No one is pulling a president out of their hat
“Evil Geniuses” author Kurt Andersen reaches a conclusion. It should have been obvious to all the people who circulated a certain podcast from last week. Until the end of his long monologue, Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday night avoided mentioning it in refuting its premise. Why give more exposure to a notion he finds ridiculous?
Andersen posted at Threads:
OK, @lawrence_odonnell convinced me to stop even entertaining the Biden-decides-not-to-run notion, even as a thought experiment. Powerful multi-faceted refutation.
Andersen’s post was the first thing I saw this morning.
Jon Stewart in his “The Daily Show” return last week addressed the age of both expected 2024 presidential candidates and public discontent over it. Stewart played a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris assuring people that in his closed-door meetings, President Biden is “smart … on his game … and on top of it all.”
Stewart snarked, “Did anyone film that?”
“We only film the parts that don’t matter,” O’Donnell answered, referring to the facile, horse-race reporting that values political theater over actual governing. News cameras aren’t allowed behind closed doors when the real work of governing takes place. O’Donnell draws on his time spent time in those rooms.
“The thing to know about cameras and government is if the camera is rolling nothing really important is happening,” O’Donnell said. “What you’re watching is the theater. The governing will not be televised.”
The political press fails at informing the public of the consequential work of governance, he argues. It doesn’t make for good TV. And they’re not allowed in the room.
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