A Second Draft of History, Anyone?
If journalism is history's first draft, there are probably a lot of people who would like to take not a pen but an eraser to the first draft of last week.
Trouble is, some of it will be hard to forget.
Like the arrogance of BP boss Tony Hayward's non-answers to that Congressional committee. Truly memorable, but he soon found calmer, cleaner waters! He spent yesterday at that yacht race off the coast of England.
Congressman Joe Barton probably hopes we'll forget that episode where he apologized to BP because he thought it had been rudely treated by the government - then had to apologize for the apology because his party leaders threatened to strip him of his committee assignments.
But, I'll bet a lot of people remember anyway.
And the White House may want to remember this, or at least think about it, because we discovered last week that the bully pulpit of the presidency is no longer quite so bully.
The country used to sit up and take notice when the president spoke from the Oval Office, but when the president spoke last week the speech fell flat.
I'm not so sure it was the speech as much as it was the modern presidency. Presidents go on TV so often any more, it has become part of our routine.
Put turkey and dressing on the menu every day and there is no way Christmas dinner can still seem special. You may even decide you don't like turkey.
Maybe it's the same with the presidency. If presidents spent less time on TV, maybe we would all pay more attention when they did.
