Who’s Briefing Obama?

Mr. Brennan, perhaps, Jim Clapper should be “sitting in front of the TV 24 hours a day” after all. To his briefers’ disgrace, President Barack Obama made two salient mistakes in succession today in front of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the American people as he praised the heroes of the Arizona tragedy. After a few perfunctory remarks about the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and some of her constituents, Obama opined, “I think it’s important for us to also focus though on the extraordinary courage that was shown during the course of these events: the twenty-year-old college student who ran into the line of fire to rescue his boss, a wounded woman who helped secure the ammunition that might have caused even more damage; [and] the citizens who wrestled down the gunman.”

Ouch! Had the director of national intelligence Clapper been watching Fox News’ America Live, he would have seen a healthy Patricia Maisch, who grabbed the magazine from the shooter: contrary to earlier reports, she had not been shot and was not among the casualties.* Had Clapper been watching CNN’s American Morning, he would have heard the twenty-year-old intern, Daniel Hernandez, who came to Representive Giffords aid, say, “I don’t know if the gunshots were still going on when I was running towards the Congresswoman.”** Even if it were not the job of Clapper to appropriately apprise the President, someone should have.

It is simply inexcusable for any cable news viewer to be better informed than the President of the United States of America. Not only is it embarrassing for the Commander in Chief to be out of the loop but also it is a bit scary for John Q. Public. Time to turn on the tv, Mr. Brennan?

*America Live – 01/10/11 (@ 1:30 a.m. ET)

**American Morning – 01/10/11 (@ 8:13 a.m. ET)

Tags: America Live, barack obama, CNN, Daniel Hernandez, Fox News, Gabrielle Giffords, James Clapper, John Brennan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Patricia Maisch