The Des Moines Register had a phone call with Barack Obama about 14 hours after his debate with Mitt Romney, in order to help them decide who to endorse for the presidency. They liked the frank and revealing conversation they had with the president so much that — even though this conversation was off-the-record — they published this editorial asking for permission to post the entire conversation, saying:
The conference call lasted nearly 30 minutes and was an incredibly informative exchange of questions, answers and an insightful glimpse into the president’s vision for a second term. He made a genuine and passionate case for our endorsement and for reelection.
Around an hour later, they had received permission and published a transcript. If you have any doubts at all about whether you should vote for Obama (and even if you don’t) you should go read it now:
I’m not even going to quote from it. Go read it.
9 Comments
I read it and I don’t see anything really different from what he has said publicly. The bowes simpson stuff bothers me, he is intent on austerity it seems.
A criticism of such off-the-record chats going on-the-record is that the journalists are, in reality, succumbing to a subject’s demands for approval over what they print.
I think you’re missing the point. This is a newspaper in their capacity of evaluating a candidate to decide if they will give him/her an endorsement. This is not a case of journalists getting approval to report a news story — this is not news it is an evaluation, like a job interview.
The White House did not edit the interview. The newspaper asked if they could take an off-the-record interview and put it on the record verbatim, and the White House said yes.
And given how many times Obama has been misquoted (often outrageously) by the press, I can’t blame him for being a bit careful.
In terms of substance, Obama really didn’t say anything new. However this incident could be important thanks to the prominence the republicans attached to the interview. They made a big fuss about how Obama was hiding something and as a result a lot of undecided voters in Iowa and elsewhere probably read the transcript to see if he was actually hiding something. The interview isn’t too long and Obama summarizes his case for presidency pretty well in it. Sometimes the message gets lost in between the mentions of “Big bird” and “Romnesia” and a transcript of that message should help in convincing some undecided voters.
The fact that there’s nothing new in it is a good sign: most of his plan is already out there and there are few surprises. This is as it should be. That readers got to read the primary source for the editors is a boon.
Austerity now also worries me. Let’s not be blind to Europe’s massive experiment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/opinion/the-austerity-trap.html
Wow, Iron Knee, do you even hear yourself saying ‘tomahto’ while I say ‘tomato’?
And then the Register endorses Romney. Says he has a clear vision for America (did they gain access to his actual secret plans?) and can end the gridlock in Congress, as if we really want the Tea Partiers actually able to pass a lot of legislation. What a joke.
Here is their endorsement — http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121027/OPINION03/121026026/1039/LIFE/
Sigh.
Sigh doesn’t even begin to describe my disappointment in the Des Moines register. All based on fictitious pie in the sky promises and ridiculous assumptions.
We should be better than this.
It is a sad thing that the election is going to be so close, because while there are many things I don’t like about Obama, in a choice between him and Romney the choice should be obvious – and Obama should get a second term.