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POLITICO: Obama, Cable Chatter, and Liberal Fury. President Barack Obama has made a mantra out o?

By Glenn Reynolds

POLITICO: Obama, Cable Chatter, and Liberal Fury.

President Barack Obama has made a mantra out of insisting he and his White House won?t get caught up in ?cable chatter,? with aides proudly insisting they don?t let 24-hour news outlets drive decision-making.

But this week?s forced resignation of a previously obscure Agriculture Department employee is just the latest example of Obama officials reacting to a cable news-driven obsession of the right.

It not only infuriates Obama?s liberal base, which feels like the episodes just reinforce the power of the right to push a damaging story into the mainstream press. But as this week shows, the White House?s touchiness even threatens Obama?s ability to keep control of his own public persona, or steer the national conversation in a way that?s conducive to promoting his message and his agenda.

When all you’ve got is your image, you don’t even have that.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on July 22, 2010 (boomark / email).