White House declares war—against Fox News
 

“I will listen to you, especially when we disagree,” said the president during his campaign. This was easy to say with almost all the media clearly in his corner. But ten months into his presidency, there is only one news network that does not support his increasingly socialist agenda, and it isn’t the least bit shy about saying so. Like most of the other cable news networks, Fox News is evenly divided between news programs and opinion programs. The White House is apparently unable to distinguish between the two.

Quoted by the New York Times in June, Obama said, “I've got one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration…You'd be hard-pressed if you watched the entire day to find a positive story about me on that front.” Although he didn’t mention Fox by name, there’s no doubt who he was talking about.  Perhaps it would be easier for Fox if there was anything positive to write about.

Fox’s Glenn Beck brought things to a boil when he exposed operatives of ACORN, a group that has long had close ties to the president, for aiding and abetting child prostitution and called attention to the White House green czar, Van Jones, for being a self-proclaimed Communist. This resulted in ACORN being shunned by various government agencies and Jones being dumped from the czar roster.

David Bauder, writing in the LA Times said, “President Barack Obama's communications director says it was Fox News Channel, not the White House, that picked a fight.

Yet it was Anita Dunn's words during a CNN interview last week, saying Fox is like ‘a wing of the Republican Party,’ that ignited one of the most unusual verbal volleys between a presidential administration and journalists since Vice President Spiro Agnew complained during the Nixon years about the ‘nattering nabobs of negativism.’

Dunn's stance cheered many of the president's supporters who seethe over anti-Obama stories on Fox opinion shows, but has caused a backlash among some who say it exposed the administration as thin-skinned.”

Anita Dunn, it was pointed out by Glenn Beck, told a gathering of high school students that her two favorite political philosophers are Chairman Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa. He played the video on the air, leaving no doubt that it was exactly what she said.  She may turn out to be yet another casualty in the administration.

Mark Twain said, “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.” Today that saying, although dated, is just as relevant with people that use word processors and don’t buy ink at all. Starting a war with a news network is a losing proposition.

Instead of turning the nation against Fox News, the White House campaign seems to be having the opposite effect. While Fox’s ratings are better than all the other cable networks combined, they have gone even higher since the outbreak of hostilities.

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly thinks the strategy is more than just being a crybaby and thin-skinned. He believes that stirring up a fuss over Fox’s criticism is a diversion tactic to take attention away from the administration’s reluctance to make a decision over troop strength in Afghanistan, the increasing unemployment, the healthcare free for all and his falling approval ratings.

Whatever triggered the decision to go on the attack against a television news network; the move is a bad idea and not one that can turn out well. The president would be better off paying attention to the things that Fox finds objectionable, like hiring overt communists, backing an outfit like ACORN that has dubious if not criminal objectives, then making an effort to rid his administration of these damaging and disturbing distractions. And too, he might find that Fox would criticize less if he spent more time at his desk doing his job and less time flying around the world on Air Force One smoozing with our enemies.

While I don’t think he will actually do anything that I think he should, maybe someone will whisper in his ear and suggest that he appoint another czar—someone without a criminal record that he can put in charge of getting rid of those in his administration that are going to cause him trouble.