How Obama Snookered the Biggest Newspaper in Iowa

The flap over President Obama's off-the-record interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board was no blunder. It was a carefully targeted publicity stunt, aimed at reaching a critical voting bloc in Iowa, the undecided and the Latino community. Did it work? When I read that President Obama gave the Des Moines Register an "off the record interview," I was at first surprised but then angry, not so much at the paper, but at President Obama. As someone who has interviewed many national security and political figures I tried to understand why the interview was off the record, and why the President then allowed it to be printed. I think there is actually a pattern of deception by the President based around the content of what he said. In this case it was the newspaper that was his pawn. This was a setup to influence Iowans and to get the paper's endorsement. I thought about the fact that Iowa is a swing state, that the paper is going to come out with its...(Read Full Article)

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