Chris Matthews’ Meltdown

In one of the most pathetically emotional performances I have seen in fifty years of watching television news, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews gave up all pretense of objectivity during the last several days of covering the New Hampshire primary. In his near homoerotic infatuation with Barack Obama, he has smeared Hillary Clinton and the voters of New Hampshire in vicious and vile ways that deserve the same contempt and outrage poured out on Don Imus previously. In his dream of reliving the sixties and resurrecting John F. Kennedy through Senator Obama, he declared on “Morning Joe” that the only reason Hillary is running for President and sitting in the Senate is because Bill cheated on her. He then claimed that there was nothing wrong with the polls that suggested Obama would win, just that the voters of New Hampshire were racists and lied when polled. It took Tom Brokaw on Tuesday night, Keith Olbermann on “Countdown,” and Matthews’ boss Dan Abrams to put him down, though not by name.

Brokaw chided him by saying that the news media had allowed its enthusiasm for Obama to cloud its objectivity. Olbermann pointed out that the polls were correct in predicting the Obama vote but that the undecideds broke for Clinton. Abrams said the same thing and pointed out that the size of the Clinton rallies, despite the wildly exaggerated claims of Matthews and others, were the same size as Obama’s and that there are many people in the news media who dislike Senator Clinton, and not just the right-wing nuts on talk radio and False News.

Matthews and his Boomer compatriots need to get over the sixties. The decade of The Sixties is not coming back. John F. Kennedy is not coming back. Obama is not Kennedy. Get a life.

MSNBC’s Obamathon

(I was inclined to support Obama until this weekend). Multiple-choice: Barack Obama is the second incarnation of: a). JFK, b). MLK, c). Jesus Christ, d). all of the above. If you have watched MSNBC’s 24 hour coverage of Obama’s triumphant arrival in Jerusalem, you know that the answer is “all of the above.” Beginning this morning with Joe and Mika, continuing with Chuck Todd and Tim Russert and all the others who have “never seen anything like this,” we were told that there was a groundswell of support for Obama, that he was everything we were looking for, and that he represents the new as Hillary and Edwards represent the old. I was inclined to support Obama until the infotainment industry took it upon itself to anoint Obama the Savior of America.

Obama gives an inspiring speech. He is honest, articulate, and inspiring. But, I start getting nervous and suspicious when the chattering classes all of a sudden coalesce around one candidate and get carried away with their own enthusiasm.

I did not watch False News because any network that hires Steve Doucey has no credibility and Roger Ailes is the second incarnation of a). William Randolph Hearst, b). Father Coughlin, c). Satin, d). all of the above. I can’t stand CNN anymore because they have no one besides Wolfe Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour who doesn’t have puffy lips, big tits, and a complete inability to read a teleprompter (and that includes Anderson Cooper). So, I was stuck watching Chris Matthews declare that the reason New Hampshire broke his heart and voted against the candidate he’s been shamelessly promoting since the 2004 Democratic convention is because New Hampshire Democrats are racists who tell pollsters one thing and then vote another. Crap.

I find Barack Obama inspiring, honest, and articulate. But, I have concluded that he’s just what the news media wants: image and style. We need experience and he’s not ready yet. Yes, he’s African-American, but there are a number of African-Americans better qualified to be President, and I’m not talking about the White Man’s Favorite Black Man, Colin Powell. Harold Ford, Deval Patrick, and Julian Bond come to mind. But, Obama may be another Jimmy Carter: honest and inspirational, but unable to handle the world of Washington. The times are dangerous and require someone who has been there and done that.

For forty years, the boomer left has been fantasizing about the Resurrection of JFK, or rather the Resurrection of the Mythologized JFK, for the real JFK authorized wiretaps of Martin Luther King, fudged and procrastinated on civil rights legislation, outhawked Nixon in the 1960 campaign, and, Oliver Stone’s wet dream notwithstanding, was escalating the American presence in Vietnam before he died. Chris Matthews even waxed about how Barack and Michelle remind him of Jack and Jackie. Vomit. Give up the hyperbole and stick with reporting the facts, Chris. And, while you’re at it, shut up and let someone else talk occasionally.

The Democrats must nominate Hillary, John Edwards, or Bill Richardson. Obama can be Vice-President until he gets the experience and then I will happily vote for him. In the mean time, Chris Matthews and the rest of the gang at MSNBC will have to curb their enthusiasm and remind themselves they’re journalists.