Both Right and Left Condemn Obama for Breaking His Promise

I watched the analysis of Shields and Brooks on the Newshour this evening. I hadn’t bothered to tune in for months because I couldn’t tolerate the obvious contempt of both the esteemed liberal and conservative male pundits for a female presidential candidate. So it felt kind of gratifying to see the two regular Friday night boys on the NewsHour rake Obama over the coals for opting for money over principle in rejecting public funding in the general election.

Shields mentioned that Obama had made history by being the first candidate since Nixon to choose private fundraising to fill his coffers; Brooks called the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee a “political hack.”

Just to stay on top of things, I scanned Google News minutes ago and tracked this headline from the Guardian: “Obama tarnished by rejecting public funds for election fight.”

The Guardian's Ewen MacAskill sums up the response to Obama’s latest blockbuster decision: “Barack Obama faced widespread condemnation yesterday from both right and left for reneging on a promise on election campaign financing.

“The Democratic presidential candidate found himself in the unusual position of being attacked not only by his Republican rival, John McCain, but by papers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, thinktanks committed to election reform, and even his own supporters.”

MacAskill tells us about the ad Obama released yesterday and an article he wrote for USA Today:

“Obama aired his first general election ad yesterday across 18 states, in a demonstration of his spending power. In an article for USA Today, Obama wrote: "The decision wasn't an easy one ... but the public financing of presidential elections... is broken - and the Republican party has mastered the art of gaming this broken system."

Shields and Brooks weren’t buying Obama’s excuses in their Newshour analysis this evening, and if you read MacAskill’s article in its entirety, it doesn’t sound as if anyone else was buying them either.

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.