If life really were like high school, Barack Obama would so be frozen out of the cool kids' table in the cafeteria right now. And Time pundit Mark Halperin would probably the one talking trash to the popular kids and making sure Obama remained on the outs.
Forget that nonsense about how the liberal media love the Democratic president. That meme has always been a far-right joke. The truth is today Obama, like his 1990's Democratic predecessor, faces a torrent of contempt from the self-appointed "elites" like Halperin who dress up their dislike for the president and present it as analysis, and who relentlessly inform readers and viewers that everyone has lost faith in the president.
But the fact is the public opinion needle on Obama hasn't moved in the last year. No matter how many hours Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck spend each week cataloging Obama's sins and portraying Obama as Satan's terrorist-loving child sent to destroy the republic, and no matter how often right-wing loving pundits like Halperin dutifully dress up anti-Obama hate rhetoric and present it -- and legitimize it -- as independent insight, the American people maintain the same general opinion of Obama that they did twelve months ago.
Honestly, I'm not sure who's more frustrated by that trend, Beck and Limbaugh, or the likes of Mark Halperin, whose anger seems to mount with each passing month.
And please note this damned-if-he-does-damned-if-doesn't routine with Obama is exactly how the Beltway press corps treated Bill Clinton during the early, bumpy stages of his first term. For media elites, the young Democratic president from the middle of the country was naïve, clueless, in over his head, and getting played by super-savvy Republicans. Fast-forward about 15 years and Washington media elites are convinced that the young Democratic president from the middle of the country is naïve, clueless, in over his head, and getting played by super-savvy Republicans.
Meaning, the current elitist disdain for Obama represents a larger, ongoing trend in which the Beltway press publicly, and conveniently, mirrors right-wing talking points about a young Democratic president. (i.e. He's a failure!)
Meanwhile, what's so fascinating, and creepy, about Halperin's take on the Obama-dissing elites is his misguided assumption of their power and influence.
Read the full Media Matters column, here.