The wrong way to take down President Obama...and the right way
The wrong way to take down President Obama...and the right way
Sure, I rolled my eyes a little last night when I saw the Drudge Report hyping Newsweek's cover story, headlined: "Hit The Road, Barack," by the best-selling author and historian Niall Ferguson. It wasn't so much that Tina Brown's latest circulation boosting stunt was to bash our 44th president; there is much to criticize -- a too-tepid stimulus and jobs plan, a botched foreclosure-crisis fix, breaking his promise to close Guantanamo, extra-legal killings of American citizens, prosecuting whistle-blowers, a drone strategy that's creating more new enemies than it kills, and that's just a short burst of stream of consciousness. However, I suspected Ferguson's screed would not mention any of these -- and I was correct.
But when I did check it out, I was frankly a little shocked at just how juvenile the article was. It read like a gussied-up compendium of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity lowlights; Ferguson had almost nothing good to say about a guy called Mitt Romney but had an embarrassing man-crush on Paul Ryan. What's worst, just in my quick skimming it seemed like Ferguson wasn't just cherry-picking statistics but actively manipulating them. For job losses -- the most critical issue to most voters -- he used a number that included the disastrous last year of the Bush administration. That seemed blatantly unfair in judging Obama's policies.
Today, others have read the piece more closely, and the number of errors and manipulations are worse than imagined. The New York Times' Paul Krugman called the Newsweek cover story "unethical," and the Atlantic weighed in with a more thorough fact check, which Ferguson flunked with flying colors. Ferguson actually got in deeper when he tried to explain the process by which he falsely said President Obama's health-care plan would raise the deficit. What he did was the equivalent of comparing one company's net profit to another company's gross revenue -- a mistake that a freshman taking Econ 1010 wouldn't make.
Did I mention that Niall Ferguson is a professor at Harvard?
The irony is that this week there was a devastating takedown of Obama -- in the New York Times, believe it or not. The piece was written by Ta-Nehisi Coates -- the first half is about how Republicans who claimed that Obama was a wimp in 2008 are now calling him a bully. Interesting, but standard liberal op-ed fodder. But then the piece takes an unexpected sharp left turn to look at what Obama's unwimpiness actually means:
Arugula partisan that I am, I must admit to some glee here. Watching Obama campaign is like watching an irradiated Peter Parker spar with Flash Thompson. It is deceptively easy, for instance, to see Harry Reid’s smearing of Romney not as the unsubstantiated, unevidenced ambush that it is, but as revenge.
That way lies the abyss. I am not simply thinking of Senator Reid’s shadow war, but of the president’s. Obama’s tough guy bona fides were largely built on the expansive bombing campaign he launched against Al Qaeda, a campaign that regards due process and the avoidance of civilian casualties as indulgences.
Let us grant that the execution of Anwar al-Awlaki, said to be the mastermind behind the foiled underwear bomb plot, should not much trouble us. But surely the killing of his 16-year-old American-born son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, and the secrecy around both acts, should.
I like to think that the junior Awlaki’s (reportedly accidental) death weighs heavy on the president’s conscience. In fact that weight does nothing to change the net result — from this point forward the presidency means the right to unilaterally declare American citizens to be American enemies, and then kill them.
Wow. It almost makes you want to shout: "Hit the Road, Barack!"
Until you remember whom he's running against.
This comment has been deleted.— RufusG- That is Cherry Picking or should we it legitimate cherry picking. — DavidAG
- Bunch admits he gave the Newsweek article only a "quick skimming," and then relies on linking to or cutting-and-pasting other articles. Something is horribly wrong with America if he gets paid more than the daycare workers who look after my daughter.— J H
- How much do they pay Right wing sock puppets to post here? Just asking.— BillHicksLives!
- case in point: can't attack the substance of the opponent, and can't defend your own guy, so resort to stupid name calling lol. — texas.troubadour
- It is a typical Right winger tactic, you guys do not like either.
Using Romney standards when talking about his years as governor, let eliminate the first six months, Barrack Obama has oversaw over 4,000,000 created and has cut spending every year in office. That is some pretty good work if you ask me!— DavidAG - The minute Obama starts talking about his record, he's finished. That's why he's talking about everything else but his "acomplishments". That's the evidence against Obama. Just because you can poke holes in an article doesn't mean Obama's been a great president. I agree with J H.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- I will run Obama record against everything Paul Ryan has accomplished in his twelve years in the house. Obama character compared to Romney, Obama crushes the scum bag pensions thief Romney. — DavidAG
- Coates is one of the few people worth reading.
Oh, and you too Will. Of course!— Talking point sleuth - Bill Hicks... That word does not mean what you think it means: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sockpuppet— Frank S.
- When you can't stand on your record, sling mud....or do interviews with Entertainment Today and disclose your favorite song to listen to....Substance or the same?....I'm not making the same mistake twice.— bearsfriend
- "Ferguson had almost nothing good to say about a guy called Mitt Romney but had an embarrassing man-crush on Paul Ryan." ..... Bruce Springsteen on Line 1 Bunch.— teardownthisfishwrap
- "I was frankly a little shocked at just how juvenile the article was." Pot, this is kettle.— Commentdant_Klink
- Krugman calling someone 'unethical'. Talk about a guy with zero self-awareness. lol— b,ill atkins
- ==]] Obama crushes the scum bag pensions thief Romney. [[==David - did you know that Ryan's family made their money by working on building highways funded by tax dollars? (HTML deleted)— Talking point sleuth
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