Getting It Wrong

The honeymoon might already be over with the White House press corps:

“I do,” the spokesman said, his cornflower-colored tie suddenly looking a bit too tight. “Are we allowed to repeat that name?” Mr. Gibbs answered by citing as precedent of Brazilian soccer stars being known only by a single name – sure to one day be a classic White House non-answer.

Then it got uglier.

“How is it transparent,” another reporter asked, “when you control the only image of the re-swearing – there’s nobody in there but four print reporters, there’s no stills, there’s no television? And the only recording that comes out, as I understand it, is one that a reporter made, not one that the White House supplied.”

Again, had the media done its job during the campaign, and really tested Obama and his people before they took over, they might not be making these rookie mistakes. If there were laws against journalistic malpractice, there’d be people on trial right now. Lots of them.