The NYT’s Frank Rich is so uniformly lame that I cannot recall ever having bothered to write about him. But today’s dross on Barack Obama’s derision of small town America and lousy debate performance is too delusional to pass up:
[V]iewers of all political persuasions were affronted by the moderators’ failure to ask about the mortgage crisis, health care, the environment, torture, education, China policy, the pending G.I. bill to aid veterans, or the war we’re losing in Afghanistan. Those minutes were devoted not just to recycling the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Bosnian sniper fire and another lame question about a possible “dream ticket†but to the unseemly number of intrusive commercials and network promos that prompted the jeering at the end…
***
Mr. Obama did sound condescending, an unappealing trait that was even more naked in his “You’re likable enough, Hillary†gibe many debates ago. But the overreaction to this latest gaffe backfired on the media more than it damaged him. For all the racket about “Bittergate† and breathless intimations of imminent poll swings and superdelegate stampedes  the earth did not move. The polls hardly budged, and superdelegates continued to migrate mainly in Mr. Obama’s direction.
In reality, more than 10 million viewers tuned into Wednesday’s Democratic debate on ABC, making it the most-watched debate of the primary election season. More watched the first hour Rich despises than the second. At least that is what was reported by the New York Times. Meanwhile, in the week since Obama’s claim that small town America clings to God and guns because of US economic policy, he went from a 10-11% lead to about dead even with Hillary Clinton in the Gallup tracking poll. It turns out that many voters believe that character counts.
In short, much like Obama, Frank Rich demonstrates that he is out of touch with a significant number of Americans, including a significant number of Democrats. There is a word for that. Of course, given Rich’s background as a theater critic, no one should be shocked when he channels the late Pauline Kael.
there’s no place like home… there’s no place like home… there’s no place like home…
click click click.
Rich, like most of those buying Thomas Frank, is not in Kansas anymore.
Heh.
Two words, actually: Theater Critic. Is there are more fatuous job in the entire country?
That would be “a” more fatuous job.
Karl:
As you’ve pointed out before, we are aware of Obama’s (and Hillary’s) position on issues. Even on topics he’s not been directly questioned over before, he’s utterly predictable. To any of the questions Rich wishes had been asked, O is going to take a safe position, and one that is vague enough for his liberal base to feel good about.
…and it’s not just him, but every time I hear one of the candidates say “the American people,” I immediately think:
a.) you’re lying, and
b.) you want my money.
theatrical critic, movie critic-same difference.
One things jumps right out from your article , Karl.
Many people tuned in to watch the debates, but the second hour had losses.
Could it be precisely for those mentioned by Rich’s reasons of unworthy questioning the audience dwidled ?
well, not to defend frank rich, but the fact that more watched in the first hour than the second could mean he’s right, and they tuned out in disgust.
Don’t have a link handy, but the American TV audience doesn’t have that kind of patience. If they didn’t like that first hour they would have left in the first 5 or 10 minutes. The research I have seen indicated modern TV remotes have hair triggers.
As a political writer, Rich is a really good theater critic.
Something has gone terribly awry in Barackyville. The junior propagandist at NPR must have worked all night on this.
She can’t even acknowledge that he went to a muslim school. (This during the same years when he was gaining Valuable Foreign Policy Experience if you know your Baracky narrative, and I know you do.) Here’s how she elides that…
They have an as-usual edited transcript of their piece at the link. It’s quite a piece of work. You can’t talk about Baracky and Islam. You can’t talk about Baracky and the church he goes to now. But good news! Ageism. is fair game!
I’ve wondered about the whole character issue. I don’t think his mistake about small-town America speaks to his character necessarily. Even someone with a good character can have a mistaken opinion. But I think it speaks to his knowledge. That statement was inexcusably ignorant. And I don’t think he was just pandering to an audience either. He believed every word of that statement and really only seems smart enough to know that it was offensive to small-town Americans. I don’t think he even knows why.
[…] Frank Rich has joined the chorus of journalists who feel that by asking questions about issues on which Obama has neither satisfactorily explained or ignored completely (William Ayers), the debate was somehow despicable and shoddy. What Rich and others who have complained about the debate can’t explain is that there have been over twenty debates already. Don’t you suppose that we have heard all the candidates have to say about health care and the Iraq War? In an open letter to ABC published in The Nation, questions about Obama’s character and judgment were dismissed as merely “tangential.” But why? Obama is the one who has been telling us that his relative lack of experience is superseded by his superior judgment. And now his supporters are decrying question directly related to same? This caterwauling represents borderline hysteria and will merely insure that Obama is ill-prepared to address these issues in the general election. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Don’t think so. After 20 debates, Obamanation members can recite the talking points from memory; everyone else just stopped by to see the train wreck. Damn rubberneckers.
Mr. Rich is, I imagine, of the camp that believes the truth is what you wish it to be, if you just repeat it often enough.
It’s not so much that Mr. Rich is “out of touch” with Americans, as that Mr. Rich is pulling for Sen. Obama.
By claiming that Sen. Obama survived this scandal without a scratch, he contributes to the (mistaken) perception among some voters that Sen. Obama is unharmed, and therefore helps to increase Sen. Obama’s vote total in the upcoming race. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: if the media reports that Obama is shellacked, he’s going to get less votes. If they report that he’s unharmed (or even: coming out ahead) then he will get more votes.
Sen. Obama’s talking points are: Obama is unharmed. Don’t say that Obama is harmed. In fact, Obama is inevitable. So get in line!!! Do not question his coronation, or you are a Repukikkkan.
[…] piece is nevertheless dumb, but that is mostly due to the overweening bias he shares with those who rail against subjecting Obama to culture and character questions. To demonstrate […]
I cant believe that they reached 10 millions viewers …