The short-attention-span press corps was bored by the policy details during the President’s “snoozer” press conference and, not surprisingly, devoted much of its coverage to amateur theater criticism instead. His hair looked more gray! He was more passionate about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.! (Etc.)

Much of the coverage of health care reminds me of David Broder’s description of how he “almost nodded off” during Al Gore’s speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000 and Ted Koppel’s admission that the details of the Gore-Bush debate over taxes “turns [his] brains to mush.” This is why we need reporters and pundits with policy expertise, not aspirations to be the next Maureen Dowd (or Broder or Koppel).