President Barack Obama proved he was playing defense in his pre-Super Bowl interview , by blaming Fox News for the way it covered scandals involving his administration, Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said Monday.
"It clearly says that you're on the defense when you're (blaming the media)," Trippi, campaign manager for former presidential candidates Howard Dean and John Edwards, told "Fox & Friends."
During
Sunday's interview with Bill O'Reilly, Obama took aim at Fox News for its reporting, suggesting the coverage kept certain topics in the news. When asked about the 2012 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the president said questions "keep on surfacing, in part, because you and your TV station will promote them."
Trippi explained when politicians fault the media for they way they report the news, it shows they are being defensive, by blaming others.
The logical response to counter a challenge from the media would be for a politician to engage the media with more interviews, and move it from a one-sided argument to a "two-sided argument," Trippi said.
"If you believe that this station, or any station, is saying something that you don't agree with, that you want to challenge, then come on the air and start answering questions," he said.
Trippi maintained expanded media exposure would provide a chance for the president to explain his policies to a large and varied audience — one that he hasn't sought in the past.
"I think it was a big opportunity for him, and Democrats, to start communicating to an audience that . . . the White House has been avoiding, for whatever reason," he said.
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