Robert A Whit
03-01-2013, 05:13 PM
In the days before email and blogs, Bob Woodward was able to take down a White House with shadowy sources and well-placed silence. Now, battling the most tech-savvy presidential administration in history, he is finding that the media is subject to great swings, even against its own.
The legendary Washington Post reporter started his scrum with the White House by publishing a column that claimed PresidentBarack Obama had come up with the idea for the sequestration -- a series of potentially devastating automatic spending cuts that will be enacted Friday night -- and that he had "moved the goalposts" in his request for more tax increases in any negotiations to avoid its impact.
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The story became a sensation, with liberals decrying his charges and conservatives embracing them, but the inside baseball behind the article soon trumped any policy discussion. Woodward claimed that the White House had told him he'd "regret" the story, and in an interview on CNN (http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/27/bob-woodward-on-white-house-threat-it-makes-me-very-uncomfortable-to-have-the-white-house-telling-reporters-youre-going-to-regret-doing-something-that-you-believe-in/), described a tense, angry phone call with a top Obama official, which was perceived as a threat.
After a day of media chatter about the mysterious back-and-forth between the two camps -- which included Woodward further calling the situation (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bob-woodward-tears-into-obama-with-veiled-nixonian-criticism-madness-that-i-havent-seen-in-a-long-time/) "the kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time," nodding to his own past -- the emails in question were leaked to Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/exclusive-the-woodward-sperling-emails-revealed-88226.html). As it turned out, the Obama official, economic adviser Gene Sperling, was largely apologetic in the exchange -- as was Woodward.
The knives came out for the reporter, as his media colleagues snarked on Twitter and in columns about his perceived public exaggeration.
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The New York Times David Carr tweeted "Threat Level: Chartreuse," NPR's David Folkenflikwrote "Woodward has 'splaining to do. Email from Sperling seems to be making case, not threat," Slate's Dave Weigel tweeted "Crazy idea: Instead of venerating famous people and assuming they're right, check the record," and even conservative media members, from Byron York ("After reading Sperling-Woodward email, it's nowhere close to a threat. People who made big deal of this got played") and Jonah Goldberg ("Hezbollah is intimidating. Gene Sperling writing, 'I think you will regret staking out that claim' is not intimidating") had harsh words for Woodward.
On Thursday, Woodward doubled down, appearing on (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-hannity-white-house-threat_n_2785739.html) Sean Hannity's Fox News show to say the White House did indeed send him "a coded message."
By Friday, though, his tone had changed, telling Matt Lauer on the Today Show that the White House was to blame for making the emails an issue.
"It’s been pointed out that this is a sideshow, which it is... This is the old trick in the book of making the press, or some confrontation with the press, the issue, rather than what the White House has done here," he said.
Meanwhile, the clock ticks down on the actual budget cuts.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news (http://www.nbcnews.com/), world news (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507), and news about the economy (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072)
The legendary Washington Post reporter started his scrum with the White House by publishing a column that claimed PresidentBarack Obama had come up with the idea for the sequestration -- a series of potentially devastating automatic spending cuts that will be enacted Friday night -- and that he had "moved the goalposts" in his request for more tax increases in any negotiations to avoid its impact.
STORY: Conan O'Brien to Host White House Correspondents' Association Dinner (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/conan-obrien-host-white-house-422609)
The story became a sensation, with liberals decrying his charges and conservatives embracing them, but the inside baseball behind the article soon trumped any policy discussion. Woodward claimed that the White House had told him he'd "regret" the story, and in an interview on CNN (http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/27/bob-woodward-on-white-house-threat-it-makes-me-very-uncomfortable-to-have-the-white-house-telling-reporters-youre-going-to-regret-doing-something-that-you-believe-in/), described a tense, angry phone call with a top Obama official, which was perceived as a threat.
After a day of media chatter about the mysterious back-and-forth between the two camps -- which included Woodward further calling the situation (http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bob-woodward-tears-into-obama-with-veiled-nixonian-criticism-madness-that-i-havent-seen-in-a-long-time/) "the kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time," nodding to his own past -- the emails in question were leaked to Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/exclusive-the-woodward-sperling-emails-revealed-88226.html). As it turned out, the Obama official, economic adviser Gene Sperling, was largely apologetic in the exchange -- as was Woodward.
The knives came out for the reporter, as his media colleagues snarked on Twitter and in columns about his perceived public exaggeration.
PHOTOS: Hollywood Hits the Campaign Trail (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/hollywood-hits-campaign-trail-obama-385996)
The New York Times David Carr tweeted "Threat Level: Chartreuse," NPR's David Folkenflikwrote "Woodward has 'splaining to do. Email from Sperling seems to be making case, not threat," Slate's Dave Weigel tweeted "Crazy idea: Instead of venerating famous people and assuming they're right, check the record," and even conservative media members, from Byron York ("After reading Sperling-Woodward email, it's nowhere close to a threat. People who made big deal of this got played") and Jonah Goldberg ("Hezbollah is intimidating. Gene Sperling writing, 'I think you will regret staking out that claim' is not intimidating") had harsh words for Woodward.
On Thursday, Woodward doubled down, appearing on (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-hannity-white-house-threat_n_2785739.html) Sean Hannity's Fox News show to say the White House did indeed send him "a coded message."
By Friday, though, his tone had changed, telling Matt Lauer on the Today Show that the White House was to blame for making the emails an issue.
"It’s been pointed out that this is a sideshow, which it is... This is the old trick in the book of making the press, or some confrontation with the press, the issue, rather than what the White House has done here," he said.
Meanwhile, the clock ticks down on the actual budget cuts.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news (http://www.nbcnews.com/), world news (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507), and news about the economy (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072)