Ballroom Blitz

I'm not sure what Obama expected to achieve with his marathon set of appearances on the Sunday talk shows yesterday; I'm speculating that he just wants to solidify support for any health care reform he can get. In my readings so far, I haven't seen anything new, either in terms of policy, nor in terms of potential compromise between the two parties. Democrats are trying to negotiate with "No," and that's a losing proposition.

However, I'm deeply amused by Fox News' howling indignation that they were snubbed. They don't seem to understand that there is no reason for a president to waste his time discussing adult issues with a "news" network, which treats childish fantasies, lies and false gossip as newsworthy, with the same respect accorded to other networks... and plenty of reasons he shouldn't.

Mr. Obama declined to discuss his proposals on the one outlet guaranteed to find fault (or change the topic to the Acorn scandal). And that made his star turn look less like a media blitz than Medici vengeance — Fox did not broadcast Mr. Obama’s health care speech to Congress on Sept. 9, so Mr. Obama did not speak to “Fox News Sunday.”

(...)

Apparently, the feeling is mutual. “We figured Fox would rather show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ than broadcast an honest discussion about health insurance reform,” a White House deputy press secretary told ABC News on Saturday. “Fox is an ideological outlet where the president has been interviewed before and will likely be interviewed again; not that the whining particularly strengthens their case for participation any time soon.”

From the NYT.