I’m typically a fan of On The Media. I play clips from the radio show in class when I’m trying to illustrate particular issues of current interest in journalism. But Bob Garfield’s rant about President George W. Bush at the opening of the show on January 16, 2009 was distasteful and utterly lacking in any demonstration of respect for the office of the president.
Yes, President Bush has been a magnet for much legitimate criticism – from the invasion of Iraq, to the neglect of Afghanistan, to the implementation of extraordinary rendition, to the depletion of the well spring of pro-American sentiment overseas, to vetoes of SCHIP to lack of transparency in the financial bailout… The list goes on.
But doesn’t the office of the president itself deserve at least a bit of respect?
Not if Bob Garfield has anything to say about it. Garfield suggests that when the president said “thank you” to the press corps the other night, he really meant “@#$%& you.” Garfield then chooses to return the perceived sentiment, saying “thank you” to the president, repeating it with an emphasis not hard to decipher. The message is clear: He thinks the president has flipped off the media so he’s just returning the favor.
Yes. Go ahead. Be angry. Damn the policies and the actions and the skewed rationales. Criticize the lack of transparency. Shine light on the myriad offenses to both the letter and the spirit of the law. Talk about what happened. Learn more about it. Swear it won’t happen again. And above all, lobby the new president and congress to ensure that it can’t. But don’t blame President Bush for the failures of the media during his administration.
Garfield provides a litany of offenses committed against the press by President Bush. He says the press has been “ridiculed… ignored… stonewalled… bullied… maneuvered around… co-opted… censored… jailed… lied to… [and] blamed.”
I haven’t been a fan of many of the Bush Administration’s policies, but really, blaming the president for making the press look bad? Isn’t that a bit much? One need only watch The Daily Show or The Colbert Report to see how much material the media give politicians, comedians and the public to bolster arguments that the media, too, have played a central role in this fiasco of democratic governance. (For an excellent discussion of these failings viewed from 30,000 feet see the aptly named When the Press Fails.)
But despite the president’s often antagonistic relationship with the press, he did offer gracious comments to the press corps at his farewell address. Unfortunately, Bob Garfield –- so worried about pointing a finger at the administration that he fails to acknowledge the media’s multiple, outrageous and documented failings during the Bush Administration – couldn’t muster up any graciousness in return.
And we wonder why the tone of American politics has become so noxious? Perhaps it’s because so few on either side of the fray are able to rise above the snarkiness and stake out the higher ground. Here’s hoping that, too, will change on January 20.