Before I get to Jennifer Hunter's absurd non-review of the Audacity of Hope, a little background...
I had a previous encounter with the Chicago Sun-Times columnist following her debut piece on Obama. Though couched as a historical review of Lincoln, it was ulitmately a hit piece that seemed intended to undermine the campaign -- accusing it of "hubris" for the Springfield backdrop -- on the day before the official Feb. 10th announcement speech.
Opinion is opinion, and that's fine, I suppose, but this timely scolding was incorrectly labeled as "news."
More below the fold...
So, on the morning of Feb. 9th, I contacted Ms. Hunter to object to the placement of the piece. She responded at first by saying...
...my piece is a column and so I am free to express my opinions. It is not a news story. Best, Jennifer.
But when I explained the issue of the mislabeling on the website, she suggested I contact her editor, Don Hayner.
I did contact Mr. Hayner, and though not all the issues were resolved, it appeared that there was some attempt to correct the labeling on the piece.
However, it remained the feature "news" story all day on a very important real news day for Obama. I tried to embrace the adage ""Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence" But, I've been checking in on Ms. Hunter's work ever since.
One thing I didn't know at the time when I contacted her, though, is that Jennifer Hunter is the wife of Sun-Times publisher John Cruickshank. So, Hunter and her husband occupy a similar rarified spot made most famous by former disgraced Sun-Times company head Conrad Black and his writer wife Barbara Amiel -- complete with a similar bit of Canadian flair.
Further searching brought me to a snarky article that mentioned the same "hubris" article and suggested that the choice to give Jennifer Hunter, the publisher's wife, the choice assignment of covering Barack Obama -- made over a number of other qualified writers -- may have contributed to a "sulking Sun-Times newsroom."
There was one thing in Hunter's email to me that I, out of courtesy, left out of my original post on this exchange -- and out of the emaill that I sent to editor, Don Hayner. But, given the piece I'll highlight below, I don't think that courtesy should really be extended any longer.
In responding to my complaints, she included a gratuitous snide comment about her editors, saying...
...my name should have been listed with the other columnists but since this is the first column in what will be a series it was overlooked by my absentminded editors. (my emphasis)
Ouch. Must be fun to try to be the boss of the boss's wife, eh?
So, why am I all worked up about Jennifer Hunter again?
Well, if anybody has ever wondered how lazy and vacuous some members of today's press can be, Ms. Hunter's recent embarrassing post entitled "Obama's latest book hard to finish" helps to answer the question. It's enough to make Bob Somerby howl.
Filled with snideness and a revealing desire for nothing but the "juicy" references in Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, Hunter writes...
I haven't even read the last chapter of The Audacity of Hope because getting through the book is a slog; it's preachy, dull, and only the autobiographical bits keep me tuned in.
She goes on...
I keep reading Audacity because I feel I should -- I am writing about Sen. Obama, and I need to know how he thinks. But it's like cod-liver oil. Hard to swallow.
Remember, this is the person that the Sun-Times has chosen for the all-coveted Barack Obama beat. And she can't muster the energy to endure a very readable and interesting look at how Obama thinks and what his ideas are for fixing our broken political system? A book that is on the top of the best seller lists and very positively reviewed by many political pundits?
She reveals further what information she thinks is actually worth reading...
On the other hand, I swept through Dreams From My Father, galvanized by the Catcher In the Rye aspect of the autobiography and the effort to tell the bumpier truths, such as the use of cocaine. And although this book has been excoriated by those who question Obama's use of composite characters and his rejection of his white mother, I can overlook most of this -- except the mother stuff.
Yes, a book only excoriated by fools. And rejection of his white mother? Jennifer, the book is about the personal quest to understand his father who he hardly ever knew.
But, the last line of that paragraph is so over the top and absurd that I wonder if even Mr. Cruickshank might regret his decision...
I think he must have been an insufferable son.
Nice, huh? This, ladies and gentlemen, is what passes today for "journalism." God help us all.