The new host of NBC's Meet the Press hasn't been particularly impressed with President Obama during his lackluster second term.
The question is, will Chuck Todd's skepticism for the White House, its decisions, and its partisan politics continue?
If there has been any voice on left-wing MSNBC counted upon to offer criticism of the president since his re-election, it's been Todd, who it should be noted has a background in Democratic Party politics and whose wife works in consulting for progressives and Democrats.
Todd, host of The Daily Rundown since 2010, harshly analyzed polling of Obama in June, declaring the public had said "your presidency is over." Of the White House's supposed "year of action," he remarked, "Let's be realistic. There hasn't been much." He's referred to the executive branch as "flat-footed," "very controlling" and "stuck," and he called the Obamacare rollout flop "unbelievable" and wondered how they "blew it this badly."
He particularly shredded Obama for being hypocritical about "selling access" to the White House in 2013, when news broke that big donors to the shadowy nonprofit Organizing for Action would get quarterly meetings with the the president.
Yet the punditry class welcomed the news that Todd would replace David Gregory, who had to follow the late Tim Russert in 2008 and failed to maintain the show's ratings dominance. While Washingtonians revered Russert for aggressively questioning lawmakers on their positions and setting a tone for the week ahead in politics, they often panned Gregory's more passive approach and the show suffered accordingly.
Todd will attempt to restore the program to its former glory. It's anyone's guess whether NBC executives will be pleased with that involving its new moderator going after Obama.