It should come as no surprise that: (1) Nothing was accomplished; except that… (2) Obama took the opportunity to snub a few allies; as well as… (3) “[P]utting on a clinic for some of the world’s greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press” (note that’s in quotation marks; I didn’t write it, Dana Milbank of the WaPo did).

from neo-neocon

It should come as no surprise that:

(1) Nothing was accomplished; except that…

(2) Obama took the opportunity to snub a few allies; as well as…

(3) “[P]utting on a clinic for some of the world’s greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press” (note that’s in quotation marks; I didn’t write it, Dana Milbank of the WaPo did).

Milibank has more—a lot more:

Reporters for foreign outlets, many operating in repressive countries, got the impression that the vaunted American freedoms are not all they’re cracked up to be.

Yasmeen Alamiri from the Saudi Press Agency got this lesson in press freedom when trying to cover Obama’s opening remarks as part of a limited press “pool”: “The foreign reporters/cameramen were escorted out in under two minutes, just as the leaders were about to begin, and Obama was going to make remarks. . . . Sorry, it is what it is.”

Alamiri’s counterparts from around the world had similar experiences. Arabic-language MBC TV’s Nadia Bilbassy had this to say of Obama’s meeting with the Jordanian king: “We were there for around 30 seconds, not enough even to notice the color of tie of both presidents. I think blue for the king.”

President Obama promised to be a uniter, not a divider. And so he has—united Republicans, Independents, and even some Democrats in fierce opposition to him. And now he’s working on unifying the world—at least, the world press:

Lalit K. Jha of the Press Trust of India, at Obama’s meeting with the Pakistani prime minister, reported, “In less than a minute, the pool was asked to leave.” The Yomiuri Shimbun correspondent found that she was “ushered out about 30 seconds” after arriving for Obama’s meeting with the Malaysian prime minister. Emel Bayrak of Turkey’s TRT-Turk went to Obama’s meeting with the president of Armenia but “we had to leave the room again after less than 40 seconds.”

“When you only see the president for 15 or 20 seconds without him asking if you have any questions, it’s very frustrating,” said Laura Haim of France’s Canal+, which persuaded the White House to include foreign outlets in the press pool. “It’s very important for this president, who wants to restore the image of the United States, to have more access.”

Obama’s official schedule for Tuesday would have pleased China’s Central Committee. Excerpts: “The President will attend the Heads of Delegation working lunch. This lunch is closed press . . . The President will meet with Prime Minster Erdogan of Turkey. This meeting is closed press. . . . The President will attend Plenary Session II of the Nuclear Security Summit. This session is closed press.”

And here’s a nice tie-in to my post of earlier today:

FULL STORY

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