Obama’s press conference last night may have marked the end of the mainstream media’s love affair with our new president -- though as the man himself said, when asked about the nation’s pride in electing its first African-American to the top job, “That lasted about a day.” Could it have had something to do with the fact that Obama bypassed the New York Times and the Washington Post in favor of such marginal media players as Politico, Essence and ?
 

What a thing to say! Actually the bloom was off the rose this weekend with the Times entire Sunday section dog-piling on the new administration. Most notable was Frank Rich, who wondered if the economic meltdown and Obama's reaction to it was his “Katrina moment.” Goodness! Sixty-four days into the job, with approval ratings of about the same number, and one of the Times leading liberal poohbahs sounds not unlike CNN’s Republican scold Alex Castellanos, who busted-up even moderate David Gergen last night when he suggested that we were looking at  "a one-term president.”
 
You guys are worse than Yankee fans! To say these are early innings is an understatement; it’s his first at-bat!. And to say that the man can’t win seems also incontrovertible: if he makes jokes and goes on Leno, he’s pandering to the proletariat; if he is serious and gives thoughtful answers (average last night was about four minutes per question) he’s “professor in chief,” as the Times put it, “offering familiar arguments in long paragraphs.”
 
Most telling was the photograph the paper ran in the late edition. Here was Obama, mouth open, looking tired and wan, like a man who has been driving all night and then was pulled over by the highway patrol when he veered out of his lane. He’s explaining that he hadn’t slept because he needed to get across the border for this job that was really important and didn’t have time to rest. Perhaps you can relate.