Appearing on MSNBC's 'Hardball' from Baghdad, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell objects to the 'message management' that resulted in three days of images of Senator Obama that were almost entirely – except for a lone Iraq interview with Terry Moran – produced and released by the Pentagon.
Andrea Mitchell, re Obama: 'He didn't have reporters with him. He didn't have a press pool. He didn't do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. ... You're seeing selected pictures taken by the military ... So, there's a real press issue here. Politically, it's smart as can be. But we have not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.
'I have great respect for the military, of what they do best, which is to fight war, keep the peace, do all sorts of economic and civil reconstruction here in Iraq. I don't think journalism is the prime thing that we recruit them and pay them for.'
Chris Matthews calls Obama 'lean and mean, hitting that three-pointer from way outside.'