Press Corps Sleeps on Obama - with Tiger Woods

President Obama played golf with Tiger Woods, and the press was not invited. Specifically, the White House press corps was not invited - though Golf Digest had a man on the scene!

This has, of course, thrown the mainstream media into a tizzy. With bunched-panties and brows-furrowed they gasp in collective astonishment at their audaciously opague golfer-in-chief.

“(T)his has nothing to do really with golf,” Ed Henry of Fox News plead, “That’s trivial. We’re taking a stand: We’re relevant."

In what could easily describe both the handling of the media as well as the results on the links, "He was my partner," Tiger said of himself and the President, "we won." - besting Houston businessman and golf-club owner Jim Crane, partnered with outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

While President Obama regularly designates his as the most transparent administration in history (replete with the first-ever White House videographer, I'll have you know), this President has in fact leaned upon espionage act prosecution a record seven times; and executive privilege once. Throw in rabid pursuit of whistle-blowers - while concurrently and often advantageously leaking favorable stories to the media.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would likely submit that President Obama has also released the most documents in history as well as granting well over 200 interviews. Big whoop, as it were.

With this current media outrage at not having more pictures of Tiger Woods with the President, we are compelled to recall the presidential election of 2012, in which both major-party candidates played reporters like puppets on strings. In exchange for the privilege of loitering on campaign buses and plane rides - and thus gaining full access - the press pool shamefully and compliantly grabbed their collective ankles and acquiesced any and all quotes for final approval with the respective campaigns' staffers for sanitization prior to public consumption.

To my mind, this clearly amounts to journalistic malfeasance.

So where are all of the real reporters at? Can I get a few more Greg Palasts & Michael Hastings? More Cenk Uygurs & Dylan Ratigans & more Jeremy Scahills & Matt Taiibis.

Why do the news agencies undercut funding for investigative reporting and travel expenses? Why in this world of infinite knowledge and connectivity - do we permit prepackaged distortions and regurgitated garble in the form of journalism?

Where are we not barraged with stories about legalized political bribery, the 1.3 million cell phone surveillance requests in 2011 alone, warrant-less wiretapping, extraordinary renditions, and extrajudicial targeted killing of American citizens?

Truth be told - people don't even want to know what is in their hotdogs. We love Snooki and Honey Boo Boo. What bleeds, leads - Nancy Grace exclusive on Jodi Arias! We clasp our eye-lids shut and chew our cud - with our mouths politely closed.

Full disclosure - I'm a proud liberal (unlike the president) and proudly I donated a whole $3 to his presidential campaign - and I really do admire the guy, but I don't always have to like it.

2/20/13