Maureen Dowd, the supposedly liberal op-ed columnist for the N.Y. Times is doing her best to take down the two leading presidential candidates from the Democratic Party. From today's column [Subscription Required]:
Barack Hussein Obama squinted into the New Hampshire sun to read a new speech on his teleprompter Monday and turned into William Jennings Bryan.
There are three problems with this first sentence.
- Using Obama's terrorist-sounding full name is a common practice used by the right-wing noise machine to demean him.
- Saying that he squinted to read the teleprompter is her artistic way of saying he is unauthentic.
- Suggesting that Obama turned into Williamn Jennings Bryant is Dowd's way of saying that he is running on personality, not his political views.
And believe it or not, the so-called liberal columnist gets even dirtier.
Suddenly, the candidate who had so consciously modeled himself and his wife on J.F.K. and Jackie was a simple rube, fighting the system.
"There are a lot of people who have been in Washington longer than me, who have better connections and go to the right dinner parties and know how to talk the Washington talk," he told an audience in Manchester.
Actually, the only thing we regard as a symptom of a lack of experience is a lack of experience. This pundit, for one, needs hope as much as any American these days. But the only time I roll my eyes is when my hope is dashed that Obama will boldly take on Hillary, making his campaign more than cameras and mirrors and magazine covers.
In the speech referred to by Maureen Dowd, Barack was trying to convey that he is an outsider in Washington, not befouled by the stench on the Potomac. And of course since Miss Dowd is part of the D.C. establishment, she was offended by Obama's rhetoric. So she decided to call it inexperience and question his ability to be president. She even went as far as comparing Obama to a couple of Republicans who pretended to be Washington outsiders: Pat Buchanan and Poppy Bush.
Poppy took off his striped, preppie watchband and talked about his alleged love of pork rinds. (He really liked martinis and popcorn.)
When he ran for president in 1992, Mr. Buchanan claimed to be an outsider, even though he was a Washington native, an aide to three presidents and a D.C. pundit who lived so close to C.I.A. headquarters that his cat kept setting off the security sensors buried in the woods.
So which one is it Miss Dowd? Is Barack Obama inexperienced, an insider pretending to be an outsider, or just a plain phony? It's like a rigged poll with no good selections.
Next, Maureen turns her sights on Hillary.
In the White House, she botched health care and bungled dealing with special prosecutors — remember that talent she had for losing critical files? And in the Senate, she played it safe and became a Democratic Senator Pothole while helping W. launch his disaster in Iraq.
While there are many who may agree with the sentiment, this is still a pretty vicious attack, strife with gossip and innuendo. It's very similar to the way she handled Vice President Gore in 2000, but I'll leave that topic to Bob Somerby. The bottom line is that we need to be aware of the Maureen Dowds of the world, pretending to be liberal while pushing forward right wing talking points. If anyone is being phony, it's not Barack Obama; It's Maureen Dowd.
Please take a couple of moments to take my rigged poll.