Victor Davis Hanson looks at the sudden change in tune by the media and the incoming Obama administration. He asks some questions that everyone should consider when vicious political attacks start flying. Questions that identify the vicious political attacks for what they are.
When someone screams about a terrible policy of the present administration, just pose four questions:
First, was the controversial decision taken with bipartisan support? Second, were there precedents for such action in prior Democratic administrations? Third, will such polices continue under the newly elected Obama administration? Four, have the media changed their position on the issue since the November election?
If the answer is yes to these questions, then the acrimony was probably about politics and style, not principle and substance.
Take the so-called war on terror. The Patriot Act passed Congress in October 2001 by majorities in both parties — and was reauthorized in 2006. The original versions of the FISA wiretapping accords were enacted under the Carter administration in 1978.
It is already driving many on the left bonkers. They are very upset with many of Obama’s picks for high office. Soon, they will finally understand that they were played like violins by Democratic politicians. That’s when it will get ugly. For now, I notice a lot less news coverage of many of the hot button issues that the Democrats rode into the election. And a lot more “thoughtful” discussions in the media where they have backpedaled – hard – from their pre-election coverage. Interesting, isn’t it?
It is already driving many on the left bonkers. They are very upset with many of Obama’s picks for high office. Soon, they will finally understand that they were played like violins by Democratic politicians. That’s when it will get ugly.
Ugly for whom? The left is already an extremely tiny component of the American voting population, and utterly dependent upon state-run media organizations like ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc. merely to exist. Cutting off the left’s publicity is like cutting off a person’s oxygen supply.
As proof of what I say, consider the strange case of Cindy Sheehan. As long as Mother Sheehan was content to demonize Bush the media eagerly thrust cameras and microphones in her face. But when she started criticizing Hilly the Hun and Pelosi she vanished from the airwaves and front pages faster than if she had entered the government’s witness protection program.