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Air Date: March 6, 2013
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Floyd Brown
Floyd Brown is a political innovator, media commentator, writer and speaker. He is the chairman of the Western Center for Journalism. He was involved in launching the impeachment movement against former President Clinton and has organized many national campaigns including the effort to secure the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. He is the author of the book: Obama’s Enemies List: How Barack Obama Intimidated America and Stole the Election.
Bob Woodward is a fixture of the Washington media scene who became well known for his Washington Post coverage of the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon. With the sequester happening he accused the Obama administration of “moving the goalposts” because at first the budget battle was about spending cuts. The Republicans gave President Obama one tax increase and now he wants another one while ignoring the spending questions.
In an e-mail, Woodward was told by a White House official named Gene Sperling that he would regret taking the position as he had been reporting it. Woodward felt that he was being intimidated.
This is an example of how the reporting landscape has changed over the past 30 years. As news corporations have come under financial pressure, they have gutted or retired the top level of its newsrooms. So now Floyd feels the reporters are junior people in their 20’s and 30’s and their lack of life experience and viewpoint can make them more susceptible to intimidation.
On March 21st, Congress will take their Easter recess. According to Floyd, if they don’t have a continuing resolution by that time, the sequester will be nothing because they won’t have budgetary authority for most of the major agencies.
In 2013 the federal government will have more money than it’s ever had in its entire history, an amount that increases each year. The problem is, they can’t seem to live within this ever growing amount. As Floyd noted, nothing’s really being cut. All politicians are doing is slowing the rate of growth yet in Washington they call this a budget cut. When a business commits to making budget cuts, they try to make cuts that won’t impact their customers. President Obama, on the other hand, seems bent on making Americans (his customers) miserable with threats of negative budget consequences so that we will vote out the current Republican Congress.
Would it be an exaggeration to say that the secular media has become a branch of the White House due to Obama’s Chicago style presidency? Get the answers as Floyd Brown gives you an inside look at Washington; the kind of view you can only get from Crosstalk.
More Information:
Western Center for Journalism
www.westernjournalism.com
