"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them," William Shakespeare.
We have thrice witnessed greatness in broadcast journalism commentary over the past two weeks. The three recent moments of greatness are remarkable because they happed on cable TV, where the past two decades of cable news ennui would lead one to speculate that greatness in that medium might happen about once a millennium.
Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and now Keith Olbermann (with his triple shot) are the men who have produced the Five Greatest Moments. None of the men were born great (I do not believe that possible in a democracy), but Murrow and Cronkite had achieved greatness by the time their broadcast moments came.
What produced the greatest moments is below the fold:
Greatness thrust upon them. What makes the commentaries of these men great is that when no one else in TV news had the courage, they stood up to and delivered devastating commentaries on the evil, insane zeitgeist of their times.
This is an easy diary to write - it's a cut and paste of one I did last week. When there were four great commentaries. Tonight Keith Olbermann added a fifth commentary to journalistic history. Remarkably Keith has delivered three courageous commentaries in less than two weeks. I think tonight's was the greatest, but I don't want to sway the poll. Video link is up for you to judge.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
What I wrote last week:
With Murrow it was standing up to the fascist threat of McCarthyism. With Cronkite it was standing up to the insanity of the Viet Nam War. Keith Olbermann's commentaries on Rumsfeld, Bush, and now on the true meaning of 9/11 are brave commentaries standing up to both an internal fascist threat far greater than the one Murrow spoke of and a war far more insane that the one Cronkite spoke of.
Murrow and Cronkite commanded and spoke from great media platforms - the greatest of their times. They took on great issues that involved great risks, but they were at the pinnacle of their news organizations and somewhat protected by their status (though there were consequences for Murrow). Unfortunately, today there are no other `Great Men' like Murrow and Cronkite in broadcast journalism taking on the Bush Administration.
Olbermann speaks from a far more vulnerable platform, which makes his commentary even more remarkable. Olbermann's criticism of Bush was the most direct criticism of a President EVER delivered on TV by a broadcaster. Because Keith Olbermann made these commentaries he has achieved greatness, and he has also achieved journalistic immortality as long as there is a free United States of America. Not that Keith had any choice. The criminal activities of Bush and his thugs thrust greatness upon him.
In times of national crisis Murrow, Cronkite, Olbermann stood up to the threats imperiling the nation. The words of all three men are inspiring.
From March 9, 1954 Edward R. Murrow's broadside of Joe McCarthy:
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Good night and good luck.
They are words that still ring true today, as we are now fighting even greater internal fascist threats. Today the threat is far more dangerous then the one Murrow spoke of because the fascism we face is located at the center of this Presidency.
The relevance of these words today must be why Olbermann chose to use them in his Rumsfeld commentary.
From Walter Cronkite's Feb. 27, 1968 commentary on Viet Nam:
We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds.......
To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.
This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.
This was a remarkable commentary coming from `the most trusted man in America'. Again, Cronkite's words of 1968 could be used to describe Bush's Iraq Quagmire of today.
And now this era has Keith Olbermann. From his Rumsfeld commentary:
In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?
The confusion we -- as its citizens-- must now address, is stark and forbidding.
But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note -- with hope in your heart -- that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.
The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought.
And about Mr. Rumsfeld's other main assertion, that this country faces a "new type of fascism."
As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that -- though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.
This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.
We all stood up and cheered. Finally, a TV Broadcaster took on this administration with nothing more than the truth.
The Bush commentary was even more remarkable for me because it was a direct challenge to Bush. That took courage. From the first words of his commentary, Olbermann is critical of Bush:
It is to our deep national shame--and ultimately it will be to the President's deep personal regret--that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies......
Then he blasts Bush for his cynical attack on the press:
.....the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, "a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government."
Make no mistake here--the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the "media."
The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.
Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:
The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word--"media"--the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.
That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.
I cannot recall any Broadcaster ever condemning a President's actions as un-American because of a President's relentless and cynical attacks on the freedoms of the First Amendment. As bold as those words were, it is even more remarkable that Olbermann described the President's actions as scurrilous.
And the President's re-writing and sanitizing of history, so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics, is just as false, and just as scurrilous.
Once again, Olbermann concludes his commentary by shrewdly attaching the actions of Bush to the fascist threat presented by McCarthyism. There are no better words that draw attention to the issues before us then what Keith used to describe Bush:
"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
For a Broadcaster to rhetorically ask this about a sitting President is something I have never witnessed before, but I am thankful that Keith Olbermann did it.
Keith Olbermann achieved initial `fame' as a sportscaster. Countdown has always been half whimsy. But the times called for someone to stand up to this government and Keith Olbermann did it. Greatness has been thrust upon him, and he was up to the task.
Olbermann is opposite our President on the greatness scale. Bush has never been up to much of anything. For Bush I will not borrow from Shakespeare, but paraphrase Joseph Heller's description of Major Major:
(George Bush) had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With (George Bush) it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.
Keith Olbermann is impressive and incredibly courageous. We witnessed three great commentaries by Keith Olbermann in two weeks. His words will be forever remembered by all freedom loving Americans. Thank you Keith Olbermann for defending the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our liberties against the criminal actions of this administration. I am thankful I've been a witness to the journalistic history you've made.