There are a lot of urgent and important issues in the country today to be dealt with. There are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is the crumbling economy. There is the almost 10% unemployment rate. North Korea is doing all it can to build nuclear missiles, and Iran is doing all it can to build a nuclear weapon.
With all of these things going on, our President has chosen to start a media war with the Fox News Channel.
It has already taken the President weeks to deliberate about whether or not to follow the commander-in-the-field’s recommendation to send more troops to Afghanistan, and it will likely be a few more before he actually does make a decision. Yet, let Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly express their views on the President’s policies, and the President is capable of putting together an entire staff of people to discredit an entire news organization.
Troops are dying every day overseas, and the only attack the President can lead is against a television network. How many more troops will pay the ultimate price while their thin-skinned Commander-in-Chief acts like a 6 year old child?
Out of all the major news organizations which cover what he does, the Fox News Network is the only one who is not totally in the bag for the President, and apparently this is too much for him to handle. This media war is the equivalent of a child’s temper-tantrum, and it not only embarrasses the President, it also embarrasses the country and diminishes the Office. It makes Obama look petty.
The fact is, this media war has done nothing to hurt Fox News. In fact, their ratings continue to increase and solidify Fox News’ position as the number one cable news organization in the country. The President is driving viewers to Fox News in droves, which I am sure is the exact opposite of what he wants. Worse for him, these viewers are staying tuned to Fox News after they have sampled it.
The White House’s main goal with all of this is to make sure if Fox News breaks a story which isn’t to the President’s liking, that the other news networks ignore it. Of course, the other news networks have pretty much been doing that already (the ACORN and Van Jones scandals come to mind), relenting only when what they were doing became obvious. This President has gotten the kid-gloves treatment from the entire news corps except Fox, and he wants more.
Seems to me that the American people are paying a steep price for the President’s inability to take criticism of any type. Can we afford to wait until he grows up?
