Both Steve Hayes and Erick Erickson point out just how political Barack Obama's campaign was yesterday -- at a time when the media was hammering Romney for being political.
Hayes:
At a press gaggle en route, a reporter asked a question of White House press secretary, Jay Carney.
“This is not a time to try to score political points. As the President said, as a general practice, politics should be put aside when the lives of American personnel are at risk, as they were last night.”
.... Another reporter asked a question of Jen Psaki, a spokesman for the Obama campaign. “Can you just elaborate a little bit more of what we can expect from the president at the event later today? Should we still be thinking of this as a campaign rally?”
“This is still a campaign event,” she said, noting that the “tone will reflect events of the last 24 hours.” Obama, she continued, “will talk about his vision for the future of the country, including many of the steps that he talked about last Thursday” – in his address at the Democratic National Convention.
Meanwhile, Erickson notes that Bush was besieged for doing the very same thing Obama is doing.
Yesterday, as the American consulate in Libya was smoking and the rioters were returning in Egypt, the President of the United States flew off to Las Vegas for a fundraiser while his spokesman was telling the American press corps that yesterday wasn’t really a normal political day.
Had it been George W. Bush, the media would, right now, be marching on the White House with pitch forks and torches. Remember, on 9/11, as events were unfolding in Washington, the American media was crying for President Bush to return to Washington.
You know what was utterly inexplicable about yesterday?
Obama exploited the Libya situation as surely as Romney when he snarked, "Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later", yet it was offered in the media, largely without comment.
If there was any time for the president to go about being presidential and ignore the daily sniping, it was then, but he couldn't resist -- just like Romney couldn't resist his shot on Tuesday night.
Let's look at the facts.
Was there a developing situation and foreign policy crisis yesterday afternoon? Yes, and there's still one. Did Obama punch Romney during the crisis with a cheap political attack? Yes.
Is it being treated similarly? That's where we find our first "no."
