Politico's Roger Simon: 'Obama's The Greatest Orator Of Modern Times'

April 3rd, 2011 4:11 PM

Politico's Roger Simon said Sunday Barack Obama is the greatest orator of modern times.

Chatting with Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources," Simon also said journalists are just now looking beyond the President's speaking skills and analyzing what he's actually saying (video follows with transcript and commentary):

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: So is the press starting to sour on the stalemate in Libya?

Joining us now here in Washington, Roger Simon, chief political columnist for Politico; Dana Milbank, columnist for "The Washington Post," and in San Francisco, Debra Saunders, a columnist for "The San Francisco Chronicle."

Roger Simon, are the journalists and the anchors we just saw now aggressively challenging and acting openly skeptical about the Obama policy in Libya?

ROGER SIMON, CHIEF POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: Yes, and that's a good thing. We're supposed to be openly skeptical.

The bloom isn't entirely off the rose between Obama and the press, but reporters are starting to concentrate more than ever on what he says rather than how he says it. We will stipulate that he's the greatest orator of modern times, but now we're looking beyond that in every speech for what he's actually telling us.

"We will stipulate that he's the greatest orator of modern times..."

Really? Better than Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt?

"...but now we're looking beyond that in every speech for what he's actually telling us."

"We're" just starting to do that now? Shouldn't that have begun in February 2007 when the junior senator from Illinois first threw his hat in the presidential ring?

Obama's been president for 26 months in the midst of what many claim was the worst recession since the depression and journalists are just now getting beyond his oratory to actually analyze what the most powerful man in the world is saying.

Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, doesn't it?

Of course this isn't at all surprising for if they had done that 48 months ago, Obama would never have become the Democrat nominee let alone America's chief executive.

As such, the only things shocking in Simon's revelation was that these shills have actually started doing their jobs as it pertains to the object of their affection and someone on the left finally admitted what most of us on the right have known for years.

I'd give kudos to Simon for his honesty but it wouldn't be in order given its tardiness.