I mean, Milbank and his ilk rub shoulders with Obamanians, if not with The Man himself, at DC soirees, don't they?

And look at how chummy Slippery William is with these bastards. "No hard feelings, guys – it's just your job. We're all working for the same things in the end, aren't we?"

Of course, there's no real need for him to actually say that, is there? It's understood.

At least by the people who count.

And while it may been different for the Murdochs, Limbaughs and O'Reillys, the pissing on the president at the Post, Times et al is nothing personal, is it? I mean, Milbank and his ilk rub shoulders with Obamanians, if not with The Man himself, at DC soir

Of course, Milbank should know, shouldn't he? And Barack and Michelle could be "just folks" (although no one who's ever sat on a private john in the White House could seriously be considered as such), and he and the rest of the corpress would still paint them as "out of touch", wouldn't they?

So it's not a false description – it's a dishonest one. That's the point I'm being trying to make, regardless of Jim's take on it. Much of this sort of criticism of Obama, and Clinton before him, is accurate to some degree or another.

But that's pretty much sheer coincidence, isn't it? Accuracy ain't what the corpress is striving for, is it? Maintaining the political paradigm is.

As for Whole Foods, it'd be nice if someone asked the president about their union-busting.

Ah, but his evasive reply really wouldn't suit their purposes, would it? You don't play "Gotcha!" with real issues that affect the disempowered, do you?

They – the president, the press, the parties – play at politics at one level, and are deadly serious in defending the status quo at another.

Bereft of bread and circuses, you might call it.

Or not.