Another Turncoat on the Left Using Profanity in Reacting to Obama’s Presser

posted at 12:54 pm on July 4, 2011 by

Another commentator on the left has used some candid language in reaction to what others are calling the “tough new persona” the president exhibited in his press conference last Wednesday. On Inside Washington on PBS on Friday, host Gordon Peterson asked whether any of his expert panelists had suggestions on how to jump start the stalled budget negotiations.

Evan Thomas of Newsweek, who was on the panel, spoke up:

Yeah, … Obama has got to be President of the United States. He has to be two things. He has to make a public case of how bad is this, because he is not doing that. He’s not being honest about just how bad this is going to be—no, he was partisan. He was being a God-[expletive] Democrat! He was just, you know—being a party guy. I applaud the energy but it wasn’t getting me anywhere. He has got to rise above that and then in private, in private—he’s got to make a deal

While Thomas’s profanity was not quite on a par with the four-letter zinger fired off on national TV of by TIME‘s Mark Halperin, his frustration with the administration’s gamesmanship was clearly in evidence.

The implication that Obama is not “being President of the United States,” another way of saying “hyperpartisan,” is a far remove from Thomas’s view of the man in 2009. Back then he described the new president as “standing above the country, above—above the world, he’s sort of God.” Thomas offered up this paean while appearing as a guest on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Ironically, Thomas went on to predict:

He’s going to bring all different sides together. Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn’t even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He’s all about let us reason together. He’s the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he—he can—he can do that.

The recent impulsive bursts of on-air profanity from former acolytes like Thomas and Halperin are ultimately less important than the sea change they presage. Consider another Thomas quote, again delivered on Inside Washington, this time in 2008:

If [Obama] loses the election because of [his associations with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers], it’s a disgrace for him. If the Republicans make that the issue at the end, it’s a disgrace. They should not be trying to beat Obama based on the company he kept. It’s bad company, shouldn’t have done it, but it shouldn’t be the controlling issue.

Back then Thomas, like his fellow lefties, was so intent on seeing Barack Obama elected president that he was hell-bent on suppressing the news rather than reporting it. He and others refused to vet Obama and look into his dubious associations, and in so doing abdicated their professional responsibility as journalists.

One has to wonder now that the scales have fallen from their eyes whether the Obama campaign can look for their support again this time around.

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Gordon Peterson is a giant among the pygmies of today’s Enemedia.

NaCly dog on July 4, 2011 at 1:31 PM

I don’t think Zero’s being President of the United States, either, and I’m not a member of the elite leftist media. Underneath it all, we do have some common ground. We must be wearing them down.

Kissmygrits on July 4, 2011 at 1:57 PM

He’s going to bring all different sides together. Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn’t even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He’s all about let us reason together. He’s the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he—he can—he can do that.

I’d like to get some of what that guy is smoking. I haven’t been that high since 1978.

trigon on July 4, 2011 at 9:21 PM

So some on the left are waking up at the No-Tell Motel, head pounding, dry mouth, and they turn their head to look at that sexy specimen that had them drooling the night before with the glistening pecs and perfectly creased trousers. The beer goggles have slipped, folks. Maybe not coyote ugly, but the lipstick is smeared and the wrinkles and warts are becoming clearer as light breaks.

tpitman on July 5, 2011 at 6:08 AM