Arianna Huffington’s views on women and power (video)

Photo courtesy of Gawker.com

Listening to Arianna Huffington’s views on women and power in her interview with Pat Mitchell below, one is reminded of the Huffington Post’s treatment of Hillary Clinton in 2008 as it zealously amplified the charges against her of being “ambitious,” “driven,” “ruthless,” etc. 

It would seem that Arianna’s consciousness has been raised since then?

Arianna Huffington on Obama’s deficit speech: “Call it ‘attack of the impassioned, yet empty rhetoric”

In my previous post this morning, I mentioned the disillusionment of Obama believers, and Arianna Huffington was near the top of the list in 08 – she and her troops at the Huffington Post used sharp knives to cut anyone to pieces who dared criticize the One. 

And Hillary Clinton supporters well remember the despicable lows reached by the Huffington Post in its all out efforts to sabotage the Clinton campaign.

I suppose it stands to reason that Obama’s most zealous fans from 08 would now be among those most severely disillusioned. Take a look at what Arianna posted this Tuesday, April 19:

The first poll results since the president's big speech on the economy last week are in -- and they're not very good. According to a new Washington Post/ABC News survey, the president's approval rating continues to fall, driven by fears about the economy. "Forty-four percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years," wrote Dan Balz and Jon Cohen in the Washington Post. "57 percent disapprove of the job the president is doing dealing with the economy, tying his highest negative rating when it comes to the issue."

Back in the heady days of the 2008 campaign, a powerful, impassioned speech like the one Obama delivered would have had a definite positive impact on the numbers. But the soaring rhetoric now comes with a bitter aftertaste.

Perhaps it's because we feel like we've seen this movie before. Call it "Attack of the Impassioned Yet Empty Rhetoric." But this version was even more unsettling than the earlier versions, in which the president delivered great speeches then failed to back up his words with the promised action. In this sequel, his words turned to broken 

 promises as soon as they passed his lips.

 Read more:

Arianna Huffington favorably cites a Clinton??!

Arianna Huffington’s post titled “Arizona Shootings: Our Moment of Silence Needs to Be Followed by More Than Just Lowered Voices” would be more credible if one didn’t recall the viciousness of her blog’s attacks on Hillary Clinton during and after the 08 primary, not to mention the denigration of Bill Clinton and his administration.

The Huffington Post egregiously amplified every insane charge from the Left targeting Hillary, including repeated slanderous accusations of racism. Huffpo, the vanguard of the Left, also eagerly published posts suggesting that the first viable woman presidential candidate in American history hoped for the assassination of Barack Obama, her leading opponent in the Democratic primary.

Needless to say, Arianna and company went on the attack again when Hillary was appointed secretary of state.

One can only hope that Arianna’s words in today’s post are sincere:

This is not a call for passionate debate to come to a halt. But there is a huge difference between passionately disagreeing with your opponents and crudely demonizing them, between considering them as adversaries to be engaged and treating them as enemies to be targeted.

In a remarkable turnaround from 08, Arianna encourages President Obama to follow in the footsteps of former President Clinton:

In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, President Clinton made a number of impassioned calls for taking a stand against reckless speech and behavior. "When there is talk of hatred," he said at a prayer service four days after the attack, "let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it. In the face of death, let us honor life. As St. Paul admonished us, Let us 'not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.'"

I'd love to see President Obama use this moment to call on the country to find ways to "overcome evil with good." Americans, he said in a 2006 speech, "want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives." That purpose should be found in the shared national objective of rebuilding our communities and our connection to each other through everyday acts of compassion, generosity, and service.

I believe it’s possible for human beings to wake up and acknowledge their own culpability in the perpetuation of evil in society. Here’s hoping for the redemption of Arianna and the Huffington Post.

Celebrating Big Wins This Week in Politics and a Moment of Calm

In the news this week Americans celebrated Bill Clinton’s successful mission to North Korea that resulted in the safe return of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Well, most Americans celebrated the rescue of the two young women. The Huffington Post used the occasion to publish a misleading headline that stirred up the wrath of thousands of their readers in defense of Bill and Hillary, and Hillary got a good laugh out of John Bolton’s reaction (watch video).

As is my daily habit, even on Sunday, I’ve scanned the usual online news sources and noticed that after the onslaught of criticism this week for Huffpo’s tabloid-style journalism, Arianna briefly referred to Bill as a “superstar envoy” in her Sunday Roundup.

We’ve also celebrated the swearing in of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor this week. Wyatt Andrews at CBS News reports that Sotomayor, despite her reputation as a workaholic judge, has a fun side:

Melissa Murray clerked for two Federal judges, including Sotomayor - and when both judges came to Melissa's wedding, Sotomayor challenged the other judge to a dance off.

"She's incredibly funny," said Murray. "I think people enjoyed seeing that, seeing two federal judges dual it out on the dance floor."

Given the adversarial nature of politics, we all need a break from time to time, and I’ll soon be heading out to church this morning. I leave you with an invitation to enjoy a beautiful 10-minute meditation by Tara Brach at Beliefnet.com titled A Moment of Calm.

Arianna: "Just take the steering wheel out of Geithner's hands"

Well, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d actually appreciate something written by Arianna Huffington, but her post excerpted below on Timothy Geithner is a must read – bet she wishes she’d backed Hillary in the primary…

Now if only President Obama would get the word about his tax-challenged man in the Treasury Dept.:

Arianna Huffington: Geithner: Unable to Escape His Wall Street Weltanschauung

Tim Geithner's actions throughout his career, including his time as Treasury Secretary, are proof that the toxic thinking that got us into this mess is part of his DNA. That's why every proposal he comes up with is déjà vu all over again -- a remixed variation on the same tried-and-failed let-the-bankers-work-it-out approach championed by his predecessor, Hank Paulson. Geithner's Masters of the Universe, the people he still thinks are the ones we should turn to to save the day, are the same people who brought us here. And that is why Geithner either needs to go or keep his job but have his authority stripped and transferred to someone who does not share his Wall Street Weltenschauung. Use any window dressing you want, just take the steering wheel out of Geithner's hands.

Vice President-Elect Biden’s Endorsement of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State

Photo credits: Huffington Post file photo

Barack Obama reportedly selected Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate for his expertise in foreign affairs; Biden’s most recent senate post was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In the run up to the expected announcement of Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration, Helene Cooper reports at the NY Times that Biden has privately told people he recognizes he will not be the point man on foreign policy.

According to Cooper, ‘“Mr. Obama’s aides say Mr. Biden has backed the decision to appoint Mrs. Clinton secretary of state. ‘If he had made an argument against it, it would have carried a lot of weight,’ a senior aide to the transition said. ‘He was totally in support of it.’”

After all their raucus cheering in support of Joe Biden as VP, you’d think his endorsement of Clinton for the position at state would hold some significance for Arianna Huffington and other leaders of Obama’s online shock troops. But so far no signs of rationality have appeared in the latest eruption of pathological Hillary-hatred from the extreme left wing of the blogosphere.

The Media’s Good Old Boys + Arianna and Maureen: Let the Hillary-Bashing Continue

"Media Guru" Arianna Huffington

Watching a video of Arianna Huffington, along with George Will, David Brooks, and Robert Kuttner, on ABC’s This Week triggered an “aha” moment for me. Arianna was at the Round Table moderated by George Stephanopoulus, and she was obviously enjoying her status as the only woman present. You could almost feel the bonhomie emanating from the TV screen as Arianna seized yet another opportunity to trash Hillary Clinton.

At today’s Huffington Post, Arianna repeated her line of attack against Sen. Clinton, warning of the dire consequences Clinton’s appointment at state will hold for the Obama Administration. (Keep in mind, the Huffington Post has been a leading mouthpiece for Barack Obama since he first announced his candidacy for the presidency.)

Arianna writes:

“Hillary + Obama = High Drama. It's too early to tell what changes Hillary Clinton will bring to Barack Obama's foreign policy, but she's already had an enormous effect on his brand. Her addition to his team has turned "No Drama Obama" into "Mo' Drama Obama." Hillary's appointment isn't even official, but the Obama/Clinton narrative has already left the realm of politics. Its twists, turns, shadings, and complex emotions are the stuff of literature. But who would be the best writer to do this saga justice? Henry James (Portrait of a Lady Secretary of State)? Shakespeare (Clinton II)? Or is the Obama/Clinton relationship more like a Nora Ephron romantic comedy? When Hillary Met Barack. Sleepless in Chappaqua. You've Got Fundraising Email.”

As Georgetown University law professor Heidi Li Feldman noted at her blog today the accusation that Hillary Clinton will add drama to the Obama Administration is “another latently sexist turn of phrase: women create drama; men bring charisma.”

But back to that “aha” moment that I mentioned above. I’ve been repeatedly stunned and puzzled by the attacks of women like Arianna and Maureen Dowd on Hillary Clinton. I just didn’t get it. Watching ABC’s This Week video finally did it for me, and it’s pretty simple. By beating up on any woman who appears to be destined for a national leadership role, Arianna and Maureen win acceptance in the media’s good old boys club.

As a result Arianna is known as a “media guru” – despite the tabloid journalism practiced at Huffpo - and she gets to hobnob with the likes of Brooks, Will, and Kuttner.

The minimally talented – except in the area of hate-mongering - Maureen Dowd is one of two women columnists at the NY Times and one of a very few women columnists featured on the opinion pages of newspapers nationwide.

I’m going to give Arianna and Maureen the benefit of the doubt by suggesting their reprehensible behavior is unconscious stuff. God knows it must be terribly threatening to have to report on the achievements of a power house like Hillary Clinton. Unlike either Arianna or Maureen, Hillary has succeeded both personally and professionally. She has kept her family together over the years and maintained many close friends, while simultaneously earning worldwide respect in the political arena.

In sum, putting Clinton down appears to be a pathological defense mechanism for the obvious inadequacies of Arianna and Modo and as mentioned earlier, they get the benefit of hanging out with the good old boys.

Arianna has suggested that Hillary Clinton brings the stuff of literature with her, and I would agree that Hillary’s life story would be a most compelling read. On the other hand, the petty lives of Arianna and Maureen wouldn’t even make the comic books.

Despite Leftwing Put Downs, Palin Continues to Draw Huge Crowds

Arianna Huffington in her Sunday Roundup gleefully reports how Sarah Palin’s favorability rating is “nosediving” according to recent polls, and Huffington continues, ‘“as amused as they were by all the new stories and new characters, the American people knew that the ‘Welcome Sarah’ party was over.”

In the meantime, Politico reports today: Palin Draws the Biggest Crowds Yet for GOP. “Sarah Palin tonight attracted the largest crowd yet to any Republican campaign event this cycle, drawing tens of thousands of Floridians out in a conservative-leaning retirement community north of Orlando for a solo rally.

“Exactly how many voters Palin, making her first campaign trek to the Sunshine State, had in The Villages is uncertain.

‘“Mike Tucker, a local fire marshal, estimated 60,000. But reporters on the ground, including AP's Brendan Farrington and my colleague Ken Vogel, would only say ‘tens of thousands,’ suggesting the marshal's estimate was on the high side. The St. Pete Times's Adam Smith had another fire official in the crowd say it was about 25,000.

“Regardless, the size of the crowd underscores just how enthused conservatives are for Palin and the sort of buzz she's still able to drive nearing a month after her introduction as John McCain's running mate.

“Republicans can always draw good crowds out at the sprawling Villages -- exactly a year ago I saw Fred Thompson thronged like a matinee idol there -- but the Florida GOP is saying tonight that Palin's crowd broke state attendance records. At the very least, it outpaced the 15,000 President Bush drew to the retirement community four years ago.

“To reiterate: An Alaska governor who was virtually unknown a month ago and is the number two on the presidential ticket may have doubled or tripled the crowd for a sitting president.”

Hillary’s Wins: Three Strikes and the Pundits Are Out!

Photo Credits: Getty Images

Up until a few days before the March 4th primaries, the media had been pushing the narrative that it was all over for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. For the third time, their funereal predictions began in earnest following the debate between Clinton and Obama in Austin, Texas when Clinton received a standing ovation for her closing statement.

Almost unanimously the media chose to grossly distort Clinton’s powerful moment of connection with Texas voters as her farewell. I vividly recall the follow up in the subsequent Mark Shields and David Brooks segment on the NewsHour when Jim Leher asked Shields, “Was it her valedictory statement?”

Barely concealing his oft-displayed contempt for the first serious female presidential candidate in the United States, Shields proclaimed, “It was a valedictory statement.”

Their post-Austin commentary marked the third strike of the pundits against Hillary Clinton who chalked up wins in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island in yesterday’s primaries. Clinton's wins vindicated the huge majority of voters who responded to a recent poll with resounding support for her candidacy, urging her to continue her fight for the nomination.

Earlier Clinton temporarily chastened the punditry in the aftermath of their premature pronouncement of the death of her campaign after Iowa by beating Obama in New Hampshire. Following her defeat in South Carolina, the indefatigable Clinton came back to split the contests on Super Tuesday, overcoming Obama’s support by the likes of Oprah, Patrick Deval, John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy with big wins in California and Massachusetts.

The punditry has clearly struck out in their eagerness to put Hillary Clinton away and anoint the smooth talking Barack Obama as the Democratic party’s standard-bearer.

P.S.

Among media gurus whom the voters sent ignonimously to the showers after the March 4th primaries were Hillary haters Arianna Huffington and Maureen Dowd. Throughout the campaign, the Huffington Post has used every tabloid form of sleazy journalism at its command to bring Clinton down, aided and abetted by Maureen Dowd’s steady stream of venom from her platform at the NY Times.

Fearlessly Facing a Hostile Media

Any half-awake, semi-literate follower of the coverage so far of Campaign 2008 offered by either the mainstream media or the blogosphere is aware the media is still controlled by the good old boys network in America.

Nevertheless, I was surprised yesterday to read a casual comment by Kos himself in a post on his leading left of center blog, The Daily Kos, confirming the obvious: one of Hillary Clinton’s challenges in her run for the Democratic nomination is a “hostile media.” (If you need further verification of the media's abusive treatment of Clinton, check out a recent item on Media Matters.)

From screaming negative headlines exaggerating poll results in Iowa favoring Obama by one or two points and either tucking news of a Clinton lead away in an obscure corner or not reporting it at all to skewed coverage of a debate by the Democratic candidates, it’s hard to find clear, objective, and honest coverage of campaign 2008 anywhere in the online media, including the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

The reader comments following a typically biased article from supporters of front-runner Clinton’s rivals is scary. This is especially true at the Huffington Post where within the past several days, Obama supporters have used every obscenity in their apparently limited vocabularies to accuse the Clinton camp of everything from staging the hostage crisis in New Hampshire to get favorable publicity and perpetrating the YouTube video titled Obama Obollywood. (You can see the video from this site by clicking on Obama’s image from the YouTube icon in the sidebar to the right of this post.)

“Good old boys” has always been something of a misnomer for a power structure that blocks advancement of talented, capable women. Sad to say, the boys have always found allies among those women who can’t tolerate sharing the limelight or power with a successful sister who shows signs of breaking through yet another major glass ceiling. Particularly disappointing have been the personal attacks on Hillary Clinton by Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington.

Lately, I’ve been reading Huffington’s book, On Becoming Fearless, that suggests at least a modicum of awareness on her part of the obstacles to success American women continue to face: “Our presence in powerful positions, on corporate boards, and as heads of our own businesses continues to grow. Fortune magazine reports that as of 2005, roughly half of all management and professional jobs were filled by women. In the last ten years, the number of Fortune 500 companies with at least one quarter of their boards filled with women directors went from eleven to sixty-four. And women now own 48 percent of small business.

“That’s all going in the right direction, but women are still not even close to parity, especially in pay. The compensation-package half-empty view looks like this: According to catalyst, a non-profit research group, women still account for just under 15 percent of Fortune 500 board members. And for the past ten years, the rate has been increasing only 0.5 percent a year. This means we won’t hit the 50 percent mark until 2076 – a nice tri-centennial present for America, but still, should it take three hundred years?”

Obviously, Huffington talks the talk on behalf of women’s rights, but don’t get me wrong: I don’t expect her, Maureen Dowd, or any other representative of the American media, male or female, to support Hillary Clinton in news coverage or opinion pieces because she’s a woman. I do, however, demand fair and equal coverage of Clinton’s undeniably fearless front-running bid for the presidency.