Grasping Old Party

The GOP (grasping old party?) thinks it has found another bramble to cling to as it plummets off the cliff of political relevancy. ABC, the sad conservatives are bellowing, have sold out to the President like the NBC-Universal evil empire before it. Indeed, they point out, not only is ABC granting the President an hour of primetime but they are going so far as to restrict partisan advertisements! How dare they prevent the crooks and liars from politicizing government transparency! The always entertaining Michael Steele has even gone so far as to “fight” ABC. As Politico reported earlier this week:

“It seems that the mainstream media has finally decided to dispense with the
pointless denials of favorable coverage of the Obama administration. Now one
network, ABC News, has actually turned its entire programming over to
President Obama and his big-government agenda,” Steele wrote in a fundraising
email under the subject line “URGENT!!! Help the RNC fight Obama & ABC
News!”

Sadly, it looks like the grownups will have to explain things again.

Look, Mike, it’s not just RNC ads that ABC isn't running, its DNC, MoveOn, and all sorts of liberal groups too. As even Drudge says before spinning the story into leftfield: "ABC is refusing to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation." Indeed, ABC doesn't want the program to become a political football for either side and allowing the President of the United States to address his constituents is hardly a political endorsement anymore than broadcasting the State of the Union address is. And, surely, the GOP will have ample opportunity to trip over itself in primetime interviews with a rebuttal of its own.

You might forget, but this is the President of the United States acting as Head of State in the interest of public transparency. This is not a spokesperson for a political party. Reagan did this sort of public forum all the time and never got hammered. In fact, he was lionized as the Great Communicator because of it. while obviously being POTUS brings with it the ability to leverage political support, such is the nature of the Bully Pulpit and is nothing newwhile obviously being POTUS brings with it the ability to leverage political support, such is the nature of the Bully Pulpit and is nothing newWhile obviously being POTUS brings with it the ability to leverage political support, such has been the nature of the bully pulpit for the past century.

This sort of manipulative and overblown Drudge-rage falls under a broad symptom I've observed in plenty of GOP blowhards lately. Call it the, "Crap-we're-not-in-the-White-House-anymore" effect.

Had McCain won, he'd probably be soaking up primetime to explain his plans to invade Iran, deregulate the economy and drill for oil in Yellowstone. It’s all the same and its time for the GOP to get over it and figure out how to be effective in their new role. That means constructive criticism, not mudflinging and tantrum-throwing every time the President does something smart they disagree with.