Lapdogs to the rescue!
Via Daily Caller:
When former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dared to criticize his old boss’ handling of the government shutdown, a group of Washington political reporters were there to leap to President Barack Obama’s defense.
“You have to engage in the process,” Panetta said, criticizing Obama at a Monday breakfast sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, according to an account by liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus. “This is a town where it’s not enough to feel you have the right answers. You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and you’ve got to really engage in the process … that’s what governing is all about.”
This propelled some political reporters in the room to justify Obama’s lack of leadership, reports Marcus.
“To some extent, the reporters in the room seemed more forgiving of the circumstances in which the president finds himself,” she wrote. “Jackie Calmes of The New York Times noted that the Panetta-envisioned budget deal was illusory because Republicans refuse to consider new tax revenue. Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times observed that the White House would argue that its previous efforts at schmoozing and deal-making had fizzled.”