News cycle

In my ongoing analysis of the transfer of power, I believe that Obama has taken a page from the Trump book. While Obama was vacationing in Hawaii he watched the news cycle spin around Trumps every tweet and decided to get back into the game using the news media’s penchant to always need a new bauble. He first orchestrated the UN vote on Israeli settlements and that got the ball rolling for a few days and next he sent some Russian spies home and that will carry the news for another few days. The sending of these spies home is a good illustration of how easy it is to get the press off and running. The question every hour on the news is, how will Trump react to these actions against the Russians. They seem to think he will set aside his plans for infrastructure, for tax reform, for changes in Obamacare, for changes in NAFTA, for dealing with ISIS and immigration so he can deal with this issue. Not! While these agenda items are far more important they are considered old news that is too complicated to gather headlines, and this will hold until the next bauble comes along and they will once again jump on the band wagon. This kind of reporting has been going on since the 24 hour cable news cycle started and will continue. Remember the good old days when Walter Cronkite was on from 6 to 6:15 with the nightly news and that satisfied most people.