Remember those giddy days when the Obama-centric media was falling all over itself to compare the then newly elected President to some of his more prolific predecessors like FDR, Lincoln and even, *GASP*, Ronald Reagan? Who knew that they were leaving off one fellow in particular with which they could compare the new history making President: Richard Nixon. Yes, Nixon. Mind you, not the foreign policy wizard Nixon who turned the tables on the Soviet Union by making a friend out of Communist China. Not the progressive Nixon who brought the Environmental Protection Agency into being. Not even the awkwardly comedic Nixon who went on “Laugh In” and in pure straight man fashion delivered the iconic line “Sock it to me?” No, the Nixon which Barack Obama apparently is emulating, and not nearly as subtly, is the insecure, paranoid, spiteful Nixon who felt a need to have a secret enemies list. So far it would appear, however, that in contrast to Nixon President Obama’s enemies list is not so secret nor apparently so long; occupying the top slot of this list: FOX News.
The Democratic Party’s distaste for FOX News is hardly anything new. Though it may seem a lifetime away, it was only March of 2007 when the Democratic Party cancelled a scheduled debate to be co-hosted by FOX News simply for the fact that, well ,it was being co-hosted by FOX News. The “fair and balanced” cable news channel is well known for its ratings dominating lineup of pundits who are the antithesis of modern Liberalism: right of center Bill O’Reilly, Conservative Sean Hannity and most recently Libertarian leaning Glenn Beck. In light of the suppression of a free press in Putin’s Russia and Chavez’s Venezuela, both ostensibly democracies, it is both intriguing and disturbing to think of an American Administration discriminating against and openly attacking a news outlet.
In a less than subtle move to push his healthcare agenda, on September 19th President Obama broke all precedents (and some would say decorum) by blitzing the Sunday news talk shows of CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and even Univision all to be capped off by being the sole guest the next evening on “Late Night With David Letterman”. Glaringly absent from this media tour was FOX News. In a most mature fashion White House spokesman John Earnest explained the snubbing by saying that “We figured Fox would rather show 'So You Think You Can Dance' than broadcast an honest discussion about health insurance reform.” (The childish comment is a reference to the FOX Channel not airing the President’s September 9th speech to Congress although FOX News did carry the broadcast live.) All of this was just the first overt opening salvo.
“It’s really not a news network at this point.” These are the words of White House Communications Director Anita Dunn to the apparently Obama approved CNN. Dunn went so far as to say “the way we view it (FOX) is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party.” Well that’s fine and dandy, ma’am, but even were that true isn’t Barack Obama supposed to be the post-partisan President? You know, a uniter and not a divider? Is this the kind of dialogue and outreach to be expected by the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize? Do you mean to tell me that the President of the United States of America is not big enough to stand up to FOX News and yet the American public is supposed to believe he can stand eye to eye with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir Putin in advancing our best interests? Give me a *expletive deleted* break!
In reference to September’s snubbing of FOX News Chris Wallace said that “they are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have dealt with in my thirty years in Washington.” Whereas I do not disagree with Mr. Wallace’s assessment I believe there is something of a much graver nature to be concerned with. In the world of politics where skin is supposed to be thicker than a rhino’s hide, in a land where dissent is a guaranteed right of our Constitution, what else might one expect from a so easily insulted and temper tantrum prone Presidency?
Five days after President Obama’s Sunday media blitz Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared on “Larry King Live” bolding declaring that “never in Venezuela we had so much freedom of speech as now.” Larry King brought to President Chavez’s attention the question of opposition media outlets that have been closed by the Venezuelan government or still yet might be. Chavez is well known to have actively silenced his critics through legislation and so in response to Larry’s questions President Chavez said “Listen. Listen, there is a law. You accept that there is a law, right? If I have a car, I drive my car in New York and I go against the — the rules, the traffic rules, I’m going to be detained. If I want to drive in a — in a — in a street in New York 120 miles, I will commit a crime. And there is a law in Venezuela, those who break the law, they lose their right to use the — these networks, because they break the law.” “There is a law.” There used to be a law here too.
John Adams, one of our most prolific and idealistic Founding Fathers signed into law the Sedition Act of 1798 which outlawed the publishing of “false, scandalous, and malicious writing.” From the generation of 1776 men were actually placed in prison for speaking against the President of the United States! Men who would later be freed by Thomas Jefferson; it was only because the law expired coinciding with the swearing in of the Jefferson administration that it was never challenged in the Supreme Court and yet since then many subsequent rulings have mentioned the Sedition Act as having been unconstitutional. So I ask you if a giant in American history such as John Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, could be so enraged at his critics that he signed this Act into law should we not be at least somewhat apprehensive of less established leaders with much thinner resumes and extremely thin skin?
The Obama administration’s war on FOX News is at best a childish knee jerk reaction by an administration which was swept into office with the active cooperation of nearly all of FOX News’ competitors. This young, untested and too often unprofessional administration seems to have made the most rudimentary but deadly of mistakes: they believe their own hype. It is inconceivable to them and their supporters that any genuine dissent could exist and so they have revived the “vast Right wing conspiracy” theory or worse still even labeled dissenters as racists. The irony of course is that Americans have an irresistible curiosity of all things taboo and by taking aim at FOX News the Obama administration, rather than silence a critic, has put the already #1 cable news outlet in the spotlight. So far rather than cut the knees off of FOX News President Barack Obama has proven to be, for them, the gift that keeps on giving.
You are soooo right in all you say here! Fox is gaining viewers and Obama is loosing fans, what jerks they are!
ReplyDeleteIt is really a serious matter because it relates to freedom of the press and we cannot let this issue pass. Thanks for fighting through your writings.