Olbermann Proves the Obvious

Keith Olbermann just made everyone's job easier. From now on, it will be easier to criticize the administration on television. It will be easier for liberals to get hired in the media. It will be easier for television executives to make programming decisions. And, most importantly, it will be easier to get the truth to the American people.

For some time now, I have been saying that TV execs are crazy not to put counter-programming on cable news by putting a liberal alternative to the countless conservative talk shows on television. This is especially true when most of the country can't stand this Republican President.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if the President has approval ratings in the 30's, that perhaps people would watch a show that takes the opposite side as the President. Fox News created an empire by opposing a president, and Clinton was a much more popular leader.

It might not take a genius to figure this out, and thank God because TV programmers are no geniuses. But one thing they do exceedingly well is - copy what works.

Now that Olbermann has proved my point right by moving past CNN in the ratings, TV execs should be scrambling as we speak to get more opposition voices on air. Anyone got Phil Donahue's number?

Talk show hosts are famous for taking credit for their predictions -- which are usually fudged or already obvious (I told you the sun would rise tomorrow, and it did!). I am no exception. My prediction falls into the patently obvious category. Here is one example of what I had been saying about the promising possibilities of liberal programming on cable news:

"How about this for a strategic direction? Put on at least one person who will represent half the country who voted for a Democrat and who now can't stand Bush (that figure is up to about sixty percent of the country at this point).

Does anyone want to make money in this country anymore? More than half the television audience is just sitting out there waiting to be scooped up and there isn't one television executive sensible enough to go pick them up."

Olbermann isn't anyone's definition of a flaming liberal. He's just a reasonable voice of opposition to the insanity and incompetence of this administration. He doesn't make a big point about being a Democrat or a liberal (to my knowledge, he doesn't make this point at all, partly because it might not be true). From time to time he takes on the administration and the conservative talk show hosts. And he does so with increasing fervor.

And, will you look at that? What do we see now, but much, much better ratings? His ratings have gone up 41% in the last year while O'Reilly's have gone down 24%. And he has just passed the insipid Paula Zahn. By the way, when's the last time someone said, "Hey, did you hear what Paula Zahn had to say?!"

Olbermann is rallying from being significantly behind and having practically no lead in. O'Reilly has been around for much longer. And Olbermann hasn't really come that close to catching him yet, but obviously he is trending way up and O'Reilly is trending significantly down. That's the kind of language TV programmers can understand.

Now, imagine if you had a really strong voice of opposition on TV. One thing O'Reilly does right is that he does not mince his words or hide his positions (though he does comically pretend to be fair and balanced). Like him or not, O'Reilly is a booming voice for his side. Now imagine if the opposition had an equally strong voice on the other side.

In the latest polls, not only is Bush's disapproval rating near or above 60% but his "strongly disapprove" number is an astounding 45%. That basically means 45% of the country hates him. Imagine how excited they would be to tune into a program which unabashedly takes on this President.

Olbermann's ratings are the tip of the iceberg. TV execs are going to start rushing to the lifeboats soon and try to find liberal shows (if you're still uncomfortable with the word "liberal" because you have been brainwashed by the right into believing it is a dirty word, then use some other word to describe the majority of the country that does not support this administration -- but a rose by any other name smells just as sweet when the ratings come in).

One ratings success begets another. The first ones in on the trend benefit the most. Olbermann already has a leg up -- and God bless him, he's earned it. The question is who is next? Will it be Jack Cafferty at CNN? (Can you believe they hired the loathsome Glenn Beck the other day instead of just one person to represent the whole other half the country -- hey, CNN Titanic, are all the deck chairs in place?)

I don't know who is next. But I do know there is now hope for the future. We're a long way from a balanced conversation on cable television. Having as many liberal hosts as conservative hosts still seems unimaginable. But we will get there one ratings success story at a time. So Olbermann might have taken one small step for MSNBC, but he has taken one giant leap for the country.

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