And in the case of MSNBC’s Mark Halperin was set free — indefinitely — for speaking the truth about President Obama’s press conference performance last Wednesday.
He apologized on the show a few minutes later and said he deeply regretted making the comment. Immediately after the show concluded at 9 a.m., a meeting was convened about the incident, and by 10:30 a.m., the channel said Mr. Halperin had been suspended “indefinitely” from his political analyst position.
Yeah; it probably wasn’t exactly appropriate to call the President a dick on national TV, especially on one of the bigger outfits like MSNBC. But if the shoe fits… After hearing bits of what Obama had to say in that speech, I can’t help but agree with Halperin’s assessment; he did sound like a bit of a dick. I’m no political analyst, but the intent of that speech seemed to be less of a “how can we work together to fix these problems” thing than a “who can I blame because I haven’t accomplished diddly” thing. Pure politics.
The strange thing is his ranting about what “Congress can do, right now” to improve the economy; true enough, Congress could be doing something more (I tend to think that especially with this Congress, the less they do, the better off we all are) but does he really think that insulting the people that he needs to work with is going to make them want to cooperate? I don’t. He chides Congress for not being the leaders they are supposed to be (check the mirror lately, Mr. Obama?) and their upcoming summer recess, saying he’s been in DC the whole time getting things done; but what I’ve seen is him spending time on the golf course, having celebrity parties, making television appearances, flying Air Force One all over the country for Democrat fundraisers (and nearly shutting down entire metropolitan areas in the process.) Is it any wonder that shortly after giving Congress that tongue lashing, Mr. Obama was off to yet another DNC fundraiser? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black… Some leadership.
I seriously doubt he had any thought toward solving any of the problems he complained about; his intent was more likely to make himself look better in the eyes of potential voters, and what better way to do that than beat down somebody else so he looks better in comparison. If this guy, with all he’s done to screw things up and all he’s failed to do to fix anything, actually manages to get himself reelected…
