President Obama’s Press Office

The time honored tradition of Presidential leaks to key media outlets may be going away. Currently, President Obama has the ear of the press. He is a media darling. Whatever program he wants to tout will get ready backing of the New York Times and all their followers.

But what happens when the media starts to turn on Mr. Obama? What happens the first time they challenge him? What happens when the White House even feels any resistance? They will bypass the media. No planned leaks. No more unconfirmed White House sources. Mr. Obama will do something new.

My prediction of the new plan will be to go directly to the people. Courtesy of the web 2.0. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, you name it. Unfiltered stories. No spin. Control of message. Goodbye sound bites. Hello complete story. This could bring in a new era of the vigilant press. A strong, fair press would serve as a challenge to Mr. Obama to make him a better President. Think of it as resistance training.

Now, in the hands of a mad man like Hugo Chavez, this would be a big brother, propaganda nightmare. But in America, this could be a great thing. Bill O’Reilly on Fox News says, “we report, you decide.” This might go that one better. The White House informs, the talking heads banter, now you decide.

Oh, the campaign attack machine Mr. Obama used so effectively has to be dropped. It was unseemly to attack WGN Radio’s Milt Rosenberg and others during the campaign, but as President, it would be way over the top.