Thursday, April 28, 2011

Policy Fail

Yesterday the president released his "long form" birth certificate.

On the White House Blog, spokesman Dan Pfeiffer wrote this:

"At a time of great consequence for this country – when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue."

Noticeably missing:  any reference to the 25 million unemployed or underemployed Americans, which should be the administration's top priority.

My suspicion is that neither President Obama nor Mr. Pfeiffer are personally acquainted with any unemployed persons facing the financial ruin and personal devastation that unemployment and lack of income bring to ordinary people.  If they were, perhaps they would not be so cavalier in relegating unemployment to the not-worth-mentioning category.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Authorities and Officials

From today's Wapo:  " Authorities discovered highly radioactive water leaking from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant....."   "....the concrete was unable to set because the water washed it away, authorities said...."
From the AP: "...officials said it will take several months to bring the crisis under control..."

 I've noticed that reporters often refer to "authorities" and "officials" as sources for their stories.  Is it really that hard to identify the person/people who are the sources of information?  Not necessarily by name - but at least by a description of their position: tell us who these "authorities" and "officials" are, rather than dropping in the generic terms.  Every time I read these words, my first thought is: lazy reporting.