What the President Didn't Seem to Learn From the Shirley Sherrod Incident

The "teachable moment" cliché may be overused, as Jason Linkins observed the other day, but what the White House really needed this week was a learnable moment. The Administration and other leading Democrats had an opportunity this week to understand the nature of the opposition they face. The President's remarks about Shirley Sherrod's firing suggest that this "learnable moment" may have been lost. Let's hope not.

In what might be described as a "the buck stops there" comment, the President blamed Tom Vilsack for the decision. "He jumped the gun," said the President, "partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles."

No, Mr. President. The problem is that there is a highly motivated, ideologically driven, and extremely well funded movement that is determined to destroy you, your party, and everything you stand for, including the proper role of government in a civil society. Their ideology lies in tatters, destroyed by the economic collapse and the ecological devastation in the Gulf. All they have left is the politics of destruction.

The problem is not blogs and YouTube,. The problem is Fox News. The Right has a very simple and very successful model: Use people like Matt Drudge or Andrew Breitbart to start phony rumors, then use the massive media power of Fox, Rush, and other outlets to spread a lie around the world before the truth can get open its mouth. Fox News.

The "media culture" locution is another one of the President's ways of trying to remain "above left and right." But to do so in this case is to misunderstand the situation. Sun Tzu said "If you know yourself and know your enemy, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." The "media culture" frame is one that suggests he doesn't know his enemy.

It also suggests he doesn't know his friends. I'm here in Las Vegas at Netroots Nation, where progressive bloggers gather to share ideas and hear from their leaders. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be taking questions tomorrow, but I don't see any Administration representatives in attendance (except Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who took part in a panel yesterday). The President likes to disparage progressive bloggers -- no doubt egged on by Rahm Emanuel, who's extremely unpopular in this crowd. And he likes to lump progressive bloggers in with their counterparts on the Right, as part of the "media culture" he disdains.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I have heard high-level, educated, detailed discussions of policy topics that range from biofuels to counterinsurgency. This group represents a pool of talent the Administration and Congress could use to their advantage, if it weren't for their fear of "outside the Beltway" resources. And not a single one of the thousands of people here has ever doctored a video in order to ruin a career or discredit a Presidency.

The truth is, this "above left and right" routine has never served the President or Democrats particularly well. It's what led the President, a brilliant and gifted man, to make one of the silliest statements he's ever uttered: "Ultimately, there's no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. We rise or fall together as one nation. " Sadly (and unequivocally), that is not true. It's great to rise above the battle when you can. But sometimes there are battles, and they are battles worth fighting.

With the passage of the new financial bill, Wall Street reform has just begun. Banks are marshaling their resources to influence upcoming regulations and the actions of the regulators themselves. Lobbyists and the Right will be fighting to roll back the progress that's been made so far. The Administration and Congress are going to need all the help they can get. And now the Right is gearing up to dismantle Social Security, the successful embodiment of a social compact that has worked for generations. To strike a "bipartisan" pose in the face of this threat would be both callous policy and foolish politics.

As for the President's "media culture" comment, it reflects the same "above the fray" posture as those Wall Street/Main Street comments, and is equally likely to fizzle. Here's an idea: Don't hide your opponents in a verbal cloud, Mr. President. Name them. Call them out. If you don't want to go "left and right," just say that "there are those who would spread misinformation because the facts and the arguments aren't on their side." The ideology of deregulation and unfettered market rapacity is discredited, so they are using racial hatred and smear tactics to distract the public from the failure of their ideas. Remember, know your enemy and you need not fear a hundred battles.

And a hundred battles are certainly coming.

 

Follow Richard (RJ) Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow

Comments

[Suzanne Bria]

04:46 AM on 08/23/2010

I completely agree-- Fox Spews is the problem. It is the propaganda arm of the Right Wing. It spews lies and hatred, and no one who watches bothers to check the "facts." It's MO is not to inform or educate but to inflame and mislead for specific political ends as well as the ratings that go along with the segment of the population who get off on watching train wrecks or who need validation for their own paranoia and racism/sexism/bigotry. President Obama needs to truly see Fox Spews as the enemy-- and not give it any legitimacy as a news organization.

Well said, Richard!

[Yikes11]

09:06 PM on 07/26/2010

I know they're here somewhere. Ba//z, ball z, where are you?

[batguano]

02:14 PM on 07/26/2010

Excellent RJ. There certainly needs to be a shift from the timidity that characterizes the Obama admn to date, and there are more enemies out there than just Fox News. Why and under whose pressure, or advice, did Obama make such a rush to ”the center”, fire and exile the progressives he used during the campaign, and appoint so many ex-Clinton people, especially those from the Rubin School of Economics greed who were arguably responsible for the current "economic downturn"? You mention Emanuels standing with progressives, and how he is loathed by them (and me) and I believe that he could be behind the actions and policy decisions of the Prez that have so weakened him. I have postulated before that a strong prez who wants to see an end (on paper at least) to the “conflict” in Palestine is seen as a threat by those extremist supporters of Israel and AIPAC, as Emanuel is. A fifth column exists in this country and it is in existence to manipulate US policy to the agenda and benefit of a foreign country, not necessarily the US. It would be the best thing Obama could do to get rid of Emanuel (and Ken Salazar for other reasons) and all his advice and counsel that could be contributing to Obamas bad decisions and undermining immediately, and get back to a real progressive agenda and staff dedicated to the peoples issues and our countries best interests.

[KeysDan]

01:59 PM on 07/26/2010

Obama has been very successful at resuscitating the Republican corpse. And, by including "reform" of Medicare in the legislation intended to extend health care to those under 65, he did his best to create the tea party (leave my Medicare alone no death panels etc). The only reason to include Medicare was to finance half of the extended coverage (almost $500 billion); all the needed reforms could have been accomplished by regulations and less dramatic changes. Moreover, the Medicare "savings" was based on fraudulent studies or at least fraudulent interpretations (just now brought to light) of the Dartmouth Atlas--you know the one that Obama quoted all the time, that less health care is better care, and we can pick up all those savings by not have duplicative testing.

[henryle74]

06:44 AM on 07/26/2010

President bush never had a problem attacking dems from the white house or tooting his own horn. please could somebody tell me why dems in power are so wimpy? I am a liberal dem by the way and I ashamed of the president and my party for how they rarely attack back and how they water down bills to get gop votes that never happen. why are dems so apologetic and fearful of attacking back? I am not saying they should ever spread lies or doctored videos like the far right does but when limbaugh or a right wing nut job congressmen says something stupid like that unemployment benefits need to be paid for and tax cuts for rich dont or that the unemployed have it too good, pelosi, reid or another high profile dem needs to call them out on it. during campaign obama had a website just for debunking right wing attacks. I wish he would bring that back even if it is run by the dnc or something.

[henryle74]

06:39 AM on 07/26/2010

I could not agree more. I voted for obama. he wasnt a wimp during campaign and called out the far right with their crazy attacks like the birther conspiracy for one. but now he doesn't call them out and slowly his credibilty gets eaten away little by little. He only has 45% approval ratings despite massive legislation like healthcare and wall street reform. He gets no credit for these acheivements and more and more americans in polls seem to be saying that they believe he is a reverse racist who is trying to help blacks over whites. increasing numbers actually believe this. He needs to start calling out the far right and fox news on their attacks. this above the fray routine is getting old and I am sick of it. he may know and believe in the truth but lies spread quickly. as rachel m. put it, you dont give in to bullies and expect them to stop. you fight back. I know obama thinks these false attacks are distractions he would rather not deal with but you know these attacks matter. They slowly chip away at his record and his approval ratings and they matter, sadly. I want a tough president. I want a president who is a fighter. I have been sadly disappointed by the wimpy obama. it makes me very sad. the far right has no problem with false attacks and spreading lies. it will never stop if he chooses to ignore it.

[iceage7]

12:40 PM on 07/26/2010

He only has 45% approval ratings despite massive legislation like healthcare and wall street reform:
even these accomplishments if it were not for tough as nails nancy and reid he would not have gotten them

[limulu]

05:30 AM on 07/26/2010

I will say it again i am disappointed in the President. He has tried to hard to walk the middle ground and to appease the right wing and this tactic has failed. Granted the President is the leader of the entire country and not just a faction but it is the duty of the president to lead and not to hide behind comprise when in this case the right wing expresses dismay. The republicans have had their change to participate in a learned discussion about the problems of the country and how to solve them and they have produced no workable solutions. So it is now time to call them on it to stand up to the hatred and lies and get on with leading the country. The president can no longer spend time trying to win over the right wing. He has shown them that he is not willing to stand up to them and they are now moving into to destroy this administration they smell his fear. He has just a short time to show a back bone to stand up to them and call them out or the democratic party is history. It is to bad that the first president with afro american heritage should be the one that results in the destruction of the country. I hope he finds his strength.

[henryle74]

06:51 AM on 07/26/2010

amen. amen. It took clinto a while to get used to right wing attack machine and he took a lot of lumps for first couple years. I am hoping obama sees a failed strategy right in front of him. "above the fray" doesnt work. He has the power of the white house. he is not using his power effectively. poll after poll gives him low ratings despite all this landmark legislation. These right wing attacks are working even if the truth comes out later because by the it is too late. we learned too late that the fox news videos of acorn were heavily edited and that they actually did nothing wrong, far too late after they were shut down and lost all funding. the obama admin and the usda head guy were soooo stupid to fire sherrod based on attack that came from a well know right wing blogger with a history of false attacks. They did not consider the source at all. and sherrod is right, she got the boot all because in her words the admin was scared about the video ending up on glenn beck show (which is a far right attack show). why does obama care so much what viewers of fox news and oreilly and limbaugh think of him when those shows are almost exclusively watch by republicans and tea party crowd? I guess I will never understand why obama keeps insisting of following a failed strategy for dealing with false attacks.

[Winston120]

08:34 PM on 07/25/2010

What has been learned is Team Obama will throw someone on their team under the bus faster than you can say "teachable moment". The rest is soap bubbles.

[OleLadySquawking]

05:19 PM on 07/25/2010

Pres. Obama needs to install a yellow phone in the White House linked to the real world. It's purpose should be the ability to notify him of the latest impending political disasters Fox News is fomenting. It's quite obvious that no one in his administration has the ability to discern what they are.

[texastrixie]

05:09 PM on 07/25/2010

Obama doesn't have to "call out" Faux News. But when asked to comment about anything on the left or right-wing media, the answer should always be, either we are investigating this claim before we comment on it, OR we are not investigating this claim because we think it has no true basis in fact.

But Democrats, and the Obama administration need to learn something from Ms. Sherrod - don't talk to strangers! Ms. Sherrod went on every other network except Fox. She knew they weren't going to do anything except try to get her to knock President Obama, and somehow try to undermind her own credibility. When someone tried to portray her as a bad person, she took note, and intelligently, stayed away from them. The Democrats should learn from this.

How many times does anyone have to say it - no one who watches Faux News and thinks it is real news is EVER going to vote for Obama, or any other Democrat. Its like your mother-in-law that hates you, you are never going to be good enough to earn her approval!

You don't have to declare war on Fox, just never have anyone who is available to go on their network. They were fit to be tied when Ms. Sherrod gave them the cold shoulder, but they couldn't force her to come on.

Fox News commits political rape. Stay away from the strange people offering you candy - its a ruse.

[ThesagaciousOne]

02:26 PM on 07/25/2010

President Obama has not made a mistake yet. Whenever something "unfortunate" occurs it becomes a "Teachable Moment."

[politicky]

12:25 PM on 07/25/2010

Thank you Mr. Eskow. We can only hope that your message reaches him, as it is an important one.

[legalgirl]

12:01 PM on 07/25/2010

You know what "right down the middle" is good for? Golf.

[HalEBurton]

10:04 AM on 07/25/2010

Presidential fail

[James Croteau]

09:45 AM on 07/25/2010

Interesting article.

If you want to read the real story of racism at USDA.

http://www.thenation.com/article/37911/real-story-racism-usda

black president or not, nothing really changes.

and I hope you also read this

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/barack-obama-the-national_b_657183.html

[henryle74]

06:57 AM on 07/26/2010

far right is doing everthing it can to make sure court settlement never reaches the black farmers. they have been waiting yrs for the money. It has to be in legistlation to be distributed even though it has been settled in the courts. and funny thing is, the far right keeps making sure it gets removed from every bill is it is included in. funny how that works, hmmm. far right quick to help out rich with tax cuts but oh no, cant have racially motivated discrimination against black farmers addressed. that is how the right works