Jonathan Allen has a long piece on Politico that is one long excoriation of immature liberals who won’t grow up and let the Obama-orchestrated tax deal go through. This piece represents everything that is wrong with Politico: It is filled with simple-minded analysis of the personalities and psychologies of politicians, based on nothing but the self-serving quotes of other politicians and the narrative that the author is trying to drive. The possibility that liberal politicians might have a legitimate beef against the tax deal and the way it was done is almost completely neglected. Politicians who care are portrayed as ridiculous.
I thought I’d catalog all of the sins of this disastrous piece of “journalism.”
1. Liberals apparently are “taunting” President Obama.
2. “At best” their “rage” is a “principled last gasp on behalf of liberal ideals.” Wow, how generous. Last gasp?
3. “At worst, they’re whining, kicking and screaming their way to the margins.”
4. Liberals are in a “state of denial.”
5. Quote from Dan Boren, conservative Democratic rep., saying his colleagues “are not listening” to voters.
6. The only paragraph of sympathy: “In the blink of an eye, [liberals] went from advancing the most progressive agenda since the Great Society to defending against a tax-cut bill that they say provides a windfall for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else.” Note the critical “they say.” Of course Politico will never tell you if this bill, which does provide a windfall for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else (since that money might have been spent productively), actually does that.
7. Liberals are “blaming everybody but themselves.” I’m sorry, but what does that even mean?
8. “Moderates could do little but groan and roll their eyes at the display” of liberals who protested the tax deal by shouting “No we can’t!” at a caucus meeting. So who’s more immature here: the people shouting in protest, or the people rolling their eyes?
9. Quote from Jesse Jackson Jr.: “If we recklessly cut taxes for the wealthiest 2 percent, then Obamanomics will look an awful lot like Reaganomics.” Immediately, Allen says, “But as they throw a tantrum…” … Excuse me?! At what point did the representative from Illinois scream, cry, and demand his bottle?
10. Quote from Brian Higgins, Democratic rep., saying that liberals should not “whine about” the tax deal.
11. Paraphrase of senior Democratic aide saying that “liberal complaining” won’t be productive.
12. Quote from Peter DeFazio saying that liberals are finally standing up to Obama, followed by immediate assertion from Allen that this consists of “histrionics” which are “potentially devastating politically.”
13. The evidence for that assertion is a quote from Artur Davis, the conservative Democratic representative, saying that letting taxes rise would be a huge political mistake.
14. Quote from Lindsey Graham saying that liberal “whining” has gotten to the president.
15. Conclusion: Barack Obama is the new Bill Clinton, a triangulating political genius, and the House Democrats better get used to their marginalization.
16. Quote from liberal Gary Ackerman: “We got screwed.” Immediate retort from Allen: “Such injuries are self-inflicted and promise to pile up if House liberals don’t soften their stance.”
Okay, so here’s a piece of “journalism” with three quotes from liberals, Jackson, DeFazio, and Ackerman, each one of which is smacked down on the spot by the author.
Whereas it has six quotes (Boren, Higgins, senior Democratic aide, Davis twice, and Graham) from those we might call anti-liberals: Republicans and Democrats who think liberals need to grow up. But the worst sins are those committed by Allen himself, who apparently couldn’t get enough actual politicians to call their colleagues crybabies, so he did the work for them.
On some level, I get this story. I get that Politico thinks Obama has done a savvy thing, and I think I agree with them. But unless Politico is re-conceiving itself as a more insidery Pajamas Media, the sort of liberal-bashing that this piece engages in is completely out of line. If Allen wants to argue that liberals should fall into line with Obama whether for political or policy reasons, that’s fine, but that argument should, first, be made in a clearly marked opinion section and not be given the status of objective journalism, and second, it should not be made by comparing their behavior to that of screaming infants.
There is a right and a wrong way to make that argument, and Politico has definitively chosen to go with the wrong way.
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