NBC had Barack Obama on Meet the Press today for an entire hour (46 minutes after commercials) and host Tim Russert wasted the first 15 minutes on eight questions about Rev. Jerimiah Wright. The next seven minutes were devoted to two questions that challenged Obama’s patriotism and questioned his recent loss of white voters. Finally, halfway into the interview, the first actual issue was touched upon when Russert asked about John McCain’s proposed ‘gas tax holiday’ and Hillary Clinton’s support of it. Ethanol’s stealing of food crops and nuclear energy came up and finally, Obama was asked if he would ever attack Iran and then a follow up question regarding Afghanistan was allowed to go for two minutes before Russert interrupted Obama to ask about the next primary. Russert ended the interview asking about the hypothetical of all of the remaining superdelegates going to Clinton, which is a near impossibility.
There were no questions about the War in Iraq, no questions about climate change, and no questions about the economy. I thought that networks would learn from ABC’ mistake with their last debate that if you have an oppurtunity to expose a candidate to the public, ask them about issues that people care about. It is sickening to still see this Rev. Wright issue not only still floating around, but given the first 15 minutes of a highly publicized interview when the country and the world are facing much bigger issues.
