Chris Matthews: "I Want To Do Everything I Can To Make This New Presidency Work"

Chris Matthews appeared on "Morning Joe" Thursday morning, and in the context of discussing the Obama transition — and Rahm Emanuel's motives for waffling on the chief of staff position — told Joe Scarborough it is not his job to question Emanuel's motives.

"You know what?" Matthews said. "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new Presidency work."

Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski pressed Matthews on his claim, asking if it his his job as a journalist to make the Presidency work.

"Yeah, that's my job. My job is to help this country...to make this work succsesfully, because this country needs a successful Presidency, more than anything right now," Matthews said.

"As Americans, Chris Matthews, we are all rooting for the success of Barack Obama," Scarborough said. "America is at a perilous time. But you just talked about being a journalist, and your job as a journalist is not to question motives. Then, two seconds later, you said your job was to make this Presidency a success. That's curious."

Later, Scarborough said, "We all wish [Obama] well, we just don't think it's our job to make this work anymore than it was a journalist's job to make the Iraq War have a successful launch."

Watch, and enjoy Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel knocking Newsweek's Barack Obama cover, which features a photo that Stengel called "about two years old," below:

Comments

[realpolitic]

Matthews is a class act, very bright. Occasionally, he goes off kelter.

[realpolitic]

Joe seemed personally offended by the Obama victory. He still pines for another Reagan revolution. Scarborough is really insufferable and unwatchable.

[manofwar]

Joe took Obama being elected VERY PERSONAL! WHY?????????????

[hannibal fell]

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that infringe freedom of the press, among many other important things. This freedom is to guarantee an eye of the people placed on those in power. In today's world, Fox, MSNBC, and nearly all media outlets have a slant or money-making agenda that usurps this responsibility. Matthew's gaffe here isn't even shocking, not anymore.

We lose when the press doesn't do its job i.e. becomes the mouthpiece for an interest group, be it right or left.

[brklynivn]

That's really hypocritical of Joe, for 6 years he was nothing a purely partisan commentator and was major cheerleader for Bush & co., and was calling people's patriotism in question when Rumsfeld's motives were questioned. Obama deserves at least a honeymoon of six months -- for god sake's he's not even in power yet.

[gisellestwocents]

Joe regrets being a cheerleader. I hope that he'll just be a journalist and not merely a critic.

Chris Matthews is one of the good guys.

[realpolitic]

Joe wuld publicly flog anyone who even questioned the job Bush was doing. He was one of the early Bush administrations most vocal supporters and defenders in the press. Conservatives really are aware of their cynical hypocrisy.

Joe lambasted anyone who spoke out against the Iraq war and even yelled at a guy who questioned Bush's actions during Hurricane Katrina. Scarborough is arrogance personified!
.

[Subtle]

What's curious Joe is to hear you say "It's a journalist's job is to ask the tough questions". I didn't hear many (any) tough questions from you in the run up to Iraq, you aren't alone in that. However, now that Obama is going to be president, you not only find your professional and ethical compass, you lecture other journalists on the subject. I find that curious.

I cought a bit of your show the other day and listened to you giving opinion. That's really all you do. You are a conservative and you give conservative opinion. You are a product of the Crossfire model that has all but ruined television news in the United States by making yellow journalism, rather than objective fact, the norm. I fail to see were you get off lecturing anyone.

[manofwar]

What Joe was saying earlier if you watched the whole show. Joe was ragging Rahm Emanuel about speaking to reporters about his decision. He felt Emanuel should have know they have been planning this for weeks.

Joe claims he knew politics best and you know "This guy is making this stuff up about family, he isn't waiting on his family to make a decision".

Every panel member tried to tell Joe that he could not possibly know why Emanuel had not made up his mind and why. Yet Joe Plowed on. Telling kis stories about being in Washington and he was the one that knows how Washington works.

Chris statement was to calm Joe's insistence that Emanuel could not be making a personal decision on family. Joe did not want to hear that.

Chris said you cannot state or question another persons motive. They discussed and discussed. Until Chris, simply stated, "I am going to do all I can to make this work!"

Joe was tearing into Emanuel with Republican zeal, claiming to know all and referencing his knowledge of politics. Joe started out with talking points and beat them into the ground.

Other panelists were telling Joe this is just the second day give the Emanuel and Obama a break.

[SisterSoul-08]

Let me get this straight, Bush was in office for 8 years led us into a lieing preemptive war, left the country disolute, broke, bankrupt..­and the press did not hold his foot to the fire. Excluding some member of MSNBC, (we all know who they are). Obama is pres elect for 2 days.. and he has to be questioned about his picks for HIS staff??

These type of people will put Obama under a microscope and watch and question his every move and will look for and hope for any mistake that he may make.

Hey Joe, what color drawers is Obama going to be wearing tomorrow??

[hilary916]

This is how they're going to be throughout Obama's presidency. That's okay though cause Obama knows how the game is played and he will always come out on top.

[TrueThis]

Mika is so........­..dumb. I can't understand her point of views on the issues just a lot of hot air. An analyst told her two weeks ago that she was so negative which I was shock that he was so blunt because it caught her off guard too

[kroses98]

Negative and masochistic to Joe's sadism of her!!!

[liseworks]

MCNBC : Does anyone over there ever read Hufffpo ??
If you did you'd see that 95% of posters consistently complain about the blight we have to endure just having Joe & Mika show up on your network.

Chris was merely trying to point out that, in the rosy immediate aftermath of this historic win by Obama, it didn't seem appropriate to jump on the "possibility" that Emmanuel might not accept his new post.

Joe represents the worst traits of America & quite frankly, of a man : Egocentric, immature, disrespectful, chaotic & blatantly ab usive of Mika.
That doesn't let Mika off the hook : She's vapid, vacant, unprofessional, insecure, incurious & unintelligent.
It's awkward & embarrassing watching the dys function of these two & calling it News.

Joe is always after the "meat" of the worst case scenario -
I quite loathe having him anywhere near the News.
Morning Joe, the program, is the worst. Other than that, I love MSNBC.

[PitBull6]

You've just pointed out the impact of Huffpo. No, nobody at MSNBC, FNC, CNN or anybody else really cares what bloggers and their posters think.

[weaselbasher]

This site gets millions of hits so someone cares what bloggers think. I'd go so far as to even say Huffpo helped Obama win. When some hate monger at work would come in spewing something he'd heard from Limpbaugh or Hannity I would come to Huffpo and find the real info. Bloggers and posters here put up links where i can find the truth. Then I'd go to work armed with the facts and shut the karl rove wannabes down. I at least got people to look at the facts (including my friends and family) before making a decision in the voting booth. But you right wingers keep ignoring the internet. The age of Rovian politics is over. In 2 minutes I can find out the facts and pass it on word of mouth (like the Obama is a muslim smear.)

[pearl89]

While I am a staunch Obama supporter, I don't believe it's a journalist job to make "it work successfully". It's a journalist job to just report. There are too many political commentators. None of which in my opinion are journalists. Edward R Morrow, Walter Cronkite..­.those were journalists. Journalist should report the FACTS and let us make up our minds as to what the facts mean. It is not their job to tell us how we should think or feel about an issue or a person.

[mixerman]

Chris is saying that we and the press should cut Obama some slack. He has a lot on his plate. He has a difficult transition with two wars going on. He doesn't need distractions right now.

Let's not confuse Joe Scarborough for a journalist. He's a commentator. So is Chris Matthews. And there is a big difference between reporting that Rahm Emmanuel has not accepted the offer and speculating as to motive. Even as a commentator, Joe was out of line, and his speculations as to motive all proved to be wrong. The pundits need to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, until he no longer deserves it.

Chris Matthews is right. At this moment, the commentators need to help Obama to be successful. Because we need our new President to be successful. The distractions and the ghoulish desire for mistakes needs to be shelved. It's not what this country needs right now.

Mixerman

[Ogiv]

Yes, but I think CM just expressed himself poorly here. I think he meant to say that as a journalist and as you quite aptly put it, a chronicler of just the facts, he does not feel that a discussion of why Emanuel had to mull over the acceptance of WH chief of staff was indeed a reporting of facts. Emanuel's pause is indeed a fact, but subsequent discussion as to why he might be pausing is not a "fact" as we have been describing it here.

[beaupritchard]

Like Mathews needs Scarborough to tell him what a journalist is. After buying the McCain line Scarborough shouldn't squander what little creditability he has lashing out at Mathews.

[SOLERSO68]

Hey chris mathews, if you want to help President Obama be succesfull, Stop inviting right wing Lobbyists like MICHELLE BERNARD on to HARDBALL to smile and wink and soft sell her right wing,cororate agenda.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

I will take her over that BIOGOT-Tom Delay

[IgIzBliss]

Where were they when Iraq was being ginned up? These are the same people who gave Palin a pass, when if they had done some real Cronkite Seymour Hirsch investigative journalism, then they would have reported that she was profoundly unqualified to run this country.

Forgive me if I don't buy Joe and Mika's sanctimoniousness. They are members of the chattering class only, cowed by the Bush administration's citing, over and over again, by several pivotal studies from Journalism schools in the academy that are heavily funded by Conservative think tanks, etc, into thinking that they are TOO liberal in their coverage. Republicans have invested $4 Billion (that's BILLION with a B) on institutions that push their message out into the public, while the Dems have spent only a few million).

And they are driving Joe's bloviating and Mika's attempt to be "fair." These are the people who sold the public the Patriot Act, wire tapping, and a host of other policy initiatives, instead of pushing the government to the point of aggravation until they get at all the shades of truth that exist. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT WHAT THOMAS PAINE HAD IN MIND WHEN HE WROTE COMMON SENSE. Book deals and lecture fees NEVER EXISTED WHEN THIS CONSTITUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE PROMOTED PRESS FREEDOM. Talk about lobbying and K street? No, let's talk about how the press is so intertwined with the political class and the wealthy elite that they are completely compromised.

[RomeoinFl]

I saw the whole thing this morning and it was Joe the entire morning just going on and on about how Obama was messing up already with a clumsy rollout, just because Rahm told reporters he was still considering the position. Joe was just trying to blame Obama for something and Chris later on clarified what he meant saying It was America's interest that the cabinet selection/rollout is successful considering the state of the country.

Joe was just being a petty partisan, harping about something so benign it was clear he just wanted to pull the rug from under Obama.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

Who agreed with him besides Lawrence and Mika....

Chuck Todd didn't
Andrea Mitchell didn't
Chris Matthews didn't
And the others who didn't join in on the conversation didn't either.

Everyone knew what he was trying to do and as always Mika knew how to fall in line.

Who seriously values this man opinion not anyone I know.

[TrueThis]

I thought it was shocking to hear Lawrence too.

[PitBull6]

So a measure of a host is exclusively who among his colleagues support him?

[alabaman]

Hard to believe Mika is the daughter of Zhbigniev (sp) Pres Carter's National Security Advisor. She certainly didn't inherit any of his intelligence.

[IgIzBliss]

She's plenty smart. She just wants to be loved, and that makes her vulnerable to manipulation, instead of calling it like she sees it.