MSNBC Host Ranted at President Barack Obama Over His Leadership Style, New Book Claims

MSNBC's Ed Schultz ranted at the president of the United States, Barack Obama, about his leadership style and urged him "stand up and fight," according to a new book.

"The Message," authored by MSNBC's Richard Wolffe, also claims that Obama was constantly complaining about the New York Times' critical editorials focused on his administration.

On his radio show Monday, Schultz was so thrilled at the excerpts, he read them out loud for his audience: "When Obama conducted an outreach effort to the Left, he had to put up with a tirade from Ed Schultz and had to hunt for a phone number to New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal."

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 18: U.S. President Barack Obama addresses members of the Business Roundtable September 18, 2013 at the Business Roundtable Headquarters in Washington, DC. Obama spoke on various topics including the national debt ceiling and immigration reform, and then answered questions from the members after his address. Credit: Getty Images

Schultz claimed he doesn't remember going on a "tirade," but he expressed joy that "the president was paying attention to my commentary."

"[It] was something during the campaign that he didn't like so he picked up the phone and called the New York Times and tried to get after it, get after it with Andrew Rosenthal, so, I don't know anything about this. I don't know, maybe they had thin skins over there at the White House," Schultz added.

MSNBC's Ed Schultz

When Obama tried to get a hold of Rosenthal, who edited the op-ed, no one could find his number, the book claims. Per the Washington Post:

“[Communications staffer Anita Decker], just call the main line,” said the president.

“Anita, you can’t do that,” Pfeiffer interjected. “If you call the main line, they are going to announce on the PA system that the president is on the phone for Andy Rosenthal. We can’t do that.”

So much for the position of strength. In time, they found the number and the president spoke at length to Rosenthal.

(H/T: Newsbusters, HuffPost)

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