![]() WATCHING US CLEARLY EXPLAIN! Obama should clearly explain, the Times says. Havent we tried that before? // link // print // previous // next //
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010 History just keeps unfolding: Over at our companion site, we have posted Chapter 3 of How He Got There. For that new chapter, click here. How did George W. Bush reach the White House? This chapter concludes our treatment of Campaign 2000s first round. The chapter describes a basic fact: Right from this campaigns earliest days, it was fairly clear that the mainstream press corps was marching to war with Al Gore. That said: Regarding the politics of the Clinton/Gore era, we were struck by Ken Gormleys hour-long appearance this weekend on the C-Spans After Words program. (To watch his appearance, click this.) We still havent received our copy of Gormleys new book about Ken Starr and Bill Clinton. Watching him interviewed by Greg Craig, a highly-placed Democratic insider, we were struck by something David Greenberg stressed in his review of that book. We were struck by the way Gormley strove to put the best face on every player in the Clinton pseudo-scandal era. In his C-Span session, it went this far: Ken Starr and Bill Clinton are very much alike, Gormley reassuringly said. Without impugning Gormleys motives, we will only say this: Elites will often produce a reassuring figure to clean up the history of an eraa history elites dont want explored. Nothing to look at, such figures will say. Time to move along with your lives. Was Ken Starr the brilliantly principled man Gormley so warmly describes? (Clinton is wonderful too, Gormley says.) We have no ideathough we were thankful for the one small skeptical observation Craig somehow managed to conjure. But at the very end of his hour with Gormley, Craig asked a devastating question. He started by quoting the late Henry Hyde, who helped lead Clintons impeachment. Hyde took pride in one fact, Craig said. He then quoted Hyde, apparently from Gormleys book. George W. Bush would not have been elected president if we had not impeached President Clinton. So Hyde thought and said. Thats an extraordinary statement, Craig says, because obviously the election of George Bush against Gore in 2000 was a turning point in the history of the country. Gee! Where have we heard that one before? Gormley said he agrees with Hyde, though he pins the blame on the public, in essence describing their Clinton fatigue. (Needless to say, he praises Gore as a great man too.) That said, we noted one groaning omission in Gormleys discussion of this matter: In reality, the Lewinsky matter and the Clinton impeachment drove the press corps wild. This was by far the biggest effect it had on the outcome of Campaign 2000. But inside Washingtoninside its far-flung affiliate eliteseveryone has agreed that this disgraceful group breakdown must never be discussed. Too many peoplepeople who may even run with Craigplayed active roles in the process. Craig is right about that turning point in the history of the country. But if you want to read the truth about this affair, were afraid youll have to visit How He Got There. Dont look around on the liberal web! When it comes to this critical history, your favorite players will be kissing elite keister too. (Sorry. But many of todays most central career liberal players actively helped elect Bush.) Gormley warmly praises Gore for defending Clinton on the day of impeachment. He says Gore knew he was harming his own presidential chances when he did this. (We dont know if thats true.) But Gormley says it was the public which was affected by the impeachmentaffected in ways which cut against Gore. In fact, it was the press corpsthe mainstream press corpswhich shriekingly lost its collective mind in the course of that long stupid process. All over the American landscape, elites have agreed that this cant be discussed. To learn about what actually happened, you know what to do: Just click here. As usual, if you want to support our efforts, we hope youll indulge yourselves. This history needs to be recorded. Our bet: Theres some 18-year-old kid out there who will know how to put it to use in the future. In turning its back on the Clinton/Gore era, the pseudos of our career liberal elites are letting the public fly blind to the future. And yes, such ignorance hurts our causes. Why is our side so easy to beat? People! It starts at the top! Sheryls choice: You rarely see a more striking example of a certain type of journalistic choice. The Democrats may seek to pass health reform through the use of a process called reconciliation. But how should a journalist describe that process? On the front page of todays New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg (and her editors) went with the following choice. The description appears above the fold, right in her opening paragraph:
Good lord! You could, of course, call that technically accurate, except for the loaded word aggressive. But that is a very murky description, a description which will confuse many readers. And of course, the word maneuver is a bit loaded too. If you didnt already know, would that description really tell you what the Democrats may try to do? Alas! Inside the paper, where fewer people will see it, Stolberg eventually offered this second description of what the Dems may do:
Ohhhhh! So thats what the Democrats may try to do! Even here, Stolberg insists on the word maneuver. But what are the Democrats planning to do? This:
Good lord! How different that sounds from the description we found on page one, in Stolbergs opening paragraph! Any process can be described in various ways. There is no formula which determines the simplest, fairest, clearest description. But good grief! How different that opening paragraph would have sounded if Stolberg (and her editors) had made this choice:
In our view, that rewritten description is simpler and clearer than the jumble Stolberg offered. That description is simpler, cleaner, clearer.
Why wasnt it Sheryls choice? PART 1THE NEW YORK TIMES CLEARLY EXPLAINS (permalink): Will Obamas health bill pass? We dont have the slightest idea. We would vote for the bill ourselvesbut only Because Krugman Says To. Thanks to Krugman, wed vote for the bill, though we dont understand many things about it. But the analysts emitted low mordant chuckles when they read todays New York Times editorial, in which the editors voiced their own support for the health care bill. The youngsters had already rolled their eyes at the editors opening paragraph (text tomorrow). But the low mordant laughter began when they read this central prescription, at the end of the editors opening chunk:
Obama needs to clearly explain! At that point, the analysts threw their newspapers down and clearly laughed, if in muffled tones. In fact, the president has explained, and explained, and explained once again, all through the past year of this health care debate. Result? After a year of such clear explanation, 22 percent strongly favored the plan in this months Washington Post/ABC poll. A walloping 38 percent said they were strongly opposed. Obvious questions come to mind. What can Obama clearly explain which he hasnt clearly explained before? And this one: Why do our sides clear explanations seem to fall on so many deaf ears? Why dont our sides explanations gain purchase? We thought we spotted some answers to that crucial question when the editors tried to clearly explain the merits of Obamas plan. Speaking from their Manhattan aerie, the editors told us which basic facts we should keep in mind this week. Alas! They simply ignored other basic factsbasic facts which drive the view of that recalcitrant Gang of 38:
The editors told us which basic facts we should keep in mind. We should keep three facts in mind, they said. Obamas plan will expand health coverage; reduce future deficits; and begin to rein in costs. Those are the most basic factsin the view of the editors. But other basic facts will occur to some of the 38 percent who say they are strongly opposed. Late in the piece, the editors mentioned one of these facts. For our money, they failed to give much of a clear explanation regarding this point of concern:
Among that recalcitrant 38, many will screech at that cost estimate$950 billion over 10 years. They may even recite some basic facts over which the editors glossed. They may say that this estimate is a scamthat it has been kept artificially low by the start-dates of this plans spending provisions. They may say that the editors ballyhooed deficit reduction $100 billion over the next decadeis a silly rounding error, given the projected size of our future deficits. Regarding that overall cost, they may say their country cant afford to spend that much at a time of such massive deficits. They may say that we could reduce deficits a great deal more if we didnt decide to spend that $950 billion over 10 years. Others, on various sides of this issue, may find fault with other parts of this mornings clear explanation. As the editors continued, they clearly explained how very bad the Republicans areand they touched on a basic point which has baffled us all year:
The Republicans make only feeble attempts to rein in medical costs? What about Obama? In one of the passages quoted above, the editors proudly say that the plan begin[s] to rein in medical costs. In a world where our laughing-stock nation spend two to three times what the saner world does, why does this plan only begin to do that? More pointedly: Why have the editors, like the Times news division, worked so hard to avoid discussing our massive over-spending all year? Back to the need for clear explanation. Obama has tried to clearly explain all year; his clear explanations have gained little traction. Do the editors know why that is? In this editorial, we see few signs that they do. For better or worse, President Obamas clear explanations have run into many road blocks. They have run head-on into long-standing narratives offered by the other side. (Some of these narrative are absurd. Some of these narratives arent.) They have run head-on into disgraceful, clownish claimsabout death panels, to cite one example. Unfortunately, the presidents explanations have been offered in a nation whose career liberal worldwhose mainstream presshave done a very poor job, in the past forty years, preparing the way for wider acceptance of our sides clear explanations. The other side has worked hard, for the past fifty years, to undermine chances for reform. Our side has tended to gambol and play. Today, the editors want Obama to clearly explain once again. Remember when we used to say this: Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result? After a year of getting our keisters kicked, our side has recently adopted a new approach. Unable to explain the merits of our own ideas, we have decided to name-call Republicans, branding them a gang of hypocrites. This has led to a series of awkward episodes: Last nights exchange between Barney Frank and Rachel Maddow; Keith Olbermanns absurd presentation last week, in which Senator Robert Bennett was left as The Lone Republican Hypocrite; Maddows ridiculous bravado last Friday, in which she declared that she was willing to go after Tiger Woods if she decides that hes a hypocrite; the gruesome report on last nights Anderson Cooper, in which Dennis Kucinich is now being listed as one of the hypocrites. (Yes, it always ends this way when we take these short-cuts.) Question: Why dont we win when we clearly explain the actual merits of our ideas? Why are we forced to turn to weaker types of attack, which tend to blow up in our faces? Why cant our side seem to clearly explain? And what is wrong with the hypocrite argument? Well examine these questions all week. But dont worry: If it turns out that Tigers a hypocrite too, our bold leaders will haul him in!
Tomorrow: Kucinich a hypocrite too!
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