Former President Barack Obama blasted President Donald Trump for cutting the access of some major media outlets from the White House pool, but he apparently forgets that he attempted to do the same thing to Fox News early on in his presidency.

“Imagine if I had done any of this. Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps,” Obama lamented during a speech Thursday at Hamilton College in New York.

“You’re laughing, but this is what’s happening,” he went on.

But Obama's memory seems to be a little fuzzy in regards to his actions with the press when he was president.

Total hypocrisy

In 2009, his administration tried to block Fox News pool reporters from interviewing his appointed "executive pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg.

He even questioned Fox News's legitimacy as a news organization despite its status as the highest-rated cable news outlet even back then.

“We see Fox right now as the source and the outlet for Republican Party talking points,” former White House Communications director Anita Dunn said at the time.

“And it’s fine if that’s, you know, how they want to build their business model,” Dunn said. “And we understand that. And it’s working for them and we understand that, as well. But we don’t think we need to treat them as though they are a news organization the way other news organizations here are treated.”

At the time, the other top news outlets--CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC--protested Obama's move and he eventually relented to give Fox News equal access.

And to be fair, Obama did go on to give many interviews to Fox News while he was president.

Speaking of fairness

But speaking of fairness, Obama's remarks were not really fair to what Trump is doing with the press pool.

He's not taking away all access to any of the major outlets (other than the Associated Press after they continued to call the renamed Gulf of America the Gulf of Mexico).

Instead, he is giving rotating access to all outlets, including smaller ones that are more favorable to him and his policies.

This isn't some sort of attack on free speech, only a redefinition of what free speech is. Trump's way is actually fairer and more free than the way it was done before, given the demonstrated bias the "major" outlets have shown toward conservatives.

Of course, Democrats have never liked actual fairness or a level playing field. That's why Obama is complaining, not because Trump took away anyone's free speech.