POTUS Obama goes confrontational at the same time he chooses to demonstrate that he is golfing with POTUS Clinton. Connection? Obama is quoted purposefully from the CBC dinner to the closed fundraisers in California in speaking of "push-back" against FNC and the Wall Street Journal. Why does a president become a predictable media critic? Because POTUS needs an opponent, a villain, an organizing Martian invader to use as a debating opponent as he raises money. POTUS uses Rick Perry as an enemy: "a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change." POTUS asserts that not only are his opponents wrong but also that he is compelled to speak bluntly because, "This is a choice about the fundamental direction of our country: 2008 was an important direction; 2012 is a more important election." POTUS insists that his re-election is a crisis time: "We're going to have a stark choice in this election," he said. "This is a choice about who we are and what we stand for, and whoever wins this next election is going to set the template for this country for a long time to come." Why is POTUS committing himself to such empty talk now?  Why is POTUS using such a flimsy metaphor as "template" about his re-election?  Perhaps because there is money trouble for the campaign. Small Donors Are Slow to Return to the Obama Fold" by NICHOLAS CONFESSORE: "The frustration and disillusionment that have dragged down President Obama's approval ratings have crept into the ranks of his vaunted, small-donor army." 

Perhaps also because POTUS is told that his Third Way strategy failed with the public. POTUS Clinton faced a completely Republican Congress from 1995 to 2001. Clinton presented himself as the Third Way between the Democrats and Republicans. It worked for Clinton re-election; then it failed for the Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment ordeal.  POTUS Obama now parading to the senior swells in California and enduring the trivial momentum of celebrity-raising money from the puppy swells in order to remain a celebrity: From SF Chronicle Carla Marinucci twitter page:  "Lady Gaga wears basic black sleeveless gown, high heels,updo -- and pays her own way at $38,500 pp Obama fundraiser COO @SherlySandberg home. (left)."  It is also possible that POTUS praised the obvious GOP officials just because it is a coherent electioneering strategy as opposed to his domestic and foreign policy these last two years.  Measure that baiting media critics is a mug's game and a sign of presidential drift.