Posted by Jed Lewison on Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 11:11 PM Pacific

Press corps flips out over private Obama-Clinton meeting

Apparently, the Obama campaign's traveling press corps is plenty peeved that they weren't invited to last night's Obama-Clinton meeting. In fact, according to CNN, they feel like they were hijacked. In short, what happened is that just before taking off -- after the plane was taxiing towards the runway -- reporters were told that Obama was not on the plane.

In 2003, the press corps raved about Bush's secret trip to Baghdad

They had never really been told that he was on the plane, though the pilot did announce that everyone was on board, without naming names. The press corps, perhaps reasonably, assumed that meant Obama. From the pilot's perspective, all it meant was that everyone who was traveling was on board. Anyway, they plane took off, and Obama went to Chicago later in the night after having his private meeting.

Now, I can understand the press corps' frustration, but on both the ABC and NBC broadcasts, the fact that they felt they had been lied to was a central feature of each story. It's a perfect example of media navel gazing. Do they really think that in the 90 seconds or so that they have to explain the meeting that they should spend 20 or 30 seconds whining about not having been invited? No one ever forced them onto the plane, after all.

Whatever the merits of their position, their decision to make it an important feature of the story illustrates their pettiness more than anything else.

Update: There's a hilarious diary on this over at kos. My favorite part: CNN is actually selling t-shirts blaring: "Obama's dodge miffs press corps."

Press corps flips out over private Obama-Clinton meeting

Apparently, the Obama campaign's traveling press corps is plenty peeved that they weren't invited to last night's Obama-Clinton meeting. In fact, according to CNN, they feel like they were hijacked. In short, what happened is that just before taking off -- after the plane was taxiing towards the runway -- reporters were told that Obama was not on the plane.

In 2003, the press corps raved about Bush's secret trip to Baghdad

They had never really been told that he was on the plane, though the pilot did announce that everyone was on board, without naming names. The press corps, perhaps reasonably, assumed that meant Obama. From the pilot's perspective, all it meant was that everyone who was traveling was on board. Anyway, they plane took off, and Obama went to Chicago later in the night after having his private meeting.

Now, I can understand the press corps' frustration, but on both the ABC and NBC broadcasts, the fact that they felt they had been lied to was a central feature of each story. It's a perfect example of media navel gazing. Do they really think that in the 90 seconds or so that they have to explain the meeting that they should spend 20 or 30 seconds whining about not having been invited? No one ever forced them onto the plane, after all.

Whatever the merits of their position, their decision to make it an important feature of the story illustrates their pettiness more than anything else.

Update: There's a hilarious diary on this over at kos. My favorite part: CNN is actually selling t-shirts blaring: "Obama's dodge miffs press corps."