Watching Meet the Press yesterday gave me that sense of foreboding-that Woodward and Gregory were here to eat our brains-which is how Brooks got to be so vapid.
I know Gregory sees his role as much of the media does-of being down the middle impartial before or else. The trouble with this is that the history of this poise usually means the media has to favor Republicans to blunt the Rush Limbaugh Critique. Bottom line the MSM has often been obsesses with not seeming liberal more than anything.
Ezra Klein admitted after the ghastly performance of Paul Ryan at the RNC convention that he like most of the media feels he should be praising and criticizing both parties roughly equally. That just seems fair. Yet he admitted that judging by the current state of the Republican party, you can either sound fair or be fair.
Gregory recently has often been wrong in both claims he makes and even how he frames the questions. He's treated the Republican talking points on Benghazi way too credibly. Lately, with the fiscal cliff debates, he seems to want to endlessly belabor the question. Every Democrat who comes on the show is endlessly asked the same question over and over again:
Really though?!1 Can the President really be willing to go over the cliff? The implication seems to be that Obama shouldn't even consider it.
Yesterday Gregory was joined by a kindred spirit-Bob Woodward. I mean they are both Very Serious People (VSP). Woodward dismissed the poll that shows by a 53-27 margin, Americans will blame the GOP if we go over the cliff, arguing that will last a month.
He then went on to make a claim he's made repeatedly, ad nauseum: that it's the President's economy and that it's up to him to "lead." This is a rather flaccid argument that he nevertheless never tires of. He made it in his recent book about the debt ceiling fiasco. Ultimately, he give Obama the blame as "it's up to the President to lead, to work his will."
So what he's done is come up with a mystical belief in the President's Will-something right out of the German Idealist Philosopher Schelling-to wrap Obama's knuckles and declare when things don't work out, it's all his fault.
If you believe Woodward, then the GOP even after getting trounced on November 6 as if we go over the cliff, the President will get the blame-forget about the polls that say otherwise. If he's right then the GOP strategy of scorched earth obstruction is fool proof. After all, they obstruct, he takes the blame.
Yet this didn't work on November 6-even though Woodward had been insisting the President failed to work his Will. It must stick in his craw that the voters didn't agree with him. Now, he's saying they will this time.
Let's try to "deconstruct" or unpack this "work his Will" canard. What's Woodward really saying the President should do as the GOP refused to compromise? Is he saying Obama should work his Will by folding? That seems to be the only plausible, read world meaning.
Presidents work their Will by capitulating to the minority opposition? This is why I'm willing to do anything. I will pay higher taxes if it means we finally put an end to GOP hostage taking. It's really that simple: it has to stop. If it means going over the fiscal cliff or not raising the debt ceiling-so be it. No amount of scare stories about what that would mean can be worse than the current status quo which is where the minority throws nails in the machine if they don't get their way.
As you may know, you will never find a more determined Obama supporter than the writer of this blog. However, while I have seen most of the Obama bashing as wrongheaded, I have to say that the President needs not to listen to David Gregory and Bob Woodward. If he does, then what was the election for? If the GOP still holds all the cards now then what's the point?
So I trust the President won't listen. However, what the GOP is really asking for is for us to make sure we have Democrat supermajorities in the future. Republicans seem determined to show us that they can't be trusted with any power in the government.
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