Obama Agonistes. The RW Media Machine Rolls Merrily Along.
Last night I happened upon the Fox News Channel (As Keith Olbermann says: Fox News. It’s a brand name).
Two talking heads were droning on about the agony of Obama, droning on about some 97 new pages of Bengazi information that is going to be released, and it will “really damage Obama.” Thinking of work on Monday morning, feeling that Sunday night dismal blah, it was like someone was picking at a sore with needles. The tediousness of the minutiae was maddening to me; but business as usual for the serious talking heads on fox.
The male talking head was droning on, packaging together a concise summary of scandals, from Bengazi to the IRS (leaving out the NSA, I noticed); and he stated that this is the time of Obama’s agonies, or as he put it with a flourish: “Obama Agonistes”.
It sounded a little too intellectual and cute for that clown to have coined; and I know the female talking head wouldn’t admit to originating it, as (she might have gone to Stanford but) she plays a dumb blonde on tv. So I extensively researched it this morning. (ie: I plugged the two words into google).
It ends up folks used to refer to Nixon Agonistes, in the waning days of his presidency, and thus, voila, of course, Kenyan usurper, Hitler, Nazism, Hippy slap, Liberals suck, Obama must be impugned at every turn. In fact, there is an entire library devoted to “Obama Agoniste” on the internet, from Fox News references, to Newsmax mentions, Daily Caller, etc etc etc. I don’t listen so I don’t know, but Obama Agonistes could also be the subject of the day on Fox and Friends, Rush, Hannity, and Beck. (O’Reilly would discuss it but he is still marveling that black folks sit down and eat in restaurants and use silverware; oh, and his wife left him for a union man).
The great revival of the Agonistes could even be a Luntz job, for all we know.
It is a sad and pathetic - though often effective – way to do business: lie, impugn, impede, make shit stick, toxify others, and do nothing yourself but project your own weaknesses and underhanded tactics onto others. And do it systematically, with the whole team on board in a coordinated effort.
They may not have the votes or the political will to win elections or impeach the president, but the GOP will block his agenda, defund his programs, make him appear weak and corrupt, and run out the clock till 2016, hoping his legacy (and Dems’ legacy in the WH) is permanently soiled.