Mark Halperin Bashes Press Coverage of Obama

I am in Indianapolis this morning to speak at the Bulen Symposium on American Politics at IUPUI and before I was scheduled to speak Time Magazine's illustrious Mark Halperin spoke to attendees. He had some very harsh words for his media colleagues who have given Barack Obama too much favorable press coverage.

Halperin said the media's unwillingess to hold Obama "accountable" is "the biggest failure of the media since the Iraq war."

During the Q & A, Halperin was also asked about Obama's new Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who Halperin described as very misunderstood.

"He's one of the most bipartisan people in Washington," Halperin said, citing Emanuel's friendship with many Republicans and work to advance NAFTA and welfare reform under the Clinton administration.