Big Dogs Weblog

What Campaigns’ Actions Portend

by Big Dog on Oct 9, 2008 at 06:20 Political

One would think that The One, Barack Hussein Obama, has it all going for him and that he would be schmoozing with the media considering how well they have treated him. Given the way that McCain gets treated by the media one might expect him to be less inclined to treat them well.

Dean Reynolds of CBS reports on both campaigns and he has some stark contrasts:

Behind the scenes, where the public is not allowed, there are other differences.

Obama’s campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational. The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it’s all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama’s campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

~snip~

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who’ve been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama’s, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama’s past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Obama is disorganized, has a smelly plane that is unkept and his folks treat the press like lepers. John McCain has a neat and orderly plane, publishes schedules, is well organized and makes time for reporters and is cordial to them.

So why has the media fallen in love with Barack Hussein Obama when he treats them like dirt and why are they dismissive of McCain when he treats them well.

This is coming from a reporter in the MSM. He has been with both candidates and as amazing as it might seem, he is actually painting McCain in a better light than Obama.

Is this important? It gives us an idea of what kind of White House each would run. Obama would be haphazard, his relationship with the media would be distant (until Obama needed something), and he would have trouble with administrative functions.

McCain would have things neat and orderly, his relationship with the media would be friendly and he would not have trouble with administrative functions. McCain would run a neat and orderly White House while Obama would run one that was erratic.

It is obvious, just from the information about the two campaigns, that one of the candidates was in the military and that training is still valuable to this day.

Tags: McCain, Obama, orderly campaign, printed schedules, smelly plane