When Mr. Nichols writing for liberal flagship, The Nation, basically mirrors the Roger L. Simon post below, you know you've got an emporer-has-no-clothes moment:
"Whiner-in-Chief" posted by John Nichols on 10/12/2009 @ 8:08pm
"The Obama administration really needs to get over itself.
"First, the president and his aides go to war with Fox News because the network maintains a generally anti-Obama slant. Then, an anonymous administration aide attacks bloggers for failing to maintain a sufficiently pro-Obama slant.
"These are not disconnected developments. An administration that won the White House with an almost always on-message campaign and generally friendly coverage from old and new media is now frustrated by its inability to control the debate and get the coverage it wants.
But before the president and his inner circle go all Spiro Agnew on us, they might want to consider three fundamental facts regarding relations between the executive branch and the fourth estate:
"1. Since the founding of the republic, media outlets (the founders dismissed them as "damnable periodicals") have been partisan. ...
"2. Presidents are supposed to rise above their own partisanship and engage with a wide range of media -- even outlets that are hard on their administrations. ...
"3. The worst mistake a president or his administration can make is to try and "whip" relatively like-minded writers and reporters into line....
The rest is worth reading, the parts between these excerpts: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/483551/whiner_in_chief
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