NEW YORK -- Since Frank Rich left The New York Times in March after over three decades with the paper, the liberal columnist and veteran cultural critic has kept a pretty low profile.
But Rich, now in his new home at New York magazine, broke his silence this week with a blistering critique of how the Obama administration hasn't held Wall Street accountable for the financial crisis. He's dubbed the article "Obama's Original Sin."
Rich stopped by The Huffington Post to discuss his cover story on "The Backstory," a new video series featuring individuals shaping news and opinion.
Rich went on to discuss why Obama can't seem to get across that the economy and jobs are a priority:
There are two reasons. Part of it is the optics are bad. He doesn't talk about it enough and he doesn't talk about it passionately. Part of it is that he, for whatever reason, and I think this Tim Geithner certainly is a big part of this, has sort of fallen for the line that the country's obsessed with deficits. Whereas I point out in my piece, if you look at every poll from Inauguration Day until two weeks ago, the deficit is a much lower priority for Americans in every single poll than jobs and the economy in general. And there's the substantive thing; there never was really a stand-alone huge jobs program ... It's almost as if he went from the stimulus to the year-long health care debate marathon, and then to the Republican-turf of deficit reduction without ever having that big jobs push in a time of bruising unemployment.
Rich isn't the only left-leaning columnist or commentator to take issue with Obama, with others mainly critical of his administration escalating the war in Afghanistan and not complying with the War Powers Act with regard to Libya. In addition, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow recently called out Obama for his "evolving" position on gay marriage, while former Vice President Al Gore took the administration to task over climate policy in the pages of Rolling Stone. Salon's Glenn Greenwald has long questioned Obama's use of executive power and the administration's aggressive pursuit of journalists' government sources.
And recently, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart said Obama hasn't met his expectations since getting to the White House, and even admitted he'd consider voting for a Republican. Rich isn't going that far! Still, does he share some of Stewart's frustration?
WATCH:
In the second part of our chat coming soon, Rich talks about moving over to New York, the future of the New York Times, and why he's not exactly lighting up the Twitterverse.