Joe Kernan asked John Harwood how many times Harwood had interviewed President Obama — three? four?
I don’t remember Harwood’s exact response but he beamed. He was obviously proud.
Maybe he wasn’t considering how he came across to viewers. Or maybe: a) he doesn’t care, b) he cares phenhome mostly about beating out competing journalists or c) he cares mostly about the opinions of people who share his opinions. I mean, given how Obama’s people treat the media, and especially given how they treat people who disagree with them, what does it say about a journalist that he is invited to interview the President three or four times?
It says the same about journalism and journalists that it said in the 1960s, when JFK was surrounded by sycophantic journalists: there is no such thing as journalism, there is only public relations; that journalists have their own interest, which is to associate themselves with the charismatic and faddish.