访谈录 2009-12-03&12-05 西点军校，美国敌营？（在线收听）

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine. MSNBC host Chris Matthews analyzing President Obama’s address on Afghanistan at West Point Tuesday night, referred to what Matthews interpreted as a lack of excitement from the cadets in the audience. He then questioned the selection of the US military academy as the venue.

“I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there the president chose to address tonight, and I thought that was interesting, he went to, maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case.”

Later, Matthews appeared to backtrack a bit.

“Perhaps they were ill-chosen words, but my point was clear to anybody who was honest and listening to it. An unusual decision by a president who’s nuanced in his foreign policy to choose the military academy as his basis for making the case.”

Well, the enemy camp analogy has sparked outrage on the internet with conservative bloggers and west point alumns, lashing out at Matthews for linking America’s future military leaders to its enemies. Matthews began his show this evening with an apology to cadets and their families.

The president will hear from small business owners, CEOs and labor leaders Thursday during a White House forum on job creation, but two groups, that will not be represented, the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, that’s because they were not invited. Those groups have also not been supportive of  President Obama’s health care reform efforts. White House officials say chambers of commerce throughout the country will be represented. In an open letter to the president, the chamber says it looks forward to working with him in the future.

And talk about bad timing, President Obama appears in next month’s Golf Digest Magazine in a photoshopped cover with golf legend Tiger Woods, who of course is the subject of a media frenzy over last week’s car crash and alleged extramarital affairs. The title of the article, Ten Tips Obama can take from Tiger, irony aside, Woods just is apparently getting plenty of tips from his handlers, he acknowledged in a statement today that he let his family down, saying quote,

“I regret those transgressions with all my heart, I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves.”