December 14, 2008, Meta-truth
Our friends at Media Matters for America nail it with their take on the sudden media feeding frenzy of baseless attempts to tie Pres.-elect Obama to some wrongdoing in the current Gov. Blagojevich scandal. In short, after eight years of pretty much ignoring official malfeasance and private corruption at a level so obscene that it has brought our nation's financial and moral standing to their breaking points, the (as always subservient to their corporate masters) media has reverted to its beloved story-line of "the Democrats must have done something wrong... because, well they must have".
We'll overlook the seemingly obvious of what actually happened here, to wit, new White House Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emmanuel was in direct contact with Gov. Blagojevich, and presented him with a list of the Pres.-elect's preferred choices for the newly vacant Senate seat. Rather than say the usual and expected, "thank you, I will give them my strongest consideration," its clear that Blago said something like "hey, what's in it for me?" which drew the response, "the President-elect's sincere appreciation"... as if to trigger the thought in Rahmbo's mind: "I knew this guy was a turkey, but that this turkey is willing to do this on a phone he knows is bugged" meant that Blago was simply too reckless to continue, politically. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The problem with this analysis... is that it doesn't demonstrate that Obama did anything wrong, because of course, he didn't. Unlike Blago, Rahmbo was plenty smart enough not to say on a bugged phone: "Look Moron, the President-elect isn't asking you to take someone from this list, he's telling you." Absent some specific threat, this kind of political hardball is certainly a perfectly legitimate way in which the game is played... as Blago himself told us in his epithet laden transcripts (albeit, in an illegitimate version of the same game). Team Obama is simply being competently Macchiavellian... as this is contrary to the running story that Corporate America wants: Democrats are the party of small-time, petty corruption, while Republicans are the party that protects us, be it from terrorists, Russkies, taxes or the evils of trial lawyers and regulations... any deviation, and the petty-bureaucrats that now form our nation's main corps of establishment journalists will watch their heads explode, kind of like this guy.
So... buckle your seat belts, it will be a bumpy ride. As the Obama Administration brings home the bacon on everything from providing universal health care to shoring up our economy, look for the media to focus not on these successes,but instead on trying to tie any petty crap imaginable as a scandal of Earth-shaking proportions, because... well, see the story line above. But we know what's happening. And we're going to make sure everyone else does.
Comments
Petty? Not sure. Probably a mix. Look for some renewed stories about Susan Rice, UN Ambassador nominee, tanking on a chance to get Osama from Sudan. Supposedly she urged Sandy Berger not to cooperate with Sudan on locating Osama. Perhaps this discussion was within the papers Mr. Berger borrowed from the National Archives.
Posted by Just Wondering at December 14, 2008 3:24 PM
Whatever they throw at Obama, I'm pretty sure it won't be shoes. But if they do, I don't know if he will be as adept as avoiding them as his predecessor.
Posted by Sunday Evening Pundit at December 14, 2008 6:18 PM
Can't wait to smell that bacon cooking.
Posted by Michael L at December 15, 2008 10:12 AM