Remember the early rush of press scrutiny that followed the surprise announcement of John McCain’s Veep choice? The virtually unknown Sarah Palin was the subject of intense media interest in those first days. As the Alaskan governor prepared for her new national role, the press became more and more heated in their demands for a “press conference.” Even after interviews with individual journalists, including Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, the press corps continued to demand a formal conference.
Well, Sarah came and went and, to my knowledge, the press conference never happened. The press failed to get its man—or, in this case, woman. But, lordy, it’s all we heard about for three weeks of the campaign. It’s worth noting that her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, who went on to victory on the Obama ticket, received only a fraction of the coverage that Palin did. Could it be that the press was more interested in catching a gaffe-prone beauty queen on video than hearing from the real newsmakers?
If you already have a jaded opinion about the press, then you won’t be surprised to hear that there’s another incredibly important world figure, one whose influence on the global financial stage touches literally every power center in this financial crisis, whom the press has virtually ignored: Citigroup advisor and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
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