Obama's Snipe at Fox Aids and Abets the Network

It was almost Sarah Palin, then it was talk show gasser Rush Limbaugh, and now it's the Fox Network. President Obama's seemingly obsessive need to devote one second of time and mention to attacking his arch enemies reminds me of those cop and robber movies where the bad guys pull off the perfect heist. They snatch millions and then instead of taking the money and running they start squabbling among themselves over who gets what, or who doesn't like whom. That's their undoing.

President Obama's plate groans with Iran, health care, the financial crisis, the cap and trade battle, the surge in hate violence, and yet he gets himself worked up over of all things the Fox Network. And believe me, the Fox crew love every minute of it. There's good reason for that. When Obama and the Democrats took the ill-fated step and made Limbaugh their punching bag, the Media Research Center found that the top talk show gabber's ratings went through the roof. Radio affiliates that carry Limbaugh's syndicated show were in ecstasy with what they called the "dramatic surge" in the show's ratings. No one was more giddy at the Obama attack than Limbaugh. He milked it for all it was worth and hasn't stopped.

No matter what the topic Limbaugh harangues on, he slides in a reference to Obama's prop up of him as the Democrat's prize whipping boy. This further coronates him as the defacto mouthpiece for the GOP, further sets in stone GOP opposition to anything that Obama and the Democrats came up with, and gives the legions that thrive on Limbaugh's anti-Obama bile, more fodder to pound him on the airwaves, in chat rooms, websites, and even more despicably in race baiting cartoons, emails, Facebook and twitter posts.

Now there's Obama's Fox smack down. Fox almost certainly will steal a page from Limbaugh and turn Obama's attacks into a ratings bonaza playbook. In fact, even before Obama dignified their drumbeat attacks on him with an angry word about the cable station, Fox did just that.

According to Neilson Media Research for the first quarter in 2009, Fox trampled CNN in the ratings. In every news and talk show category, it was the runaway cable leader. It had its third best quarter ever in the ratings. In all, it was the second-most-watched network in primetime (USA was first). CNN ranked a distant 17th and MSNBC and even more distant 24th. In news coverage, the gap between Fox and MSNBC, sometimes erroneously mistaken for the Obama cheerleader station, was even more embarrassing. Fox News was the 5th and MSNBC the 28th most watched. The Obama broadside won't do anything to damp down Fox's big numbers.

The rub is that Obama knows that it's always a lose-lose to get down and dirty with an attacker. When Republican rival John McCain plopped Sarah Palin on the ticket, some Team Obama members instantly went negative on her. Obama wisely and quickly stopped that dead in its tracks. He issued a perfunctory complimentary word of congratulations on the Palin VP pick and then promptly zipped the official campaign lip on her. His opponent was McCain not Palin, and he kept the focus and the heat on him.

Fox will be Fox. It will continue to crusade against anything and everything he proposes. Obama's snipe at the network won't do anything to change that. It will only shove Fox's ratings upward. And the president certainly has better things to do than to aid and abet Fox.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard weekly in Los Angeles Fridays on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and live streamed nationally on ktym.com

Comments

[generationyes]

I disagree with the thesis of this post. Ignoring the political and societal cancer that is Fox "News" has had the effect of it becoming a major source of propaganda and social decomposition over the years. Pretending we don't notice the harm they do to a healthy society, or their racism and xenophobia, or the fact that they deliberately work 24/7 to agitate the worst of the rabble who want to see the president physically harmed, will do nothing to stop them. What do you propose be done about them? They aim to be, and are wildly successful at, destroying the natural social bonds between different cultures so that they can weaken the power of ordinary people in favor of the dough-white cream puffs to whom they are servants. I say speak out. Speak out strongly. Or watch the nation be destroyed by these despicable well-poisoners.

[ImaSpeakonit]

I'm glad President Obama said what he said! Somebody has to call out FauxNews on their biased crapfests!

We can clearly see there aren't many Political Analysts and Social Issues Commentators stepping up to the plate!

[barackobama4prez]

The President never named this network by name, but yet EVERYONE knew who he was referring to. THAT is more telling than this whole article.

[whocan]

a big reason Pres Obama's snipe will also help FOX is that the perception of the " State Run Media " is really out there.... Of course you have MSNBC ..But you have ABC now with their White House studio.. you have CBS and NBC all fawning.The NYT , Chicago Sun Times and Tribune ...Hollywood...Look at the White House briefing laugh fest , the lunches ,,,, Bottom line , there is not one news org that is critical of this administration ,, FOX is not news , but it is the only alternative to the Obamagasm

[vjthedj]

You know that most people who watch Fox, only watch Fox. It acts like a cult. You can always tell when you walk into a business, and the television is set to Fox. Fox news and the people who watch Fox news are a closed mind. The refuse to see the world or reality even when it is right there before their eyes. Fox news is blatant misinformation. The one thing I can't fathom is record number of people that are misinformed about the world. Those same people-some of them are proud they are ignorant and wear it like a badge of honor.

[Photofarm]

Obama is not that smart. He also is not reaching across the political aisle.

FOX is not attacking Obama, but seems to be the only news outlet that will present negative views of the policies that Obama wants to enact. I think the only reason Obama is scared and attacks FOX, is he knows the majority of the people don't want his policies enacted, if the people find out all of the details of the policy.

[bosha]

Who cares if Obama expressed his dislike of Fox News.

[NotStarvingArtist]

Isn't it interesting that President Obama did not name FOX as the network that is biased against him, but everyone (even FOX) instantly assumed that he was referring to FOX? Why do you think that happened exactly? Could it be that everyone recognizes that FOX is, indeed, completely biased against President Obama and his administration? I'm just sayin'....­..........­.

[kdlaiusa]

I think people check out Fox News because they heard they were so bad. Only did they find out Fox is indeed worse than they thought, but very entertaining. You have a Billo screaming at guests, Beck cries, and Hannity displays hate and bigotry every night.

If Fox is that influential, why did the GOP lose the last election? Don't overestimate Fox News, ratings mean they have more people watching, and that's all to it.

[ObamanextPresident]

With all due respect...

President Obama did NOT get all worked up.

President Obama did NOT snipe.

President Obama merely stated facts. Fox IS dedicated to derailing everything President Obama does.

Bravo! President Obama for calling them out on it.

[outragedbystupidity]

did it ever occur to anyone that whenever fox's ratings go up in reaction to a criticism of its coverage that that's a good thing? people who have never watched or used to watch fox will get to see first-hand whether the criticisms are justified. those with more than a scintilla of brain cells will come to an accurate conclusion.

[Puller58]

Dems were disgusted by the constant diving under the desk mode of Dems on the Hill. Smacking Fox & Co around is far more reassuring than trying to turn the other cheek.

[pottery]

Yeah. Turning a blind eye to the elephant in the room always makes it go away. Good thinking. Works with gang violence, and cancer prevention, too.

[jade7243]

I think Obama thinks the FOX faux outrage at him is rather funny... he always seems to chuckle at their mention. I think this is just a way for Obama to remind FOX that they aren't getting away with anything, and that as the saying foes, "payback is hell." So when Major Garrett and the other FOX tools don't get called on at newsers, they know why...

[BuzzingAlong]

Why don't you stop whinning about the President and write some real articles on the dumbing down and coursening of the so-called media in this country.

Try writing about what real journalism is.