Recent coverage of Mr. Obama's frustration with around the clock press pool scrutiny has put a new light on the life of a president in the era of new media.  Having to curtail visits to his favorite barber, or expressing frustration at a retinue of reporters chasing him during his daily jog or an unscripted run for shaved ice or a tuna melt has put a damper on an active and outgoing personality that used accessibility to secure the Democratic nomination and eventually the presidency.  Now that accessibility is proving to be somewhat of a liability, as Obama evolves from media darling to man behind The Desk.

President Bush publicly claimed he halted emails to his daughter for fear of media scrutiny of private conversations between father and child.  Press pool coverage emphasized the president's personal gaffes and an unrelenting barrage of negative and debilitating coverage that oftentimes overtly or implicitly sought to degrade and denigrate the president personally, converged to undermine, to some extent, the administration's ability to form and execute policy.  An examination of the Bush presidency shows his greatest successes came when he and his staff pointedly ignored the media fallout and sought to develop consensus and formulate action and response within an environment that was, for all intents and purposes, indifferent to media coverage.  The surge campaign in Iraq was but one of these successes, developed against the backdrop of Democratic abandonment and retreat on the war effort, media magnification and/or distortion of almost every military action or inaction in the theater, and a change of guard in the Department of Defense.  The administration had not shown such disregard for public and congressional opinion since early in the first term of the Bush presidency.  But the decision-making structure and environment were conducive to powerful and calculated action, essentially unfettered by concerns for how it would play in the media.

History shows that the recent practice of embedding reporters within the president's inner circle has contributed to a paralyzing effect within the presidency.  The boundaries of private life have disintegrated for the greater glory of more invasive media coverage of the president's every move.  How much this has contributed to the public's understanding of the presidency is questionable.  How much it has damaged the respect and command of the office isn't.  By riding shotgun in a de facto reality show based on the president's life, the media has effectively contributed to the compromising of the executive office.  The time devoted to media relations and management, to preparation, agenda formulation and distribution, scripted and staged appearances and other administrative duties related to the White House press pool has only grown over time.  The payback is not clear.  Though we have now a very engaging, personable and until recently accessible president-elect, the ever-tightening ring around his private life is already proving taxing on Mr. Obama.  His media darling status will slowly adjust once he assumes office, and even more so once policies are put in place and results become evident.  The question we must ask ourselves is, are we getting the best out of the man in office by attaching an entourage of eyes and ears who vacillate between cataloging his actions and dictating them?  Are we developing an environment conducive to sound decision-making, when we enable the media, or disregard their zealous crusade, to record and broadcast every minute of presidential life for public consumption.  While President Clinton brought much scrutiny within the Beltway and the media for his infidelity within the Oval Office, the fact that the press pool structure was in place made such scrutiny possible, along with the crippling effect on the latter part of his presidency.  Was this a public good served by the media?  That is debatable.  The lame duck status of Clinton's presidency in 2000, along with the very destructive effects of the impeachment process in 1999 capped the near decade of constant media coverage of Everything Clinton and basically paralyzed the effectiveness of that presidency in addressing serious intelligence and military deficiencies that caught up with the country in the very next year.

Over the last fifty years, the respect and deference normally reserved for the president has undoubtedly waned.  This is due in some part to the escalating coverage of everything the president says and does, twenty four hours a day.  While the goal was perhaps to be a 'window on the Oval Office', what has transpired is the crafting of a fishbowl within which no president can live, let alone govern, effectively.  While a majority of America saw Mr. Obama as a qualified candidate capable of grappling with unprecedented instability and turmoil on both domestic and foreign fronts, it is hard to imagine that the most qualified individuals would seek the office of president, knowing the intense scrutiny and invasion of privacy that accompanies the office.  Rather, it is easy to believe that perhaps egotistical, ambitious, attention-craving personalities are best suited for the pursuit, if not the actual occupation of the office.  Mr. Obama succeeded in portraying himself as accessible, technologically adept, media savvy and comfortable with the coverage, to serve the purpose of victory, whether in the primaries or in the general election.  But now the page turns to the execution of the office, which essentially began on November 5th, and the amplification of media coverage and critique.  While the facts should be important to professional journalists, and the assessment of the facts and policies are part and parcel the arena of editorial journalism, the recent shift in White House media relations has allowed all manner of media personnel to jump upstream, invading the personal life of the president and his family, and moving from merely covering the details of presidential activity, to materially affecting presidential agendas and personal routines.  That can not be healthy from a psychological perspective, and cannot be constructive to the business of being president on a regular basis.  While there is a segment of the population that finds the minutiae of presidential life interesting and provocative, the unintended effect is to water down the station of the presidency, and put stress on the command and respect that office deserves.

The U.S. is at a critical juncture in its history and evolution.  Once a century, we have found ourselves at a crossroads, which has in the past propelled our nation forward to its next iteration and reinvention, as in 1776, 1860 and 1932.  The domestic and foreign landscape is more volatile and vastly more unpredictable than in these previous, painful tests of our mettle.  The elected president must have every opportunity and every resource to execute his office without the cumbersome and tethering obligation to the media that has evolved over recent decades and administrations.  The stakes are too high, the playing field is ever-shifting and our abilities to respond and progress are being challenged and attacked from known and unknown sources.  The Oval Office has rarely, if ever, faced such a prospect.

While I assume the Obama transition team is following Rahm Emanuel's lead in sifting, sorting, analyzing and discerning what information is 'safe for public consumption', I can only hope the protocol of measured and sanitized communications coming out of the next Oval Office is pursued to the extent that an executive order is issued, for the White House press pool to cease and desist from its invasive practices.  The 24/7 attachment only serves to isolate and accost the president as a person, and does little to develop and maintain a healthy environment for decision-making and execution that the current situation demands.  The public deserves the right to know, but it deserves a productive and effective presidency even more.  The growing torment Mr. Obama faces from the media should be quickly addressed using the privileges associated with his hard won election.  The executive order should be utilized as the tool that frees Obama from the chains of the ever-present reporter pool, allowing him to focus on the unprecedented demands of the office come the 20th of January.