<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><img src="images/stories/logo-foxnews.png" border="0" alt="Fox News" align="left" />Like the discovery of gambling in “Casablanca,” the mainstream media is shocked, shocked! to learn there is chaos and back-stabbing in the Obama <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/white-house.htm#r_src=ramp"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">White House</span></span></a>. The media missed the story for the same reason Capt. <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/car-racing/formula-one-indy/renault.htm#r_src=ramp"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">Renault</span></span></a> missed gambling at Rick’s Cafe: They chose to.</p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">A cash kickback did the trick in the film. In real life, the Washington pack turns away from the truth for something less forgivable.<br />Three years after <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/obama-administration/barack-obama.htm#r_src=ramp"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">President Obama</span></span></a> took office, much of the national press corps remains remarkably uncurious about what has gone wrong inside the land of Hope &amp; Change. Whether still mesmerized by hypnotic chants of “Yes we can” or afraid to risk access by asking unpleasant questions, the press largely has failed to pierce the secrecy surrounding all the president’s men, their conflicts and policies. </p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">It is a shameful dereliction, given that the Great Recession has left 25 million Americans out of work or looking for a full-time job, and the national debt has reached 100 percent of GDP. To state the obvious, no Republican president ever enjoyed a similar lack of scrutiny during a national emergency.</p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Consider that nearly all of Obama’s economic team left in stunningly short order, yet no newspaper, magazine or broadcast news show connected the dots. Only author <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/reporters/ron-suskind.htm#r_src=ramp"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">Ron Suskind</span></span></a> late last year exposed the incompetence and bitter tensions behind the failed policies the team produced.</p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Suskind’s “Confidence Men” showed that Obama’s lack of experience and overconfidence created a mash-up of male egos that caused top female <a id="KonaLink1" class="kLink" href="http://letsrebuildit.com/#" style="POSITION: static; TEXT-DECORATION: underline !important"><span style="position: static; color: #0000ff; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;"><span class="kLink" style="POSITION: relative; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: blue !important; FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-WEIGHT: 400">staffers</span></span></a> to complain their views were not taken seriously. Suskind also showed how Treasury Secretary <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/obama-administration/timothy-geithner.htm#r_src=ramp"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0066cc;">Tim Geithner</span></span></a> ignored harebrained Obama decisions that would have rocked the financial world, such as effectively nationalizing Citibank.</p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/12/after-all-these-years-mainstream-media-is-still-giving-obama-pass/#ixzz1jLqgL100" style="COLOR: #003399"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/12/after-all-these-years-mainstream-media-is-still-giving-obama-pass/#ixzz1jLqgL100</span></a></p>