Barnicle: White House press corps making too big a deal of golf game

>>> did you see the pictures of president obama playing golf with tiger woods this weekend? neither did we.

>> the media covering the president was shut out. the press corps complained.

>> folks, there are a lot of holes in the story, specifically 18 of them. but i believe america deserves to know, who drove the cart? who rode shotgun? did the president hit from the ladies' tee? did he replace his divots? or did he send susan rice to cover them up? but folks, oh, yeah, yeah, you're just as upset as i am, i can tell.

>> good morning, it's wednesday, february the 20th. with us on set here in new york city , msnbc contributor mike barnic barnicle , economic analyst steve rattner, former policy adviser to the bush administration , dan senor , "fortune's" assistant managing editor, leigh gallagher and editorial writer for "the washington post ," msnbc contributor jonathan capehart. morning, everybody.

>> morning.

>> good morning.

>> morning.

>> joe and mika have the morning off. have we heard enough yet about the fight between the press and the white house over tiger woods ?

>> oh, stop it. just please, stop it.

>> mike, as a grizzled veteran journalist, what's your view?

>> just stop it. it makes us out to be spoiled, pampered, you know, people. just stop it. you know? he played golf for two days. they press complaining about access to the president, and they have this squabble. it happens every couple years. nobody pays attention to it except the press. it's time to move on.

>> jonathan capehart, isn't this, though, about a bigger question? it's not just about seeing tiger woods for the press, it's about not getting as much access to the president taz would like over the course of four years?

>> yeah. i mean, the white house press corps is especially sensitive. they sit in those little rooms there in the west wing , hoping to get a sight of the president, hoping to get a word with the president. something. and when they travel with him and when they don't get that access, they are especially sensitive. but you know, i have to agree with mike on this. they're with him 24/7. they knew exactly where he was. so they didn't get to see him. it's not like, you know, he was hiding or anything. he just wasn't in sight. i'm on team barnicle with this one.

>> wow. stepping out.

>> to me, an outrage was, for instance, steve kroft 's "60 minutes" interview where he had the president and secretary clinton. it was the biggest softball interview on the planet. they didn't ask any questions about benghazi. it was in the news that week. a whole range of issues. it was all sweetness and light. the president on the one hand when they do get this access, it's like softball city. and when they don't get the access, like on the golf course , it's where we're being shut out. it's the most opaque administration in history. so it's a little bit of much to do about nothing, i think.

>> it's harder to be a journalist these days. it really is. in the era of social media with not just the white house and the president but corporations. everyone is going direct to the readership themselves. so i think that's just adding to the frustration here.

>> jay carney answered some of these questions yesterday at the podium in the briefing room, too. he laid out all the interviews they've given and the access the white house feels it has given.

>> there's no question that if you go back to when mr. barnicle and i were journalists many decades ago, it was a completely different arrangement. partly because the press corps was so much smaller that you could get closer to the president. you could get closer to what was going on. today they just have to keep their distance.

>> and we are a nation of 330 newspaper columnists, so to speak. everybody has access. everybody has a blog.

>> tweet.

>> yeah. terrific tweet yesterday, willie.

>> thanks, buddy. an old ink-stained journalist sitting next to him. we'll bring him into the new century soon enough.

>> i like the facebook.