The
liberal correspondent
spouted the current administration talking point that "clearly,
President Obama inherited this terrible economy and we're still working
our way out of it," but continued that "the White House, at some point,
has to be looking back and questioning their strategy both within
Washington and their larger communication strategy outside, and how
they're messaging to the broader public. And it would seem that they've
made crucial missteps on both fronts, and they have to take some blame
for that."
Later, Yellin looked to the last Democratic president as a possible example for the current administration:
YELLIN:
[Y]ou've got to ask, is he messaging correctly? And, you know, with
Bill Clinton out on the scene so much lately, it's a reminder of how
effective he is at hitting emotional chords, using anecdotes to help you
relate to where he's coming from, and help you understand his approach
to policy. Whereas, President Obama tends to focus on these little
examples or- you know, brass tacks sort of technician-type details of
what he's done, instead of giving you this overarching emotional frame.
So you don't end up connecting to it, and that's one of the ways he
seems to be misfiring on this message.
Sanchez responded to this with his attack on his regular foes:
SANCHEZ:
All right- good stuff. It's an interesting conversation, and I bet you
it's the kind of stuff that people are talking about. And then, of
course, there's the fact that- you know, he is dogged. There's no
question. You'd have to be a fool to not look at the landscape and see
conservative talk radio hosts-
YELLIN: Of course-
SANCHEZ:
Literally lambasting this man 24/7. And then, there's Fox News, which
is essentially the voice of the Republican Party, whose job it is to
make this man look bad no matter what he does. So, you know, it's a
difficult thing that-
YELLIN: Well, this is the time for political jujitsu.
SANCHEZ: What's that?
YELLIN: It's the time for political jujitsu.
SANCHEZ: Yes (laughs)-
YELLIN: You know, use it against them, right? So, effect- if he could do that- right.
SANCHEZ:
It all depends on how well he's able to fight that. And, you know what?
He's got to do it, if he wants to survive in this, certainly up until
November. Good conversation, Jessica.
Exactly a year ago, on September 21, 2009, the anchor
hinted that Fox News wasn't a "real news organization," and
questioned his competitor's legitimacy on August 2 of this year.
On August 18, Sanchez labeled Fox News "
way, way, way to the right," while putting his own network in the "
middle." Earlier this summer, the CNN personality, along with guest Roland Martin,
targeted Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
-Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.
