Rove Praising Obama
I'm surprised that I couldn't find mention at TPM of Friday's WSJ editorial, by Karl Rove, praising Obama's economic team. Unlike some of Rove's pre-election commentary, this is not just a few begrudging positive sentences about Obama amid a stream of fearmongering inuendo. At first glance, in fact, the editorial, titled "Thanksgiving Cheer From Obama: He's assembled a first-rate economic team." seems to be a gushing endorsement of Obama's executive decisions and performance so far:
Mr. Obama's announcement of his economic team on Monday provided surprisingly positive clarity...
The National Economic Council director-designee, Larry Summers, is another solid pick...
Mr. Obama also named a respected monetary expert -- Christina Romer -- to head up his Council of Economic Advisors. On Tuesday he selected a first-rate thinker, Peter Orszag, to be director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget...
..with only mildly-worded criticisms:
The only troubling personnel note was Melody Barnes...
I imagine, however, that most people at TPM, knowing who wrote it, will see through to the nefarious intent behind the editorial. It is only slightly more subtle than Rush Limbaugh's faux concern about the sexism displayed towards Hillary during the primary and to me it seems that Rove is among many rightwing mischief-makers making similar mischief since the election: publically praising Obama and describing his cabinet picks as arch-conservatives to drive a wedge between Obama and the Left. Along those same lines, the WSJ had another editorial last week "praising" Obama's decision to keep Gates as SecDef, calling it "an implicit endorsement of President Bush's 'surge' in Iraq" and claiming that Gates and Gen Jones "help Mr. Obama check the worst reflexes of his anti-antiterror base." Strangely, they did not mention Gates' behind-the-scenes efforts to close Guantanamo.
I do think that many of the conservatives and Republicans who endorsed Obama were sincere; while others may have just been jumping on the winning bandwagon; but am I alone in thinking that this fake praise is the day's tactic in the Rove/Rush GOP recovery plan?
That "anti terror terror base" comment was one of the most enraging things I have read in a while. They are ACTUALLY trying to implement the meme that the left wants to pull out of Afghanistan. It's incredibly underhanded.
November 30, 2008 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Moreover, like the blog I made yesterday, conservatives are trying to take credit for the future success of Obama's administration by aclling his picks "center-right" like it is oonly the right side of the spectrum that will fix the problem and that is why Obama is choosing them.
November 30, 2008 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kristen mentioned it, in one of her first ever blog posts:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kirstenmyw/2008/11/thanksgiving-cheer-from-rove.php
November 30, 2008 8:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
will this praise make it harder or easier for the right to criticize future president obama on his economic policies?
i think praising now will make it easier for them to complain to the mainstream media by saying "i think he has the right people around him, but he directs them implement disastrous policies for our country. i said previously that i liked his economic team- it's not as if i have always said negative things about his administration"
however, i praising now will make it harder for them to complain to the right because rove and others will be accused of "acquiesing to obama in a politically safe period and then attacking him when it was politically safe"
i guess the main question is, does karl rove (and others on the right who are praising president-elect obama) have a motive in praising his economic team?
December 1, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the mainstream media doesn't ever really hold people accountable in the way you describe:
If they did, William Kristol would not have a column in the NYT and, in fact, Rove would not have a platform anywhere for his idiocy. Pundits are never held accountable for what they said in the past.
I think the motivation for praising Obama is threefold:
1. To make progressives suspicious of Obama by making him appear to be more conservative than he is, thus undermining his coalition of supporters.
2. To preemptively rewrite history to give conservatives (and even Bush) credit for any of Obama's future successes.
3. To not be seen as underming the President elect when he has such high ratings and when the economic situation is so dire.
Today (while riding to work) I heard the guest host of Rush Limbaugh say that Obama was going to "Wind down the war in Iraq by 2011 and shift resources to Afganistan which is, precisely, the Bush plan." Of course he fails to mention that Bush came around to Obama's plan after initially rejecting it.
December 1, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boo, you are not alone!!
December 1, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kind of reminds me of the Fox News crawl on a Simpsons episode that said "John F. Kennedy posthumously switches to Republican"
December 1, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
On another note re: Rove - when do we get to see this devious fucker in handcuffs?
December 1, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
The praise is a flagrant attempt to obtain, not restore, credibility to FOX noise. This election and the pre-election success of MSNBC has them worried that they have lost the ear of the American public. The Christian fascist reach is slipping. It may have won in California, but it did not show up for McCain this time around. They need to find folks in the middle to regain a majority. Until they can find a new devisive message, they're not going to be objecting.
A difficult argument to make at this time would be that Obama has displayed anything but excellence in his campaign and his actions since the election. At this time there are no obvious weaknesses in the process to exploit. So Rove will campaign as an objective observer of history in an effort to seek credibility. What he deserves, though, are as above noted ... handcuffs.
December 1, 2008 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink