R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I didn't watch President Obama's presser last night. I don't need convincing that some kind of stimulus is necessary and frankly, I simply forgot to watch. Anyway, I'm more interested in how it played in The Village and I'm detecting a change in the coverage. For the last two and half weeks, the media have been behaving like the jeering posse shadowing a schoolyard bully, with the GOP as the obvious tormenter. They were falling all over themselves in heralding the 'failed' Obama administration outreach attempts to the opposition, while we liberals were bemoaning his failure to stand up to the bully's intimidation.

Obama stood up last night and made us all look like petty fools and the narrative appears to have shifted overnight. Even Jonathan Martin, who IMO has been one of the biggest GOP water carriers, strikes a new note of respect in this post. Not that it's without some element of subtle digs, e.g., his reference to one of the best quotes seeming "more fitting for Oval Office chatter with aides than broadcast for the world," but the criticism feels somehow subdued.

As has happened innumerable times on the campaign trail, Obama's impeccable sense of timing won the round and this is just the opening salvo of a days long blitz of media appearances. In waiting to respond, he was able to draw the contrast all the more sharply between his thoughtful approach to solving the problems and the GOPers/centrists political pandering; leaving The Villagers looking like whining children obsessing over trivial minutia in his wake.

Despite the fears and jeers, he really does know how to play the game. He spent his political capital wisely. As the bill enters the most critical stage, the reconcilliation in committee, Obama suddenly looks like the only adult in the room. Seems to me that he's in a better position to extract some concessions now, when it matters, than he would have been if he had pushed back sooner.

And even the timing of the presser last night was perfect. He pre-empted popular programming to increase audience share and spoke long enough to prevent the bliterati from doing an immediate 'analysis' of what he really meant for the viewers. Despite the great uncertainty of the times, it's no small comfort to know our president is smart. So there's that.

Addendum: If you missed the presser, there's video highlights at Martin's post above and Josh Marshall has the video of Obama's answer to the first question.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]