annoying.

there is a meme growing in the press, encouraged by lots of republican/conservative thinkers, pundits, writers, and speakers:

"obama did what?! what if BUSH tried to do this?"

ignoring the juvenile nature of this invitation to argument, in many cases, bush has done the same things that obama did, in many cases. with regards to questionable nominees, there were several - i wasn't politically aware during his 2000 inauguration, but i do at least remember the harriet miers fiasco, one which should've been way more avoidable, as it dealt with the level of support of one's own party, and not the relatively private issue of backtaxes or pending grand jury indictments.

memory is short, though, and obama has had a larger problem getting his cabinet in place than seems prudent. these arguments, puerile though they may be, carry a little bit of water - although i'd argue in return that the press has certainly been critical of obama's choices.

the wall street journal's attempt to cry foul at obama's method for calling on reporters is ridiculous, though. are they really going to try and compare obama's pre-list of reporters he wants to call on with bush's numerous exclusionary tactics?

he didn't call on helen thomas for three years, for starters. then, there was the infamous republican-hired, soft-ball-throwing, reporter-cum-gay-male-escort Jeff Gannon (nee James Dale Guckert). (if you haven't read up on this story, i strongly encourage you to do so - if it weren't so sad, it'd be hilarious)

i could go into extensive detail about the bush administration's gutting of foia and flagrant disrespect for public records law and honest reporting in general, but i frankly don't feel like expending the energy.

finally, the practice of picking which reporters you want to ask first is hardly pre-screening. there is a limited amount of press passes given, and there is already an arduous process to go through to get one (a process that the illustrious Bush White House circumvented to get Gannon in). all presidents "pre-screen" reporters out of necessity.

this wall street journal article is disappointing - they are usually a respectable voice for conservativism, and i hope they don't devolve into fox news lite.