Mike Calderone reports that Obama tried to smooth some feathers ruffled by last night's dinner with conservative commentators by scheduling a meeting today with the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, the Wall Street Journal's Gerry Seib, National Journal's Ron Brownstein, the New York Times Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, among others. My invitation was obviously lost in the tubes. These things happen, guys. In the future, call my celly. But if this really was to placate liberals, it wasn't necessary [See Update -- Ezra]. There was nothing threatening in Obama's dinner. Go back to the guest list: George Will, Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Larry Kudlow, David Brooks, Rich Lowry, Peggy Noonan, Michael Barone, and Paul Gigot. You don't break bread with Larry Kudlow because you want a rich intellectual exchange. You break bread with Kudlow because he's a buffoon, and can be flattered. If news came out that Obama was having a weekly powwow with Brooks, Will, and Frum, you might see some concern in liberal quarters. But so long as Barone and Gigot are at the table, it's a fairly safe bet that you're just dealing with garden variety outreach to conservative influencers. Meanwhile, the important thing Obama could do for the "liberal" media is not have dinner with them. That's good for egos but meaningless for influence. It is, however, well within Obama's power to increase the influence of progressive outlets. Covering the presidency is the central concern of political reportage. And an outlet's ability to cover the presidency can be affected by the favor of the President. If The American Prospect and TPM Cafe and Huffington Post and others of our ilk were given the occasional interview with Obama, and fed useful scoops, that would rapidly increase our readership, our importance in the broader media ecosystem, and the likelihood that members of our outlets would go on to hold key positions in more mainstream institutions. To give just one example, if was understood that Mark Schmitt had more contacts with the Obama crew than Howard Fineman, the Sunday shows would be more likely to turn to Schmitt for analysis. In the long-run, that would be good for both Obama and for progressivism. And he wouldn't even have to waste time watching me chew my dinner. Update: I just talked to one of the liberal participants who said today's event was scheduled, at least in his case, a week ago. So it wasn't a hasty response to the Will dinner.
