Posted on 05/06/2011 6:13:27 AM PDT by markomalley
The ever-changing “narrative” from the White House about the U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden has shed some doubt on the events that took place that historic day, and that’s not the way the government should have handled such a historic moment argues National Journal’s Major Garrett.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, Garrett explained how the White House went wrong in the days after President Barack Obama’s late Sunday night announcement.
“One quick point about that,” Garrett said. “I believe the administration should be justifiably criticized for the ham-handed nature of telling this story. This is the most serious military operation this administration has engaged in in a decade. It should be told once with precision and clarity for everyone. And they didn’t do that and it’s their fault.”
The former Fox News Channel White House correspondent said if it had taken time to get the story straight for the public, then it should have taken that time and “dispense facts,” not build a narrative.
“That’s not a partisan statement at all,” he said. “This is a responsibility of the government to explain what happened and if it takes time to make that explanation, and if takes time to build a — and not a narrative, I’m sorry. I resent that phrase, entirely. These are facts. Governments dispense facts or should, not narratives. And the time should have been taken to put the facts together and explain them once.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist agreed with Garrett’s assessment.
“And it’s not a story that needs embellishing,” Geist said. “That’s the shame of it. Just get the story out there. It’s impressive enough on its own.”
“It should be told once with precision and clarity for everyone. And they didn’t do that and it’s their fault.”
Precisely. I blame it not just on this WH, but on the FB/IM/Twitter ethos that lets people spout off, rather than putting together a considered product that goes from soup to nuts.
Colonel, USAFR
Garrett said he wanted to "return to my roots as a print journalist". His wife still works for Fox.
Major will obviously now be demoted to Corporal in his occasional White House press room beat.
Leni
A thumbs up to your entire post...spot on!
The poor quality of all the morning offerings played a role in my decision to change my work schedule, to a start time of 7:30 (from 8:15).
“Not a partisan statement!!” OH NO, Major. We wouldn’t want THAT, now WOULD we. You should be like the “journalists” at MSNBC and CNN-—non-biased, non-partisan and ALWAYS truthful!!!! WHY is it that conservatives—even half-assed conservatives—always feel they have to APOLOGIZE for themselves when stating facts!!!
If you can't dazzle’m them with brilliance, baffle’m with bs.
The only conclusion I can come up with is “politics”.
Obama and his crowd don't understand the concept of governance. This is all a game about being clever and gaining advantage over your opponents. Responsibility, truth and doing what's right for America are not relevant. The only goal is scoring political points and retaining power.
Being President is an adult job.
All he had to do is get the facts STRAIGHT and then tell the truth. He did neither. He was so worried about ratings that he screwed it up. Not to mention the fact that he can NOT make a decision. Would it have taken Bush/Cheney 14 hours to make that call? I think not. They would have said, “Show me the plan, kill him, clean him up, send me the pictures and then we will go with the story once we have ALL the facts straight. And that is exactly what Bush did with Saddam's kids
White House caution children at play.
"Ummmmmmmmm ... hello?"
I acknowledge your skepticism of Major Garrett's hyperbole, and had he said "the most successful intelligence operation / assassination operation of the decade" we all would have agreed.
But no one will want to use the word "assassination"; also, there have no doubt been some very successful intelligence operations that have never been made public.
So we need to excuse Major Garrett here. "Military operation" is probably the optimum description.
What administration are we living under? The Obama Administration.
When did the administration begin? January 20 2009.
Has this administration been involved in anything at all for a decade? No.
"This is the most serious military operation this administration has engaged in in a decade."
"Ummmmmmmmm ... hello?"
Garrett is falling into a very bad Statist trap. Louis XIV said "I am the state". That's fine for an absolute monarch. But this country is the same as this administration. Most serious military operation this country has done in a decade? Fine.
But he's saying that the Obama Administration IS this country.
What happened to We The People?
"But this country is NOT the same as this administration"
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