Kevin O'Brien in the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes an especially bothersome element of the MSM's double standard in political coverage.I find it striking (and strikingly consistent) that any criticism leveled at Obama and his minions is met not with a defense that what Obama is doing is right, but with the implication that since Bush did something they considered wrong, Obama must be allowed to commit the same offense.
"What about Bush?" is not a valid answer to questions raised about Obama's policies or activities...
Doesn't it seem odd that the alleged misdeeds of a president whom the left despised have turned into precedents to shield from criticism a president the left adores? How is it that something classified as a grievous offense by Bush is rendered pure and inoffensive when Obama repeats it?...
The day may come when some of Obama's apologists will begin to judge what he says and does objectively, on the merits, rather than subjectively, on the basis of their personal affection for him and their personal loathing for his predecessor. But I see no sign of its dawning anytime soon.
Instead, for Obama and his policy aims, the gift of Bush keeps on giving, in the form of a reflexive, unreasoning hatred that continues to focus a sizable segment of Americans on an administration that's over with.
The administration in place today, thriving on a strategy of misdirection and distraction, undoubtedly is delighted.
