist?' That's the salient question. #MajorGarrett #MajorFraud
— DarrellIssaSociopath (@DIssaSociopath) July 15, 2015
@MajorCBS It was insulting to see the amount of disrespect you show our President.
— Kathy Mitchell (@Allnkat) July 15, 2015
Who the fuck does Major Garrett think he is? He's speaking to the president, not his houseboy.
— Quantum Mechanic (@JamesEFinch) July 15, 2015
But it is not limited, naturally, to simple Twitter outrage. Mediaite reports that CNN's Dana Bash had a similar moment of partisan bluster.
“You've been a White House reporter, I've been a White House reporter. you know what it's like to stand up and ask the President a question and you do want be tough, but there's a fine line, especially, maybe, a multiple standing in the East Room, a fine line between asking a tough question and maybe crossing that line a little bit and being disrespectful, so I think that that happened here.”
It is an especially galling reaction from the press considering that one of the people being held by Iran, with no immediate relief in his future, is himself a reporter.
Since Obama has taken office two things are routinely painted as "disrespect": asking questions of the President, and disagreeing with the President. It is a far cry from the relationship the press had with the Bush administration. Any interview, any question by a reporter, that is not obsequious and designed as a method for him to further his own messaging is called disrespectful or racist.
Reporters are supposed to challenge those in authority. They are supposed to make them answer hard questions, to own up to their actions. It has only become "disrespectful" since Obama took office and the left saw their opportunity to shut down all unapproved opinion, thoughts, and even questions. As with all American principles, the freedom of the press is far less important to the left than achieving their goals.
