The Hype Is Losing Steam

Are a few people in the news media finally starting to question what kind of clothes our emperor is (or is not) wearing? It seems like it. On Thursday, the Bush Administration made a few predictions about how the deficit is doing. In covering the story for The Washington Post, Jonathan Weisman wrote (in his third paragraph!):

This is the third straight year in which the White House has summoned reporters well ahead of the official budget release to project a higher-than-anticipated deficit. In the past two years, when final deficit figures have come in at record or near-record levels, White House officials have boasted that they had made progress, since the final numbers were below estimates.

"This administration has a history of overestimating the deficit early in the year, lowering expectations, then taking credit when it comes in below forecast," said Stanley E. Collender, a federal budget expert at Financial Dynamics Business Communications. "It's not just a history. It's almost an obsession."

And then on Friday's Washington Week in Review, ABC's Martha Raddatz described her trip to New Orleans as part of the press corps accompanying the Prez. The transcript isn't up yet, so I'll paraphrase. From the airport, the motorcade went through areas of town that hadn't been heavily damaged by the storm or the flood, so there wasn't much to see. They never particularly left the freeway, so their view was even less than it might've been. She was able to get no feel for what life continues to be like in the city. Yet, somehow the President did. She was shocked when he told New Orleans small business owners:

I will tell you, the contrast between when I was last here and today, Stephen, is pretty dramatic. It may be hard for you to see, but from when I first came here to today, New Orleans is reminding me of the city I used to come to visit. It's a heck of a place to bring your family.

We could use some more reality-based media in this country.