Thompson Crows About Obama "Endorsement," Media Skeptical

Yesterday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that President Obama would "support the Democratic nominee" in the NYC mayoral race—which would be City Comptroller Bill Thompson. But Gibbs never mentioned Thompson by name and actually praised Mayor Bloomberg by name, adding that Obama "obviously has a tremendous amount of respect for what he's done as well." Which is why the media's take on Obama's "endorsement" ranges from "most lukewarm and indirect" (the Times) and "as muted as they come" (Daily News) to "odd little bit of political theater" (Post) and "lukewarm" (Reuters) again.

Thompson's campaign held a last-minute press conference for the candidate to discuss the endorsement. The Times notes, "Most campaigns notify the news media well in advance and stage elaborate ceremonies, with well-rehearsed speeches in which the candidate and the endorser stand hip to hip.But in this case, no one from the White House had even contacted Mr. Thompson beforehand, catching him off guard." And PolitickerNY's Azi Paybarah, who has video of the Thompson press conference, points out the news media was a little more skeptical about the endorsement:

“In the statement from the White House,” said one television reporter, “he actually showed confidence in Mayor Bloomberg, didn’t say anything about you other than you’re a Democrat and so is he.”

“Will he appear with you?” asked another reporter.

“But were you surprised that the press secretary didn’t mention your name?”

“Do you expect that we’re going to hear the words ‘I endorse Bill Thompson’ coming out of Barack Obama’s mouth,” asked a newspaper reporter.

“I think,” said Thompson, “you will definitely hear those words come out of the president’s mouth.”