A Small Illustration
A small illustration of my it’s the progressive infrastructure, stupid thesis just happened on MSNBC. Chris Matthews was talking about Barack Obama and said offhandedly, not even as a slam, that Obama had “changed his mind” and rejected public financing. Keith Olbermann immediately challenged him pointing out that, in fact, Obama had never made any such commitment. That makes a difference.
Because of the new progressive infrastructure, the myth that Obama had promised to accept public financing and then flip-flopped and rejected it was never able to take hold the way it would have in 2000 or 2004. Someday, maybe MSNBC will decide that “hours of programming dedicated to shows with liberal hosts” should outnumber “hours of programming dedicated to shows with conservative hosts” and CNN and the broadcast networks will decide that “more than zero” is the right number of liberals to put on air. Then things’ll really be different.
16 Responses to “A Small Illustration”
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November 4th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Funny.
That’s the first time a politician rejected public money and was criticized by the Republicans.
November 4th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
That’s Keith and Chris in the same studio…. definite tension. Technically, Keith is right, but maybe he should just let it go??
November 4th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Huh? How is Obama’s flip-flop a “myth”? Consider:
Did Obama aggressively pursue such an agreement? No. McCain ended up accepting public financing, so McCain clearly would have agreed if Obama had “pursued an agreement.”
I voted Obama but this is clearly a flippety flop.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
The other day I saw a handoff from Matthews to Olbermann and Matthews took the opportunity to bloviate about the racial sensitivities of working class white men, and how Obama would appeal to them because (presumably unlike other figures) he worked hard and supported his family and was the ideal black male to appeal to the pride of these racially sensitive key voters.
It was kind of fun watching Olbermann swallow down what I’m guessing based on my own reaction was about four or five different ways of pointing out that whatever Matthews’ point was he managed to be insulting, ignorant, sanctimonious and phony trying to make it.
It’s like visiting your grandparents. You’ve got to pick your fights which subtle and unsubtle ignorant comments you engage and which ones you let slide by because it’s just not worth opening the can of worms.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
yeah, matt, i agree with nbt. please explain how this wasn’t a flip flop by obama again?
November 4th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
nbt’s comment shows that there’s already an infrastructure in place to deal with those who mistake a “progressive infrastructure” for “misleading campaign spin promulgated by intellectually dishonest bloggers”.
Likewise, I’m sure we can look forward to that “progressive infrastructure” claiming that those who’ll call for an investigation into the potentially tens of millions of illegal funds that BHO received are motivated by racism.
Good times.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Media have long gotten Obama’s position on public financing wrong. “Obama has pledged to take public financing for the general election if he is the Democratic nominee and his Republican opponent will do the same,” the Washington Post reported last year (8/22/07). Similar misapprehensions were expressed in the Toronto Star (3/4/07), New York Times(4/5/07), Orlando Sentinel (4/10/07) and Philadelphia Inquirer (4/17/07), among others.
Obama justified his decision in a video posted on his website, expressing concern about a system which “as it exists today is broken” and “opponents who have become masters at gaming this broken system.” In particular, he referred to his belief that during the presidential race, John McCain will benefit from 527s – independent organizations that run negative ad campaigns, such as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who launched a smear campaign against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004. It was a justification most mainstream media dismissed. A Washington Post (6/20/08) editorial (which did recognize that Obama’s “earlier pledge” was “to ‘aggressively pursue’ an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public financing”) scorned Obama’s “effort to cloak his broken promise in the smug mantle of selfless dedication to the public good.”
Jake Tapper’s blog on ABCNews.com (Political Punch, 6/19/08) reported:
“Obama campaign counsel Bob Bauer met with McCain campaign counsel Trevor Potter and, according to Obama spox Bill Burton, Potter “immediately made it clear there was no basis for further discussion,” that they weren’t interested in any sort of agreement. “McCain and the RNC had spent months raising and spending money for the general election, and their basic attitude was ‘You’ll catch up,’” Burton says, suggesting that the Republicans were also turning a blind eye to the activities of 527s.”
November 4th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Matt: “Then things’ll really be different.”
And there will be ponies.
Meanwhile, based on the comments above, the right wing whining has started. This is what we get to hear for the next four years.
While on the “progressive” side, we’ll hear all sorts of whining and excuse-making as Obama fucks up one foreign policy issue after another.
Top Obama Adviser Has Long Ties to Neocons
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/flynn.php?articleid=13710
Obama’s Neocon in Residence
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/giraldi.php?articleid=13712
November 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Olbermann and the public financing issue are not the best examples of the importance of progressive infrastructure.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Rachel Maddow kicks ratings ass right out of the gate and CNN responds with Stephen Hayes. It’s going to take a long time to turn this ship around.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Was it also the progressive blogosphere that made sure the media never mentioned Obama’s 2-1 fundraising advantage over John McCain? The flip-flop not only didn’t get traction, it got pushed back.
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