Obama’s Fox News war: A childish diversion from important issues

Forget Afghanistan. Barack Obama has waged a personal war on Fox News, a grudge which has taken precedence over critical issues like health care reform, foreign relations and a 10% unemployment rate. It’s apparent the White House knows it can’t offer a quick fix to the economy, will fail to deliver sweeping health care reform and has not a clue what to do in Afghanistan. With three strikes against him, Obama is resorting to Plan B: destroy all critics, namely conservative news and talk radio outlets.

Following the form of a true Chicago bully, Obama and his staff have insidiously lashed out at Fox News, even snubbing them from several press events. While Obama’s criticism is typically done with a sarcastic smirk, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Advisor David Axelrod haven’t been as shy.

In a recent Time Magazine interview, Dunn quipped, “It’s opinion journalism masquerading as news”, referring to Fox News.

Emanuel told CNN that President Obama does not want “the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox.”

Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is “not a news organization.” “Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way,” Axelrod told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “We’re not going to treat them that way.”

On October 20th, ABC’s Jack Tapper interviewed Robert Gibbs regarding the White House assault on Fox News. Gibb’s response: “You and I should watch sometime around nine o’clock tonight or five this afternoon”, an obvious reference to Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.

While many who follow mainstream media view Fox News as propaganda, every news organization –whether you agree with them, or not–  should have the freedom to report on topics they deem important. White House media control is not a conspiracy, but a reality in the case of the Obama administration. A prime example is GE’s ownership of MSNBC. General Electric’s vested interest in Obama policies such as the climate bill can be directly traced to blatant pro-Obama news coverage on MSNBC.

Obama owes his presidency to the liberal media, who got him elected. He’s fighting a fierce battle to ensure that all opponents of him, and/or liberal media are discredited, and by no means followed by sister news organizations. It’s no secret that news outlets like ABC and CBS have long used the New York Times to gauge their front-page stories. Recently, the NYT and its followers, have refused to cover hot button stores such as Van Jones and ACORN, leaving the job to Fox News. An observant White House has taken note that American’s get excited about these stories, and are tuning in to Fox to learn about issues not covered by other organizations.

By pledging allegiance to Obama, and covering only stories that shed him and his administration in angelic light, the liberal media has missed opportunities to break major news stories. As the recent SNL skit so cleverly pointed out, Obama’s presidency has had little to boast about, so media outlets who will only report presidential victories have had little to report on. Conversely, the scandals and controversies keep on rolling in, with Fox taking the lead in breaking the news to America.

President Obama has bigger battles to fight, and the longer he attempts to single out a single news organization as the sole source of this agony, the more damage will be done to his reputation, popularity and presidency. Why? Because he’s picking on Fox News, who like it or not, is the most watched cable news network in the world. Additionally, recent polls suggest that up to 45% of Fox viewers are democrats or independents. Obama has shifted so far to the left, that there simply aren’t enough voters at his end of the liberal spectrum to get him re-elected. Obama’s Fox News war is helping only Fox news.

Mr. President, sooner or later you’ll need Fox News. Stop playing the school yard bully and make some decisions on health care, Afghanistan and the economy. That is, after all, why we elected you.